New build, can't reformat

[Sound Mind]

So, in accordance with Murphy's Law in the computer world, if you have no hardware problems, you'll have mountains and mountains of software issues. Much like I do.

I built a new computer here. I installed XP Pro SP1 on it, but every now and then, it'd tell me it couldn't locate a file on the CD, I'd hit retry, and it'd seem fine. But after the install, I'm trying to use the computer, and XP just seemed to be acting goofy. I had a hell of a time getting any networks set up, and after I upgraded to SP2, all my networks disappeared, it wouldn't let me set up any more, and any hopes of getting it back on the internet were shot. So I figured "Okay, this install is too problematic. I'm just going to reformat."

So I boot from the XP CD, it gives me the option of deleting the partition, so I do, because that's what I want to do, and it says "Hooray, that worked." But then it tries to create a partition, but can't because "the computer may not have enough memory or the Windows CD-ROM contains corrupt files."

The CD-ROM doesn't contain corrupt files. Because that CD installed XP just fine on this computer I'm using now.

I've proven the system is fully functional once. So it can't be hardware.

I'm thinking the partition just wasn't deleted properly or something, so I tried getting my boot disks and running FDISK, but for some reason, the BIOS just kept restarting when it was checking my system configuration or whatever, and I could never get to anything interesting.

What can I do? Thanks.


System build:
Biostar P4M800 Pro M7
Intel Celeron D 352 3.2gHz CPU
Coolmax CX-400B 400W PSU
WD Caviar 160GB UltraATA 100
512MB DDR2 SDRAM

[glc]

I think you do have hardware problems. I would start by running hard drive and ram diagnostics. Hard drive diags can be downloaded from WD, ram diags at www.memtest.org. They are both available as either a boot floppy package or bootable CD .iso or you could make a Ultimate Boot CD (www.ultimatebootcd.com) You could also test with a different optical drive.

Not that this is the problem, but I would be suspect of that Coolmax power supply. It's not a quality manufactured brand and could be giving you dirty power.

[Sound Mind]

Just before you replied, I flashed the BIOS and made a WD boot disk that deleted and created a working partition. It took some tweaking, but all is well again. It's all working again. Now let's see if it'll stay that way.

Thanks.

[glc]

I would still run diagnostics just to make sure. Flaky ram can drive you nuts.

[Sound Mind]

Alright, turns out my problems were entirely software oriented. All my hardware checks out just fine. It's just that for some reason, some XP services aren't starting when required, which is causing a lot of bizarre errors. Like how I couldn't use the XP Style layout. And why all my networks disappeared when I upgraded SP2.

Anyhow, now that I can safely assume how to fix any bizarre error that may come my way now, I'm all set. And I figure I may as well share this information in case anybody else ever has my problem.

Running services.msc and snooping around might just solve a lot of problems for people.

So thanks for the help!

[glc]

Something has to cause services not to start - that's what you have to investigate. This is not normal behavior.