"unable to format hard drive may be damaged"

We have 2 computers, all components 100% compatable with WIN2000, BIOS is set up for LBA.

Comp #1 has 2 hard drives, both 40gig. 1 WD and 1 Seagate. Gigabyte MB with AMD 1.0, built-in sound and nic, Radeon 9000 video, 512 ram.

Comp#2 has 2 hard drives, 10gig Maxtor and 80gig WD. Albetron MB with AMD 2.0, build-in sound, NIC card, ATI video, 512 ram.

Comp#2 Windows corrupted after removing the c: to test a third computer. Unable to repair or reinstall OS, Long story short we have done a low level format with GWSCAN that will scan for errors etc (no errors), fixmbr, fixboot, WIN2000 format NTFS, goes to 100% then says "unable to format hard drive may be damaged". We have done this with both Comp#2 hard drives and the Seagate 40gig from Comp#1 and 2 spare hard drives we had laying around. Occasionally it will finish formatting then we'll get a bunch of errors loading the OS files in alphabetical order starting with the A's. After retrying each file load about a dozen times we'll skip that file. After skipping a couple dozen files we'll get a BSD (blue screen of death) with the error "CDFS_FILE_SYSTEM".

The other day for some reason we were allowed to install the OS without any errors. I loaded drivers, virus scaner, firewall, adware, then got BSD and the whole thing started over again: unable to repair or reinstall OS, low level format.... you get the picture.

One HD may be bad, on a windy day maybe two. But not 5. Besides, they were all working fine just before xmas. I was able to use the Maxtor 10gig in Comp #1 as a slave and pull files from it.

Using Comp #2 We've just attempted a WIN2000 format on Comp#1 Seagate 40gig (again) and got the 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 comp. If the disk is a SCSI, make sure your SCSI devices are properly terminated.... You must select a different partition for WIN2000"

Sometimes we'll get an error telling us to check any new hardware or that there is adequate disk space. We have swapped video cards, cd drives, CPU fans and memory. Could it be a MB problem or a virus that is staying on the HD after LLformat (is that even possible?)

 

Try using partition magics boot disks, format the drive (assuming you're using NTFS file system now) with FAT32, apply and let it go through the conversion. Then format back to NTFS again. Then try inserting the windows cd and make a new install. I got this exact same problem just two days ago and this worked. I don't know if you did that, but I got this problem when trying to overclock my cpu. Windows can't handle that sometimes and therefore the C:\Windows\system32\system file goes corrupt (along ith a number of other files, too much to repair). This will at least get your drive to work again.

Obviously you've lost everything on the drive already.

If you complete the install of windows and this problem comes back you do have another problem as you suggest. I would then check for bios updates to eliminate any such issue. If it's still doing it come back here and ask for more help.

 

On top of what you already have done and what has been suggested by the other gentleman, try this (I know it may sound weird but just do it):
IF you were using a ATA-66/100/133 type cable for connecting your HD on this problem system, find a good ATA-33 cable, so do not use the new type ATA-66/100/133 ribbon cable with 8-wires but use the old 40-pin/40-wire ATA-33 cable that CD-ROM drives use.

My initial thought was RAM or even possibly dirty/damaged CD but what I suggested on top (if applicable) is something you should try and let us know.

BIOS update is also worth looking into as suggested.

Last resort, go to this site and download the HD tool depending on which drive you are using for the installation (each brand HD Tools does only work for the same brand HD so download the applicable one) and try that utility to partition & format the drive, then let windows2000 do the installation without making any changes to the file system (leaving it intact).
Let us know.

Good Luck.