Had a HDD partition fail, tried to reinstall windows and started to get this error message: "Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged". Ran diagnostics from Hitachi, didn't find anything wrong but RMA'd the drive anyway because it had failed once. Got the new drive, same problem.
OS is Win XP Home w/SP2 (full version), HDD is Hitachi 160 GB w/jumpers set to Drive0 Master, attempting to format in NTFS, SMART is disabled, brand new IDE cable, brand new PC Chips Mobo w/ Socket A Athlon 2200+, 512 MB PC3200 DDR RAM, LiteOn DVD drive on 2nd IDE channel w/jumpers set to Cable Select
Also, when I run FIXMBR in the setup Repair system it tells me the drive has a non-standard MBR…not sure if this is related to the problem but seems strange since it's a new drive.
Any and all assistance is very much appreciated. This computer has been a paper weight for 3+ wks and really want to get it running again.
Ok, first thanks for all the advice.
Tried a CD burner instead of the DVD drive but had same problem. Also tried a different XP disk and came up w/same problem. Going to try the drive in a different computer tomorrow to rule out any possible hardware issues in the current one. Also going to check BIOS settings in the morning.
Ok, tried a different cd drive and that didn't work. Also tried the HDD in a different system and that worked, setup went completely ok. Finished setup to the point where you have to reboot the 1st time and moved it to the original computer and got an error message about the drive being corrupt so back to square 1 there.
Also tried swapping memory to rule out poss. memory problem, didn't work.
Trying a boot disk right now to attempt to partition and format the drive and then try the setup CD.
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8 responses so far ↓
1 yomarokae // Jun 27, 2008
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2 Tim19 // Jun 27, 2008
It sound like something is wrong with your hard drive man! try installing a different OS and then see if it works, if it does'nt then i'm sure its your hard drive
3 mday2004 // Jun 27, 2008
you can format the drive on another operating system if you have
or use a startup disk
to format the driver before installing windows xp
4 piepieonline // Jun 27, 2008
Try formatting it by using a Linux Live Disc, e.g. Ubuntu and formatting it from there.
5 J---- C // Jun 27, 2008
Since you tried FixMBR, try and use Fdisk command to delete all the partitions. Also you can buy software like Partition magic to help you with. After clearing the partitions, try doing the FixMBR again and see if that works.
Hopefully after you delete the partitions, you can just use the cd installation to format new drives. Let me know if it works out. Not entirely sure of the whole problem so we can work from here and you can email me on future problems regarding this matter.
6 golfer2 // Jun 27, 2008
I had the same problem as you and finally figured out it was the DVD drive.DVD players just plain don't like Windows installation CD's.I went to many forums on google and found that many,many others had the same problem.I switched back to my old CD drive for installation and it went smooth as glass.
7 Astro // Jun 27, 2008
Whew! You sound like you got some of my luck!
Try this, 1st wet, then wash that install disk gently with soap & water. Blot dry w/ paper. Hold it up to the light at an angle and look for tiny lil marks. A blemish is enuff to ruin some discs. When ready, boot, it and choose the quick format option. That will erase any markers left by a previous failed effort. THEN- go back and do a full format. The comment about the optical drive has some merit to it. Not suppose to be, but have seen it. Lite on stuff is usually bullet proof. Set that drive to master being as its on a single thread. Also, this is weird… remove ANY Usb devices from it. Edit back the results here as a comment. Also, check your Bios settings. Hitachi's are a lil weird about some settings. I'm doing this from a 2400 Amd, still very viable machines.
8 First L // Jun 27, 2008
Have you tried another ide slot on your computer ? It may not be the HD. it can be your motherboard.
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