format failure

[computergirl]

I have already fdisked my hard drive and I have tried multiple startup disks and I still cannot get the format c: command to work! So I then tried to do an extract ebd.cab format.com and it tell me that it is a bad command or file nae - abort,retry,fail? then it also read general failure writing to drive a:
- I have taken the disk out of that particular system and gone to another computer and succesfully extracted format.com to the disk and then tried the disk again in the computer and it still does not accept the format command!!!! What should I do before I toos it out the window?

[HAL9000]

I would say that it sounds like your hard drive is bad if you can't format it. Go to the drive manufacturers website and download their diagnostic utility to verify that it's good/bad and RMA it if necessary/possible.

[computergirl]

so even though it is saying general failure writing to drive a: - you still think it could be a bad hd? I was thinking maybe it was bad a: drive - however it does appear to read the disk - so that would not be entirely true... I will take a look at the manafacturer diagnostic tools and do as you suggested - but at this point I almost feel like I am in a catch 22... we will see - any other suggestions ar ideas are welcome so send em my way if you have any! Thanks!

[Nuclear Krusader]

What is a "catch 22"?

And welcome to the PC Mech forums!

[Cricket]

What are the system specs?

Have you tried replacing the floppy drive yet? What about the floppy cable?

Do you have the BIOS anti-virus enabled?

Do you have extra RAM you can swap in?

Are you at the a: prompt when you're trying to run format?

Cricket

[computergirl]

Catch 22 is just an expression - basically I am at a loss either way I go - to put it nicely... but as far as the system specs... to be honest at this point I am not totally sure... I have tried to put this computer together from a number of old canabalized machines I have sitting around - so it is an old chasis - with a working hard drive that kept having some issues , and I also replaced the cd drive and the lan card... so it is rather hodge podge at the moment, and I really don't remember the exact size of the hd acceot that it exceed 512... from fdisk... and I think I could add some ram - but right now I just want it to format!!!! And - yes I am at the a: when I run the format command -
(a: format c

[computergirl]

that last line is
a: format c:
------------

[Cricket]

Originally posted by Nuclear Krusader What is a "catch 22"?

It's a novel by Joseph Heller that was made into a movie back in 1970.

"Joseph Heller's novel. The paradox that trapped members of the US military: Anyone who applied to get out of military service on the grounds of insanity was behaving rationally and thus couldn't be insane. The phrase is now often misapplied to any problematic or unwelcome situation."

Cricket

[Nuclear Krusader]

Thanks for explaining the meaning of the expression to me.

@ computergirl: is the drive you are trying to format the one that was having problems? Definitely download the diagnosing utility and test the drive. If it turns out fine you can do a zero filling to see if it helps.

[computergirl]

well I replaced the a: drive - still got the same error message... so I am looking at the diag tools right now - we shall see and yes it is a drive I was having some issues with...

[computergirl]

OK - new problem... I finally figured out that the system is incorrectly reading the a: drive - even after I replaced it with a different a: drive - ok so I then decided to try a different hd... well - then guess what same problem... the best way I know to describe it is that when I boot up with the start up disk I select boot from cd rom - with cd-rom support... then when I get to the a: prompt I enter the dir command - and I know for a fact it is giving me a bogus list of what is on the disk... so it has stored an image of a startup disk from somewhere and it is not actually reading the idsk I insert... even though it is a different drive and a different a: drive... This make absolutley no sense to me!! Somebody - anybody - please help!!

[HAL9000]

Ohhhh... OK.... I know whats happening here... I thought you were getting an actual format error.... switch to your CD drive, then to WIN98 for a Windows 98 CD, WIN9X for a Windows ME CD and run the format from there.

[computergirl]

well looks like I am on the road to recovery. it seems that it is not a good idea to have the Windows 98 OS disk in the cd-rom drive when booting from a bootdisk. It defaults to the cd first and then the a drive I guess or alt least some preconceived notion of a format disk... anyhow - the fix ended up being a combination of things - one I created a completely new bootdisk for the fourth time - froma new location called bootdisk.com, and I also ejected the OS cd from the cd drive and just booted from the disk - and thankfully this time it accepted the format command and is currently at 89% complete. So thanks for all the help and suggestions - and what can I say but now I know - no more cd's from bootup for me!

[HAL9000]

Realistically, booting from the CD is much easier, not to mention quicker. If you had booted from the CD and then chosen the Setup Windows option, it would have automatically started the format.

[computergirl]

the cd was the issue. I attempted it the way you suggested previously. It did not work - it only worked once the cd was removed.