Do I Need to Reformat?

Hey guys...long story short...I think my hard drive is fried.

Win Xp does not load in any mode, when i try to reinstall it from the installation cd...it stalls permanently on the screen when it says "searching for a previous version of windows on your computer."
in dos mode, i did c: dir - only like 11 files showed up, which were system files...none of my directories or anything else. so i think my hard drive was either erased or corrupted....i don't want to have to buy a new one unless its absolutely necessary...can anyone tell me if i should reformat it and HOW to do this? or is there any other way i can check to see if it is still useable?

 

if the only thing you saw was system files and no folders, then you're missing quite a bit. . Are you sure you don't see a windows directory? Your install cd sounds like an upgrade cd, can you confirm?

 

there are absolutely no folders.

and its not an upgrade cd, its the reinstallation disk that came with the computer.

i was thinking of just buying a new hard drive and trying that...i cant figure out what else to do.

 

when i was in dos mode, i tried format c: --that didnt even work, it gave me an error message.

i tried booting from the tools and drivers cd that also came with the computer...but still got nothing accomplished.

 

the reinstallation cd should be bootable so long as your CDROM is set to first boot slot in the bios. I don't think your hard drive is a problem at this point. You could just waste your money if you go out and buy a new one, unless you're looking for an excuse to buy something

 

it is bootable...the reinstall does start...however, after i agree to the terms, it starts searching for my previous version of windows...at that point it stops completely and nothing else happens

 

what kind of machine is this?

 

Its a Dell...about two -3 years old....never had a problem until now...there was a storm that interfered with everyone's internet connection on my block a few days ago...dont know if that has anything to do with it...my computer was off anyway

 

if it was off, then chances are good that you're ok. I'm still stumped as to why it wants to look for a previous os.

 

should i call dell tech support? not sure they will help if i'm over my warranty

 

they'll probably charge you if your warranty is up. did they ever give you an windowsXP cd? or just the recovery disk?

 

All I have is the reinstallation cd

 

take a look at this.. is this what you're seeing

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxphome/installxpcdnewhdd/index.htm

 

OK...


after the user license agreement, i don't get the same page (first screen on part 2) instead, it says "searching for previous version of windows" and then freezes

 

If the previous OS is still on the drive, then its probably hanging when reading the registry.

The registry is read (amongt other things), if present, to allow the option of repair, if it finds a previous installation. If not, it goes through a clean one.

I can only think of one thing you could try.

Go to recovery console, and type at the prompt:

mkdiskraw 0

Where 0 is your primary, master drive.

I assume this is where windows was at?

You will lose all data.



Then do a clean install.

If you can't do this, I would debug the drive.

 

why don't you forget XP for awhile and get a Win98/ME startup disk and fdisc/format & scan disc the HD-if you do the full monty scan disc it will show you if you have bad sectors on the HD with a visual representation of the clusters. Myself, i have found that XP wont install unless i use a pretty new CD drive-doesn't like the old stuff except maybe older DVD drives