Cannot format partition. PLease help me

Kenny_D

I dont know what to do. I have been trying to fix my cousins pc for a week now. I want to perform a clean reinstall of windows xp pro SP2 on the hard drive

When I get to the format I choose NTFS (quick). It goes straight to 20% and then to 100% and gives me the following error

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 your SCSI devices are properly terminated. Consult your computer or SCSI adapter documentation for more information. You will have to select a different partition for Windows XP. Press ENTER to continue.

I have also tried it with a low level format but got the same results.

It's a Western Digital 160gb SATA hdd. I have downloaded the diagnostic tool from their website which tells me there are no errors. I have also run their format program which creates and formats a partition for me but when I go to install windows I get the same error

I have tried the hard drive in my own rig and got the same problem. I have switched the memory, changed the cables. I wrote zeros to the drive and started again. I have cleared the CMOS but none of this has worked.

I just dont know what to do anymore I dont think I can send the hard drive back as the diagnostic reports no problems (though when I ran fdisk from a win98 disk it reported there were bad sectors).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really need to fix this for my cousin as soon as I can.

Thanks in advance

optiplexgx270

if i remember correctly is to do with the RAID setting in the bios (as its a SATA drive).

Kenny_D

Can you elaborate on that please. I'm not too familiar with the raid settings in the bios. If you cant remember then thats fine. Thanks though, I'll have a look now

I noticed the same problem was not uncommon on those dell optiplex pc's.

My bios is Phoenix award bios. I am using an MSi K8N Neo Platinum motherboard. Nvidia Nforce 3 250gb chipset based

optiplexgx270

but that will mean rebooting my machine and the simpsons season 3 is coming down at 110KBs) fine ill check what my machine is set to. I had to reinstall windows and had to call dell about it.

Kenny_D

Thanks. Everything on the hard drive is lost at this stage. I just want to get it back up running again. Two whole weekends I've wasted trying to fix it

vibe666

try killdisk (google it, it's free) to completely wipe everything off the disk, then try again. i've rescued several disks that were unusable by doing this.

Kenny_D

I'll try it if I cant get it to work by changing the Raid settings. Thanks

optiplexgx270

in my bios i have the following (its a dell 8400)

Sata-0 ON
Pata - 0 ON
PATA - 1 ON


Under sata operation (part i had trouble with)

4 option

RAID / autodetect / AHCI
RAID / autodetect / ATA (this is the one i have active)
RAID ON
Combination

Kenny_D

OK thanks a million. I'll have a look at my settings now

optiplexgx270

let us know if and how you get it up and running.

Kenny_D

will do. keep tuned

thanks again. i hadnt thought of the bios settings. figured it was a bad hard drive

Kenny_D

Something called SATA DMA transfer is disabled. Should that be turned on?

If anyone else has a phoenix award bios can they please help me to get the same settings as mentioned. Thanks

Kenny_D

Well I've had no luck. Tried changing all the settings in my bios for raid but cannot find any mention of the settings you decribed. Might try that killdisk thing now.

If any has had this problem please let me know how you fixed it. I really want to fix this tonight if possible. The thought of another week doing this is killing me

Balfa

I don't know anything about SATA, but i once had a problem where i fdisk couldn't read the disk. The disk worked in every other way and i had windows installed and it led a normal life, except that i couldn't fdisk to rewrite the partitions and gain some space.

I ended up trying different configuration settings for the drive in the bios (changed number of heads/cyls/etc.) and that fixed the problem. Make sure that even if it's autodetecting, that all those settings are set according to the sticker on the drive.

osmethod

Without knowing if your raid is setup correctly and because you said that the format stopped at 20% and you are desparate you could try the following.

Create an initial partition about 25% the size of your overall disk. Do not format it. Now try and reinstall your os and when it asks you to create a partition do so after the partition you just created.

I use this method when i get bad sectors at the beginning of disks.

Osmethod

osmethod

Have you tried turning raid off. There are 2 versions of SATA for the dell 8400 with or without raid.
Also, are you using the original Dell install CD?

Have you tried the following.... when installing XP Pro at the start did you select F6 to install the SATA Drivers for XP - there may be OS drivers required for the OS to pick up the array?

Osmethod

osmethod

Link to Dell 8400 docs....

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/en/index.htm

Osmethod

Kenny_D

I dont have a dell pc its a custom made one. I installed the extra SATA drivers when pressing F6 and it formats that array. I am using a full Windows XP Pro disc not a restore disc

I'll try the 2 partitions thing you mentioned now. Thanks

astrofool

try updating the bios. Make sure you delete any pre-existing partitions and then create a new one. Make sure you load both drivers from the floppy disc. Seeing as you are not using raid, make sure raid is set as disabled in the bios. You can try disable sata dma, though it should not make a difference. It won't cause any harm either (maybe slightly decreased performance).

Khannie

Try downloading a linux installer. Partition with a linux partition and see if you can format it then. If you suceed, then try the windows installer again.

osmethod

might help you...

http://www.techworthy.com/PCUpgrade/JulyAug2004/Setting-Up-An-ATA-RAID-Array.htm

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/41058/41058.html

osmethod