Windows XP Installation problems

[shmepti]

Im having some trouble installing win xp. Im running a ECS k7s5a mobo, w/AMD TBIRD (1GHz). Each time I try and instla windows on my maxtor DiamonMax Plus 60 drive, i get an error. I get to the part where it asks which partition I want to install on. I select which one, and format it. It goes through the entire countdown of the format, but at the end, it says the format can not be completed, that there is a problem with the partition. Ive tried running Maxtors Diagnostic Tools, but it seems to pass them all. Im at a loss for what to do at the moment. I tried the low level in Powermax, but ended up with the same error. Ive tried both FAT and NTFS, one large partition, and creating partitions. Nothing seems to work. Oh and Im using a LITEON cdrom.

Are there any know conflicts with this hardware? Or is the drive dead. thanks
Any help will be appreciated

 

[Buz2b]

Have you tried just using a Win98 boot disk to FDISK and Format the drive first? Then, from there just enable the boot from CD option in the BIOS and go through the options there. In this manner it will be FDISK'd and formatted before XP even looks at it. Might work.

 

[shmepti]

yup. same thing happens. I dont understand. I even connected it to another computer as a secondary drive. formatted it there. And when i ran winxp setup, i skipped the formatting, and just had it begin copying files. But that returned a Blue screen error, with some memroy addresses. im lost

 

[Buz2b]

Take another look at the jumpers. Other than that it could be a power problem or a HDD failure. I think I would start by double and triple checking the jumpers. What is the make and size of your PS? That board is infamous for needing a good quality PS. I know, from looking, that you don't have a "top of the charts" speed demon but that really doesn't matter. Even on an existing system the power supply can "weaken" over time.
One other question I have is that you mention formatting on a particular drive and then asked if it was a "problem with the partition". Exactly what is your IDE setup? Assuming you have two IDE HDD's, are they C and D respectively or did you partition one or both?

 

[WarCon]

I will guess that you are using an ATA 66/100 80-wire IDE cable. You need to make sure the blue plug goes to the mobo and that your master drive is on the black, slave is on the grey. You can use CS jumper with these cables. You might also try using a standard IDE cable (40 wire), this will slow the drive to UDMA 33 and let you know if its either the cable your using or some other communication problem between the motherboard and the drives controller. (If you have a cable with one of the wires punched out you can continue to use CS, otherwise you need to put it back to Master/Slave config)

The fact that it formatted no problem in another system tells me its probably something amiss in your box. Could be powersupply, faulty board, bad cable, not holding your tongue right when you install it or anything.........

 

[shmepti]

Power Supply is an Enlight, 300W.

Right now I have only that hard drive in the system on the primary channel. The secondary channel has my LiteOn burner. The "problem with the partition" is an abbreviated version of the error message that i got from windows setup. It basically says "Setup cannot format the partition. The disk May be damaged. Please select another partition"

 

[Buz2b]

The disk May be damaged. Please select another partition"

How many partitions, if any are on this drive? If there are more than one, would it be a problem to FDISK and eliminate them all? Did you in fact, as I suggested earlier, FDISK the drive or did you just format the partition? This is critical. If you FDISK then format the drive (even on another computer), then the drive itself "should" be OK if no errors pop up during either of these processes. As was suggested, change out the cable also; another critical item here. You should also go into the BIOS and see if the drive is recognized properly upon boot.

 

[shmepti]

I did FDISK and then format. Same thing happened. Ive tried with multiple partitions (3), and then one large partition also. Tried three cables on the drive. Not really sure waht else I could try. I think I might call maxtor and see if they can help and what not.

Thanks for everything

 

[Buz2b]

Make sure you are not overclocking that processor either. If I remember correctly, I used that PS on one of the first few ECS board systems I built and it was only rated "up to" 1.1 or 1.2 GHz by AMD at the time. So, you're right on the edge of that area as it is.