clean install of xp went bad, help

[suitcase]

Booted with xp disk tried to install over os, but failed.
used 98se boot disk to fdisk, didn't format.
booted with xp disk and formatted began to install.
monitor garbled up couldn't see so started over.
windows installed almost completly but failed.
tried again but failed.
this morning, after several tries I'm fdisking and formating with 98se boot disk.
when it runs message says "bios not installed because there are no drives installed" but I'm formating c: now at 35%
keep getting this message: "trying to recover allocation unit" and then a six digit #. after a few seconds it starts to format again.
just above the line where it gives me the percentages the line reads "formatting 10,78.56M" what is that? My drive is 80 GB.

Going to town soon as it finishes formatting so may pick up new WD HDD. Office max has 80GB for $39 after rebates.

could problem be in bios. could I need new battery?

[toomyg]

I'm no expert but it Sounds to me that the HD is bad

[Cricket]

Yeah, sounds like the hard drive is failing. The garbled up screen makes me think something else might be going on too...maybe the motherboard itself is faulty.

Cricket

[suitcase]

could it be the bios, seeing as it reads "bios not installed because there are no drives installed"? Gigabyte boards have dual bios should I try to switch? I just got home and didn't find a hdd. I finished the format with the 98se boot disk, but when I boot with the xp disk i get the black screen with the message above. then it goes to the command prompt c:\.

[Cricket]

That message usually means you don't have the RAID drivers installed.

Go to the hard drive manufacturers web site and download the diagnostic utilities and test your hard drive out.

Cricket

[suitcase]

well I just went through the bios and found some things weren't set as they should be. the raid deal needed to be disabled if I didn't have the 3 & 4 drives installed. Thats why I was getting that message above. I'm now in the process of trying to install windows. When it started it wanted to load using the FAT system I fooled around and got a new partition and it's starting to format right now. 65% now. So I'll let you know one way or the other. I don't really think anythhings wrong with my stuff. Right now I'm reading the screen and it says "Please wait while setup formats the partition
C: Partition1 [New (Raw)] 76309 MB (76303 MB free) on 76317 MB disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0. whats it all mean?

[suitcase]

Ok when XP got to the end of the format 90 some % (I wasn't watching when it stopped) I got this message.

Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged.

Make sure the drive is switched on and properly connected to your computer. If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure SCSI devices are properly terminated. Consult your computer manual or SCSI adapter documentation for more information.

You must select a different partition for Windows XP.
To continue, press ENTER

Man I thought I had it going my way this time. I going to look for the thread that had the link to a HDD program to check the drive. I'LL BE BACK!

[glc]

If it's a WD drive -

http://support.wdc.com/download/dlg/DlgDiagv504c.zip

If you are trying to install XP - do NOT use Fdisk, do NOT prepartition and format the drive - let XP Setup remove existing partitions and set up XP in what should then be unallocated space, it will partition and format it for you. However, I think you have a bum drive and the diags will prove it.

[suitcase]

Hi glc, I have downloaded the file but this a Dell that I just wiped clean and put ME back on. When I tried to unzip the file found no utility to do it. I thought winzip was free. Anyway I'm getting ready to use the checker but I'm not sure how to do it. The drive I want to check is in my pc with no os on it. Is this a file I'll run from the floppy? I'm ignorant I know.
Here's the thing, I opened the box, and cleaned all my fans. The drive in question, WD 800JB, was hot to the touch, not unusual because I've felt it before. I have a fan in the box drawing air over the drive. It is running, I can feel it. So,,,I assume that doesn't mean the drive is really "working", right?
This morning I started over, when the cd boots, the partition it asks to load on is FAT. I guess thats because I fdisked with the 98se boot disk?? Anyway I deleted it though it says that I may not be able to boot from said drive till xp is loaded. I let xp do it's thing and am now formatting on the partition it created below. There is also another partition on the disk it says it's 8MB. What is that? Is that the CACHE on the HDD?

C: Partition1 [New (Raw)] 76309 MB (76303 MB free) on 76317 MB disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0.
__________________

I'm trying one more time now. I could slave the drive in this PC but man if I screw this one up I'm out of luck, trying to get help. Thanks for all the help so far. If it fails I'm gonna run the diagnostic program.

[suitcase]

It says no drive found. I'm gonna try a new cable. Want to WD benefit of doubt?

Changing cables allowed the diag. to see the drive. Quick test found some issues and I'm running the full media scan. Should I write 0s to the drive?

[HyperTF]

EDIT: Remember this is at your own risk...just advice here!
Assuming you want one HDD partition of 80GB

Going by memory... you should be able to use FDISK although a bit primitive.
I would do the following (remember, this is by memory!)

Insert a startup floppy which will has FDisk, and put WinXP CD in drive (say goodbye to WinME if possible) turn system on.

Go into BIOS on boot up (F8) in BIOS FEATURE SETUP menu, change the boot sequence to A,CDROM,C save and exit...system should reboot.

Floppy should load, Using Fdisk delete the logical partition/s already set so there are no formatted/active partitions set. You may need to reboot to make sure this takes effect.

Go into BIOS... change the boot sequence to CDROM,A,C save and exit, system should reboot. (remove floppy)

WinXP setup should kick in and format the drive and go on to install the OS.

if it doesn't you might need to use FDISK again and set up the partition/s yourself although it does struggle to understand drive sizes exceeding 20GB I think. I have an 80GB set up and FDISK can recognise it, though I have set up 2 40GB partitions... and yes I get the 8MB partition at the end... will have to get back to you about that one. Don't forget any changes you do with FDISK may require a reboot to update.

EDIT: Don't forget to change the boot sequence back to A,C,SCSI when you have it working.

Assuming your rquirements it sounds like you need FAT32, NOT FAT16, NTFS is a possibility but I think FAT32 is the go. And if you see an application called Partition Magic selling cheap it might be worth the investment... I believe version 8 is the latest. I have it and it has saved me a few times now.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[glc]

Originally Posted by suitcase It says no drive found. I'm gonna try a new cable. Want to WD benefit of doubt?

Check your jumpering. WD jumpering is different than others, you can NOT jumper the drive to Master if there is no slave present. If you aren't using 80 wire cables and Cable Select, you must remove the jumper for a standalone drive.

If the full media test cannot repair the errors, RMA the drive.

[suitcase]

Hyper see the post before yours. I was in the process of editing it when you posted. Thanks for the help.

[suitcase]

glc, this drive has been in since I built the pc. Trouble started when I tried to do the install. I've changed from my round cable to the one that came with the mb. and the diag. tool has found the drive and doing full media scan as we speak.

[suitcase]

sorry I ended up with double post and deleted it.

[HyperTF]

Originally Posted by glc Check your jumpering. WD jumpering is different than others, you can NOT jumper the drive to Master if there is no slave present. If you aren't using 80 wire cables and Cable Select, you must remove the jumper for a standalone drive.

I didn't know this... interesting, I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference having the Master jumper set for a stand alone... cheers for that. I have mine set on master but I am running a slave unit.

[glc]

If you are using master/slave jumpering with an 80 wire cable, you still must place the correct connector in the correct device, you cannot override the cable select protocol with the jumpers. Blue to controller, black end to master, gray in the middle to slave.

[suitcase]

Originally Posted by glc If you are using master/slave jumpering with an 80 wire cable, you still must place the correct connector in the correct device, you cannot override the cable select protocol with the jumpers. Blue to controller, black end to master, gray in the middle to slave.

glc, I just checked my jumpering. There are no jumpers installed. I only have the one HDD. My original cable was round, blue to the MB, black to drive. The ribbon cable I have on it now came with the MB. I'm positive the directions for the drive said no jumpers if it was the only HDD installed.

Ok I've tried running the diag tool from WD and the quick test said I had problems, the extended test said "too many errors found" error/status code 0225 check with tech reps. After trying to write 0s to the drive it stopped after a coulple minutes. When I rebooted it said no drive found. I turned it off and pulled the cable from the drive, booted, turned it off, hooked it up, booted and it found the drive again. When I tried to run the extended test again it locked up again. I guess were back to "bad drive".

[glc]

Definite RMA, you can do it online at www.wdc.com .

[suitcase]

I'm in the process of RMAing it now but their form says my zip isn't found in the state. Thats wierd, I've been using it for years. Well I used their ask a question form and hope to hear back tomorrow. I've got the drive out and ready to ship. Thanks to all who helped me try to work out the problems.

[rjfvillarosa]

My sympathies suitcase you certainly tried. hope all works out ok for you.


(cant believe it after all that and now they dont reconize his zip code .....good grief )

[suitcase]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa My sympathies suitcase you certainly tried. hope all works out ok for you. (cant believe it after all that and now they dont reconize his zip code .....good grief )

Well I want to thank everyone who assisted me in working out this problem. This site is the best and I always recomend it my friends. WD had given me a RMA and I'm sending the drive back for replacement. Other than the zip issue they have been very good (so far). I had to call to resolve the zip thing and the woman was really nice, no problem at all. Hope all the others who have had trouble with their WD drives should take glc's advice and run the diagnostic tool. I think that when I gave them the code they pretty much accepted that without question. Good luck.

[glc]

No matter WHAT brand drive you have - the first thing you do is run the manufacturer's diags whenever you have problems like this. Doing anything else is usually a waste of time. That's what the diags are for, and quick tests only take a few minutes. If quick tests fail, then you know there's a problem and you need to run extended tests. If quick tests pass, then there may be other issues and the drive is usually (but not always) ok.