Cannot format laptop hard drive

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Roy Mustang, Mar 14, 2006.

  1. Roy Mustang

    Roy Mustang Private E-2

    Hi there honorable keepers of knowledge.

    I've got a bit of a situation here. I'm fixing my boss's daughters laptop. When it was given to me, I found that someone prior had been in the middle of reinstalling windows. I have been tinkering with the system all day and have finally narrowed the problems down to the hard drive. After running chkdsk through the recovery console and having it find hard drive errors, I figured this has to be the problem. I decided to try reformatting the entire drive. This is where my main problem began. I cannot get Windows XP nor Windows98 to format the drive. I have removed the partitions with the Windows XP setup and even used the Win98 CD to remove all partitions and create a new one. Before I used Fdisk, I tried reformatting with the WinXP setup CD and also in the recovery console. It just hangs on me at 0%. The same thing happens when trying to use Win98 to format.

    Earlier in the day, after reinstalling windows, I was getting a stop error 0xC000021A. This error led me to at first believe that RAM was the issue. I ran Memorytest though and it found no errors.

    I can't give too many details as there is not even a working operating system on this machine. Here's what I know. The system is a Dell Inspiron 2600.

    Pentium III
    128MB RAM
    20GB Hard Drive

    Let me know if there is more info you need and I will try to get it for you. I know the details I have provided are sparse. Trust me, I've been dealing with it all day and that's about all I have been able to glean from the system.
     
  2. Roy Mustang

    Roy Mustang Private E-2

    UPDATE!

    After doing what I should have done in the first place, I consulted the MSKB about the differances between Quick and regular formats using Winxp Setup. After trying a quick format, the computer continues to install windows like it would normally do. Whether or not this install will work is another question as every install I've tried so far today has not. It will crash with a 0xC000021A Stop Error.

    Now, assuming there is no working OS on my system, is there a way to repair hard drive errors(assuming they are of the repairable kind)?
     
  3. Roy Mustang

    Roy Mustang Private E-2

    Sorry to keep making new posts but I felt I should include this information as well. Throughout the day as I've tried reinstalling windows, I tried installing two Windows install onto the same drive in the /Windows and /windows2 directories.
    When copying files during the initial setup, it would complete the file copy into the /Windows directory. However, when I tried installing to the /windows2 directory, about halfway through the copy phase it was tell me that it was unable to copy so-and-so file. I tried a couple differant times and it gave me the same error on the same exact files. The CD I'm using came with my current system and has never actually been used(my work computer is a Dell :( puke gag and the like). With the same CD when copying to the /Windows directory, I do not get this error. This was another clue that led me to believe the hard drive is the culprit here.
     
  4. foogoo

    foogoo Major "foogoo" Geek

    Why not pull the drive and find out the manufacture and go get their HDD diagnostics? That will tell you if the drive is good or bad.... so if it passes diag. then low level format it & start over. My friend uses HDD Regenerator for recovering bad spots, but my opnion is why risk it with a 'flakey' drive? replace it.
     
  5. Roy Mustang

    Roy Mustang Private E-2

    That's a pretty good idea. I'll admit I am a little bit hesitant to take apart a laptop because I've never done it before. I'm used to working on desktop systems where everything is a lot...bigger. :) But that's a good idea and one I'll probably end up doing. The system has been out of warranty now for a while.

    When I left work today, which is where I am working on the laptop, I had finally got windows to start installing correctly. I was about 1/2 way through when I left so we'll see in the morning. I know the hard drive errors have to still be there so I am going to try and fix them. That is, if the install worked. Otherwise, back to square one at which point I'll probably pull the drive like you suggested.
     
  6. jaytungsvik

    jaytungsvik Private E-2

    Hi, as mentioned take out the laptop hd... and then get an adapter, I got one from Maplins, I get the impression your in the US, so, i would say Radio shack should have one.. Mine was about 5 quid.... so, should be under $10.

    basically, an ide cable, that has the standard pc on one end, and a laptop connector on the other..

    Stick it in a pc as a slave drive and then check it over... with diagnostic progs...

    Its what I've done on several laptops...

    To find out where the hd is, do a search on google for the manual....
    More often than not, its underneath, so check out the panels that you can take off underneath... IF not.. then see if the keyboard *clicks* off..it may be accessable under there..

    IF NOT that.. lol.. then its a case of taking the entire laptop to bits to get to the hd...

    hth
    Jay
     
  7. bigbazza

    bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek

    And buy some additional RAM, when you get it going. 128mb RAM is barely enough for W98SE, much less XP. I have 192mb of RAM on my old W98SE desktop and have to have a memory manager running at all times for best results. Bazza
     
  8. Roy Mustang

    Roy Mustang Private E-2

    Well gentlemen, I have found the problem and it was the hard drive. Thanks to FooGoo for giving the winning advice, though the rest of you gave the same. :)

    I ran the HD diagnostic program after pulling the drive to figure out the manufacturer. Indeed the drive is defective. Since the system has been out of warranty now for a while, I'm going to have to tell my boss that he'll have to buy a new hard drive himself. I'll mention the RAM issue to him as well.

    Thanks to everyone who replied to my question. Keep on saving the world one computer system at a time!
     
  9. Mark Stoker

    Mark Stoker Private E-2

    I always thought laptops either had there own recovery disks or had an onbuilt recovery where you press F11 on startup to open recovery
     
  10. jaytungsvik

    jaytungsvik Private E-2

    Some do... depends totally on make and model!!!
     

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