HDD formatting help please windows xp sp2

Hi all having some problems i hate having to make all these treads. Its just nothing about computers makes any sense to me, For example i tried going right to my computer and hitting format...that doesn't work because first the HD partition needs to be deleted.

So i went to my computer Manage ..where a tutorial says that i can delete the main partition from there...Only i can't, Because the "delete logical drive" option isn't filled in with black meaning that i'm not using my OS disk as a boot device...but i am! at least i think i am ...I went to bios and locked in my rom drive as the first boot device ....And later it says press any key to boot from cd and so i do.....what else is there?

 

g'day try not pressing anything just let it run through to the set up by its self

 

bumpity bump any other advice from the ninja masters of personal computering....the good pc

 

To format the hard drive, as you are trying to do, the only thing you need to do is to press any key when it flashes up on the screen, if you have set the computer to start from cd-rom. Sometimes you have to be quick, or, it will skip past the setup , and boot into windows.
If you see it go to a light blue screen, with the writing on the bottom, then setup will continue.
The only problem you are likely to come across, is if you have a sata hard drive, and it needs a sata driver to load.
If you let the setup run, you will come to a screen to press f8 to accept the liscence, click yes/ok, then follow it through, click as required to install the new operating system .
I am sure it will save writing out the whole thing for you, as it must be on majorgeeks somewhere- I will look, and come back, unless you have managed.

 

A good guide from Microsoft.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896529/en-us

 

I think i'll probably end up buying a new HDD . i am missing something every video and article is always missing some step. Like my computer/ manage is supposed to have an unallocated space which is supposed to help in some way..I didn't read further because i hit a wall there...no allocated space...and no option to "delete logical drive" can't i just run a magnet over it or something? ..just kidding also i can't get the windows disk to run on boot into the setup screen..i read another tutorial about how to reformat from there...again denied.

 

O.K
Most of us have been there before we got wise, so don't feel that you are alone.
What often happens is that hitting any button when asked , is not done quick enough,- You need to have your finger on a button, ready to press as soon as the computer starts, so that as the prompt comes up, you press it immediately.
If it succeeds, then you will get that screen saying that installation is about to start.
If you are too slow, then it will skip the disc, and go into the installation that you have already.
If your computer management shows only allocated space, then you have one partition, and the cd rom reistall is the way to go.
The on board method you have been looking at, has to be looked at differently.
If you have unallocated space, then you have two partitions - and if you wish to use it,then you need to create a logical drive, to be able to format that unallocated space, and then you will be able to format that unallocated space, from the management console, and , if you wish, you can install another copy of your operating system, from the disc on that space.It will not format until it has been created.
If you are on-line, and have it on hand , I can help you run through it.
I am assuming you are using another pc/laptop to converse over majorgeeks.
I will stay on-line for the next hour to help you, if you wish.

 

hi i have 2 partitions one i don't want to delete it has all my backed up files for the move from xp home to windows 7

 

So, you have C: with XP on, and D: with your data that you wish to save ?

 

yes thats correct well c and e d is my rom drive if you have yahoo messenger i'm ohiowoodsrider250r

 

O.K- Cd for w7 into cd rom,restart, go into bios (f2?)
Now check the bios for cd rom to start, then press f10 to save, y , and exit, and hold your finger over any key- ready to press immediately the prompt to do so comes up.

 

With Windows 7, it is a little easier than XP, as it is a bit more user freindly.
When you get your next prompt in the w7 installation, come straight back, and tell me what you see, and I will wait to lead you through.

 

Hold on press enter- not exit, my fault, if you miss it do it again, but press ENTER after f10, y

 

i keep getting the black screen

start in safe mode

start in safe mode with networking

start windows normally ...which is the only option i get to select anyways ...boot device is set to cd rom already...i'm not that much of a noob lol...but i'm certainly hitting a wall in this effort

 

O.K
I should have asked, first,
What is yor pc/laptop.
If its a Dell, toshiba, home built

 

home built asrock aod790gx MB

phenom II x3 710

4 gig of ocz pc 8500 1000

seagate baracuda 7200rpm 250gb

egva 8800gts 320mb i am using using a dell copy of windows xp home if that might weigh in...but theres nothing dell about this pc

 

I have looked back over your previous posts , home built, and it seems that you are not getting to the bios boot screen, as you were asked previously if your two hard drives showed in the bios.
Can you confirm that you can get into your bios screen.
Sometimes the other boot option like f12/f10, skipps, when you try to laod from cd woth that option.
When done from the bios, it usually will boot from the cd/dvd.
Start the computer from the off position, press down either the enter key, or, the bios key (usually f2, or, f1, as you press the computer startup button- it can skip through that quick on some setups, and you can miss the timing .

 

It does not matter which version you have on your computer, the new w7 will install, as long as you hit that button, like I said.
I had that headache with a few computers, in my time, and it happens- You need to be quick draw mc caw.

 

Unfortunately, her indoors has declared I get my jammies on, so I will have to leave you tonight.
Honestly, it skipped past the ptompt so many times on one occassion, I felt just like you do now- but that was a long time ago.

 

No i have been getting into the bios just fine. I have changed the boot device in the boot menu and in the bios menu...It has two boot menu's for some reason.When i am quick enough to initialize the cd boot prompt it goes to the black screen...with both windows xp and windows 7...i don't understand whats going on

 

Well I advise you not to try this unless you are comfortable doing so... But have you tried editing the boot.ini file so there's only w7 instead of xp at the black screen? That way it automatically starts in stead of pausing?

 

i don't have the slightist clue on earth how to do that.

 

mmmm I thought i put extra effort into being clear..I have windows xp on one hdd with a partition i am using as a back up. I WANT to upgrade to windows 7. but i can't because every time i try all i get is the safe mode black screen. even after disabling everything but the rom drive as a boot device. trying more than 15 times.

I can't use the method my new english friend sent me a guide on either....because on "my computer/ manage / local disk management".
i have no unallocated space in which to make an additional partition.

I have no clue what else there is to try besides to pay a fat man with cheese snack stains on his shirt 80 dollars to wipe my drive for me. of course if thats the only other option i can find...i'll be running a shop magnet across it and tossing it in the trash in favor of a new drive.

 

I'm sorry plodr but I was suggesting and not telling. And I'm sorry I know about BCEdit but I have always referred to it as boot.ini even though they are different just because it practiclly replaced boot.ini in the older versions, I should have been more specific, I'm sorry

 

Oh, and PCrampage as an last effort you can always put you HDD in another comp and take ownership of the drive/files and back them up. Then reformat and install W7 and replace the files.

 

i would do that if it would let me . but this hdd is having no formatting no matter what...i've never seen anything like it. grrr

 

Oh and... I'm not sure if I missed something or if I'm unclear but.... Itsounds like you can't even get on your w7 disk. If this is true make sure your rom drive is a DVD drive because every w7 disk I've seen are DVDs. Which would explain why your not booting fron the disk if that's the case at all.

 

Oh, so have you tried putting it in another comp already?

 

i'm a gamer ...its a dvd he he

 

Haha ok just checking the simple things, one time I built a $1400 dollar rig only to have the hdd not show up in the bios only after 2 days of trying to figgure it out I found out that the hdd power cord was loose.... I felt like an idiot haha

 

yep thats ugly ...my second hdd came unplugged and i think its messed up now grrr...anything else besides the usual you can think of...i don't wanna buy a new HDD ...i'm poor and i need to get a few new battery packs for my remote control truck.

 

Sorry but, have you actually tried putting your hdd in another comp and let that comp reformat the drive?

 

Pldr is confused, and I can see why-
You have XP on C:
Your DVD Rom is on D:
You have Dat on E:
Do you now mean that E: is your second hard drive, and not physically on the first hard drive, and contains the data you wish to save ?
Clarrification will help.

 

The possibility exists that your optical drive may be faulty, which would be preventing the boot-to-CD routine...

 

Sorry pcrampage, I was helping someone else, and had posted that in this post, when it was nothing to do with this-again, My apologies.:-o

So- this second disc is not connected ?- sometimes having a second disc can confuse matters. It should reconnect o.k, if this is the situation.:confused

Are you trying to install W7, with just the one hard drive attatched, containing your C: Partition?,
Sometimes, it is easier to install a new operating system with just the one disc.
Now, if you have not checked the motherboard out, it may be a case of updating the bios, and/or/ chipset and video drivers, as I noticed this board came fit for Vista, and some motherboards need drivers etc: updated before updating. I can look into yours, if I have a little time tonight, and come back to you.
If you have been trying to find out what you can before you came to majorgeeks, then youu might well have seen that some motherboards will not have specific drivers, when downgrading from Vista, and some will need to remove certain drivers, before shutting down, whilst in XP, so that Windows 7 will run.
Other than this, -I always keep the old floppy drive, and, even a usb one for refurbing laptops, and pc's, as sata drivers can be a pain on some motherboards, with XP, and the old floppy makes it easy.
Also, the old floppy drive will enable the use of a WINDOWS 98SE start up disc, to run at startup, and - FORMAT with that.
Have you a floppy drive?
Another method is to use your XP disc to format C:, but you might find nltdr is missing when you change the disc for Windows 7 - I have not tried that for a long time, but I think that was the outcome, -I have not tried that with Windows 7, (as I am lazy and use disc wizard, to format, and set up most of my discs, but in the hands of the uninitiated, it can be a ddogy tool, as you can render the hard drive totally u.s.)

Let us know a little more, most on majorgeeks have the patience of saints, and, do understand your frustration.
:cry

 

nevermind guys ..........i messed up my hdd popping out the xp install disk while setting up....after 3 days of trying to get anything to boot from disk i had myself a moron attack. http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=212821 and the fee for stupidity is going to come to 79.00 and i deserve it to. unless there is a way to recover this? could it still be formatted from another machine or have i wrecked the file system all together?

 

The hard drive can still be formatted, but if you cannot complete an install/format, then come back.

 

not working its because i'm cursed......i tried getting my other HDD working that has a missing NTLDR to work as well...no luck thats supposed to be an easily curable problem as well...I downloaded a fix for the ntldr problem but its really short on instructions. so still looking into it.

 

Quick check:-
First of all, have you disconnected all external devices other than keyboard and mouse?
Only one hard drive connected?
Check that the hard drive cable is tight (remove and plug back on.)
If you switched of overnight, try pulling out the plug to the mains, and pressing the start button to release any power left in the machine, then restart with the xp disc

If ntldr still shows as missing, then put the XP CD into your rom drive,
and this time press R - -the first time recovery option , then when it shows c: windows and asks, press 1, as this is the C partition,
The password is usually your logon , or, even blank ,press enter,
and next, in the command prompt where ie it has C; windows, type:-

copy d:\i386\ntldr c:\ then press enter
copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\ then press enter

Now remove your xp cd, AND THEN REBOOT WITH THE w7 DVD
As you said that d was your dvd drive, this should be correct, if it was E; , then you would replace D: WITH E:
I am out a lot today, but others could help, if you need it.
Although W7 and Vista use a different boot loader, this at least should put you back to ready state, after format.(on both the original and your other hard drive)

 

harddrive 2 doesn't have windows on it..i just formatted it for back up

 

Yes, I gathered that was the case, but I thought that you might try the same process with that disc to overcome NTLDR is missing problem so that you could use it as either a slave, or just keep for backup purposes, or, just as a ready spare.

How are you doing with the Windows 7, or, re you back to XP, or, still struggling?

 

hi i am genuinely cursed...i think i might have fried the MB on another machine trying to remove the hard drive to stick in this one...no clue whats wrong for sure.

But now i have the hdd from a vista machine as well as the primary hdd we've been working on. I formatted the large partition and now need to know how to remove a partition with vista . I suppose it doesn't matter which partition gets deleted?

After the large partition formatt to my surprise it was still on the xp setup screen loop and it was acting just as before?..How is this even possible!!?

 

As it was a while since I first put W7, on , myself, I thought I would try something- and I put the W7 disc in, with XP Proffessional running, and the disc started up, and I got to installation choice of upgrade, or new install, and re-read the screen- now, you cannot update from XP PRO, OR XP Home, but, from within windows the screen said it would save windows old (Vista does the same) into a folder, so that everything is still ther, and accessable should you wish, and installs the new Windows 7 from there- but this is XP Professional- so I will try it on one of my other partitions, and with XP Home, to see if it will actually do the same, and come back to you.
Seagates Disc Wizard is a very useful tool- not just for new hard drives, and it does work with other hard drives, as I have regularly used it. Also Seagate tools , again can help, if you cannot get past the loop, or reinstal, XP.

Link to Seagate's Disc Wizard

With this you can zero write to the hard drive, and prepare it.
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=580a5e3ddbf60110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD
You can also download Seagate tools from there
I will come back when I have run the test on XP Home.
Unless you contact majorgeeks before then:wave

 

I seem to have got carried away with your original format problem, and missed a main consideration, if you just want to upgrade to Windows 7.
Re-install XP, if it will still not recognise the Windows 7 disc, and install, Windows 7 by inserting the disc , once desktop has settled, and click install- easiest way.
Yes, physically tried and tested- installs from within windows in both XP Home, and Professional.Then as I was letting it install, I opened the box, and what do you know- The little booklet tells you so.....and that you can upgrade from Vista, again from within Windows ,as well as clean install, but as I have been lazy, I will run a few more tests ,and make more notes for you, anyone who is interested in upgrading to Windows 7.Incidently with upgrade from Vista, it appears to save all you settings.
I tend to flit from XP/XP Pro/Vista/and Windows 7, and have not played with Windows 7 , for a while, so I will update my own side, first, as with multi-partitions, and I use HypperOs, I can save a copy my old Version, and replace it in 15 minutes or, so-, and Windows 7 is far quicker installing than Vista, or, XP (Especially quicker than XP)
As I ran the W7 r/c version, until it started to play according to its hickupping when over test time, I am waiting for my new rig, before I put the W7 on, as my old rig is getting a bit behind, but I have been too busy to do it, for months , and only now, am getting the time to rebuild.:wave

 

I'm glad you have time to rebuild your pc man..I am going to stick a new motherboard in the HP a6530f. I hate btx systems its very limited to what board you can replace it with. cheapest so far is 58.00 usd plus 25.00 shipping...They might as well use a gun! Does use hp use proprietary connections ...? The stock board is an asus" m2n68 l a" I wonder what my choices are?...That is really the only problem left and i thank you for helpping me keep ahold of my sanity.

Any other problems you can think which would make that happen? When i switch the pc on it would either freeze at the hp bios opening screen...or not even register as anything to my monitor at all..

 

I am pleased- I take it you are now up and running with Windows 7??Are you saying that it will not boot into Windows

I believe this is your motherboard spec?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...60&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3740336

Try out Windows 7, but don't register it, yet- to save problems time, /with reactivation- phone calls, if changing motherboard-
if you don't get better performance, I will be very surprised.Yo installedeu can use the Windows & disc to run repair, although it is now installed, but with a hickup come back and I will see if we can run through a few things
If you are up and running, apart from the odd freeze, which way did you use to get it up and running- This could be useful to others who might pick up information from this thread.:hyper

 

I have to go, now, but can you hold down f2, when starting, and see if it then goes into the bios-
If you can- check that it sees your hard drive,
Another thing worth checking if no one else comes to help, while I am off line, is that the leads near the hard drive, and around the motherboard have not been loosened whilst changing hard drives- - it is surprising what can be slightly out to stop it booting.
check ram ,by easing out and reseating
I will look back in tommorrow

 

I am sorry, your references fooled me last night-
Am I to understand the home built unit is now running Windows 7 o.k?
The problem now is with your other pc- the HP ?
carry out the checks that I offered, whilst I was breifly on -line yesterday,- loose connections, remove replace ram-
If nothing still happens, you will need to do a basic setup test- using one stick of ram, and and disconnecting everything except keyboard and mouse, and see if you can get any beeps out of it- In fact, first I would just try switching the ram- if you have a spare, as if the ram is iffy, then you will eliminate that.
With the motherboard- changing it relies mostly on the rear i/o plate- new motherboards usually come with one, that fits the periphial device connections.
Fitting new motherboard to the frame is relatively esy in my experience, as the new motherboard comed with the stand off pins to connect to a chassis, and most are in the same place- i.e, you can fir a mini-atx, ito practically any Full ATX chassis- So, all you need to worry about are the front/side panel panel connectors . Having built many in my time, it can be overcome.
Components, like cpu-AMD/INTEL are obviously board specific, - power supply should not be a problem- ram , obviously must suit the board - as I said- can be done, depends on what little you can manage in the spondular department, at the moment- Look at i/o plate , and then , other connections on-board, when looking to replace.
I once upgrade a Dell, that was nothing like a Dell, when I first got really into computers, just for the crack- so long ago I forgot all the detais but I managed to upgrade from i believe it was a celeron 12/1300 to a board capable of the 3 ghz p4 at the time, and managed to hook up everything else- I remember I had to upgrade the psu, though, but it got fitted in that old Dell case, and ran well, I passed it on to one of the family, and I saw it the other day, in his shed- apparently he used it for 4 years, until he just bought a later one.
Are you using the on-board video connection, or, a pci-e graphics card?
If a P.C.I.e card , try using the onboard video with the card out- again in case of the crd not being seated properly- not always evident, until released and refitte.
Good luck
Come back and let us know how things re going.
:-D

 

Can we get cliff notes on what is going on at the current moment?