XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help please!

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by sparx, Dec 22, 2004.

  1. sparx

    sparx Private E-2

    Hi

    I'm hoping someone can help me. I've just bought a new IDE drive - a Maxtor +8 40GB. I currently have a 20GB Maxtor running XP Professional 2002 - partitioned as the c: and d: drives. My computer is 265mhz with 384MB of Ram. What I wanted to do was to install Windows onto the new disc, create it as the c: drive, reletter my old c: drive and remove the partition.

    I set the jumpers on the drives to configure the new as 'primary master' and the old as 'primary slave' and put in the XP setup disc. All went very well. The disc was recognised by the BIOS, the XP CDrom launched and began installation. I set a 10mb partition and everything went smoothly

    Around 57% of the way through installation, the XP disc began saying it couldn't find files. After pressing 'esc' about 60 times to skip files I took the option to exit set up, thinking I could go back and try again. The disc may be corrupt, I don't know - it seemed to miss all the files beginning with 'n' and then went into the 'o's before I exited.

    I shut down the computer and re-started but this time the XP disc would not launch. I have now reversed the jumpers and am booting from my old drive into XP. While the computer sees the disc and windows shows it as working properly, I cannot seem to access it to format it and start again. Windows does not have a drive letter assigned to it and so it seems not to exist.

    I'm a fairly computer literate gal but seem to have hit the wall hereand if somone would be kind enough to help I'd be grateful...

    best

    Sparx :rolleyes:
     
  2. Turcoloco

    Turcoloco MajorGeek

    a little FYI:
    First of, lets make sure you know the 'realistic' minimums to install XP:
    RAM=256MB, CPU=600MHz or better, HardDrive (well XP installation alone takes like 1-1.5GB space also if System Restore feature will be used, you should have 60% or more of the boot partition (generally C) free after installing XP.

    I have no doubt you are knowledgeable since you had the guts to go thru all that, but I am still having doubts to what you have done indeed. Your PC is 265MHz?? Did you mean 2.65GHz? You set a 10MB partition? As the boot partition? I am assuming again you meant 10GB? If my assumption are correct and you were using the authentic XP CD, right? How did you create the partitions on the new 40GB Maxtor drive? Did you boot to the XP CD or some other way?

    What did you mean with this? "What I wanted to do was to install Windows onto the new disc, create it as the c: drive, reletter my old c: drive and remove the partition.' I couldn't understand the purpose of deleting a partition? Which drive did you delete the C partition on? On the old one that was working fine? If yes, why did you do that? Try to elaborate on this portion of the process, more in detail if possible.
    What I should suggest is take your old drive out, connect only the new one as the PM and boot to the XP CD and try to install it from scratch....what does happen?
     
  3. sparx

    sparx Private E-2

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    Hi, thanks for the reply

    It's a Pentium II processor 266mhz indeed, not ghz

    Ok. I wouldn't have set up XP on my system either however my husband did it for me as a surprise... It has been working on my old drive just fine and I have made the assumption that it is ok. I have been running out of room on that drive however as another well-meaning male friend partitioned my 20GB harddrive into a 3.89GB c: drive and a 15GB d: drive a couple of years ago when he installed it for me - no idea why.

    It's been driving me nuts that I can't install new software to C: as I'm out of room - also some processes stop half way as there's not enough space to continue and so I thought it would be a good idea to get a larger hard drive. I'd be happy to keep my old c: drive as the boot drive as long as I could remove the partition, I just, naively, thought it would be easier to create a new boot on a larger drive and reformat the old one.

    I partitioned the drive using the XP install CD and it recommended 8mb as the minimum partition - so I selected 10. I looked online for recommendations on size, including on the microsoft site but couldn't find one so just upped the amount selected by the CD.

    I have tried putting in the disc on it's own and rebooting but it can't be recognised at all. I think it may need to be completely erased and then reformatted but I do not know how to do this via windows - also as while windows recognises it, I checked in 'properties/system volume information' and it states that the disc is 'unreadable'.

    I gather I've royally messed things up here - the disc seems unreadable. Would going via an external drive and deleting all information help at all?

    thanks again, I'm feeling like a true computer bimbo.

    sparx
     
  4. sparx

    sparx Private E-2

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    ps - sorry, to clarify - I partitioned the new drive (prior to the troubles) NOT the old one and I haven't removed the partition on the old one - I didn't want to do anything at all to the original drive before the new drive was set up.

    So, the original drive is still showing in XP as c: and d: and is booting up - I just can't get XP (which is running fine on the old drive) to see the new drive at all.

    apologies for the long emails, I really do appreciate the help.
    sparx
     
  5. ASUS

    ASUS MajorGeek

    Go to Maxtor's web site & download the "MaxBlast utility" you can use this to format/partition/diagnos

    Make sure jumper's are set correctly.

    Your trying to set up new drive with XP? try remove old drive completely, connect the new as master, format & partiton with max blast, then load windows, see if that get's anywhere.
    If you get error's post em.

    you said
    "Around 57% of the way through installation, the XP disc began saying it couldn't find files. After pressing 'esc' about 60 times to skip files I took the option to exit set up, thinking I could go back and try again. The disc may be corrupt, I don't know - it seemed to miss all the files beginning with 'n' and then went into the 'o's before I exited."
    Is this a copy of XP or the Real Deal?
     
  6. sparx

    sparx Private E-2

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    Many thanks. I have another problem now, I am SO sorry - many thanks to all you helpful folks out there.

    I downloaded Maxblast but it couldn't read the drive either. With my other half home we've done some diagnostics and the new drive can't be read by any computer in the house. I now think the drive itself is faulty.

    We've swapped it for a 40gb backup drive from one of our externals and my other half reformatted this & loaded up XP. However, he did it with the new drive still configured as 'slave' and the old drive in place as master.

    XP is operating on both systems and I have the choice of which one to launch, with the default choice being the new drive. Once booted up, the new drive is showing in windows as 'e'.

    When I configure it as 'master' (and the other as 'slave') I get the message 'can't find operating system' even though it runs happily when it is configured as 'slave' (to the other one as 'master').

    So, my question is, how do I get it to submit to my will (!) If I were to relable it as 'c' (and the old 'c' as 'd' and 'd' as 'e' etc) will I be able to launch from the new drive as master? Then, can I reformat my old drive and use it for document storage?

    I dearly want a clean-running computer even if I've gone about it arse backwards

    sparx
     
  7. Turcoloco

    Turcoloco MajorGeek

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    Good Lord, I was about to say make sure the jumper settings are correct on the new drive, but from the sounds of it you been playing with that up and down....lol.
    btw, sorry about the delayed reply, sometimes I lose track of the threads I replied on, anyhow here is another FYI:
    (original in this scenario) Drive A has 2 partitions: C and D
    Drive B has only one: X
    A-PrimaryMaster and B-PrimarySlave then this is the partition order: C-D-X
    A-PrimaryMaster and B-SecondaryMaster: C-X-D
    with XP you could always change the drive letters of all the drives EXCEPT the BOOT partition (System Drive) which is C.

    If BIOS sees both drives just fine then the jumpers settings do not conflict, the new Drive should be visible in Disk Management panel:
    Start > Run > compmgmt.msc > OK
    let me know.

    PS, XP may run on 266MHz CPU but not recommended at all, I think it is like the bare minimum MS suggested then again their bare minimums are laughable.
     
  8. sparx

    sparx Private E-2

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    Turcoloco

    No worries about timing - I'm in the UK so have been asleep for the past 8 hours! Many thanks, this is clear. I did have words with my other half when he gave me XP but I guess I'm proof that it runs on this system,

    OK. Final questions, I hope. Firstly, is it possible to create the new drive (currently 'e') as a boot drive and make it the new c: without reformatting it completely? (and what would be the best way?) - also if I do that, how can I then reformat the existing c: to delete everything and make it a secondary drive?

    Secondly, if it would be easier to stick with the existing c: as boot drive, could I remove the partition between c: and d: and reformat or clean the non-boot section of the drive to delete everything and start again? The existing partition is tiny and full of rubbish and I just want to clear it all out and start from scratch.

    Many many thanks again, your advice so far has been excellent,

    sparx
     
  9. sparx

    sparx Private E-2

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    ps again - computer management sees the disc and windows has lettered it 'e'
     
  10. Turcoloco

    Turcoloco MajorGeek

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    Sparx,
    There are different ways of accomplishing what you wanted to do, the best way? Backup all your personal files, favorites, passwords/application settings or whatever you want before continuing to do anything...even if your pre-planned action is correct with Windows nothing is 100% (I am sure even Bill Gates backsup his system before applying any kind of patch on his PC ;) )
    Ok back to where I left off....after backing up files connect both drives however you like (Master-Slave) then boot to XP CD and wipe out the existing partition and then do a full format before installing XP from scratch.

    Alternative ideas:
    3 files matter the most on standard Windows 2K, NT and XP installations during the boot:
    Ntldr, Ntdetect.com and Boot.ini (located directly on the Boot -C- Drive, also on the XP CD).
    Boot.ini tells the mbr upon call as to where (which drive & which partition) the boot files are. There are a few Mickie Mouse way of moving/copying the above 3 files to the new drive after modifying so the system uses that Drive as the active boot drive. I prefer and suggest clean installations. You could leave the new drive alone and install XP from CD as you boot to it after the installation is complete you could modify the Boot.ini file to match the new setup and move them from the old drive onto the new making the new one the boot drive or leave the old drive Primary Slave, make the new drive Primary Master, boot to XP CD install everything. During the XP installation on the new drive the old drive should not be connected. Afterwards, manually access and copy/move your files from the old drive (files only not the programs that actually registered themselves into the Windows Registry, ok?).
    Don't worry about changing/deleting partition on an XP system as the Windows internal FDISK utility does a fine job...changing Drive(partition) letter for the ones other than the Boot Drive (as I mentioned earlier) can be done in the Disk Management Console.
    Let me know if this answers your question or not.
     
  11. sparx

    sparx Private E-2

    Re: XP install exited during new disc format and now I cannot format disc - help plea

    Turcoloco

    Yes! Thanks! I disconnected the old boot, set up the new as master and re-loaded XP making the new disc the boot (I had the boot.ini file just in case but it was fine). Once done, configured the new drive master and the old one slave and it's gone perfectly.

    I'll try using fdisc now, I've deleted everything on the old drive in stages and rescued anything I needed so I'm good to go now.

    Thanks for being so generous with your time and information - happy yule and have a great new year.

    sparx
     
  12. Turcoloco

    Turcoloco MajorGeek

    I am glad your issue is resolved in satisfaction.
    Happy holidays to you and to your family!
    :)
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds