no typical format job

dubstar

format c:
Joined
3 Dec 2002
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im trying to reformat my girlfriends harddrive. it was in a dell that i updated with SP2 and it messed up, so i uninstalled it, then had to reinstall the OS because something was midding.. didnt finish the install so now im here with a harddrive that has a half installed OS (wont install completely, just freezes up) and its connected to my computer, but wont show up as a drive to format.

now that i've clumed it all together and you are confused i'll break it down

half installed OS - wont install completely
hard drive not recognized as 2nd hard drive in "My Computer" (the folder).


things i've tried
booting with Win98 bootdisk to goto FDISK .. doesnt work
booting to safemode .. doesnt work
installing with different win xp cd .. doesnt work
hooked up to a few computers .. doesnt show up
tried viewing through patition magic(tm) doesnt work

i am astonished at now there is no resolve for this issue.. didnt microsoft plan for this? did they think nobody could ever get in "this" situation, or "that" predicament..

-frustrated
alan


Thanks team, i know you'll have an answer.. if not, i'll just goto frys and pick up a new 80 gig for them. i just hate to throw away something that is practically free (no extra purchases).
 
set the drive to slave or cable selevt usignt he jumpers on the back and let us know if it shows up in windows or not :D
 
Hmm, regarding the half installation of the OS, the only time I have run into that is with bad memory sticks. Everytime I have worked on a computer with a bad memory stick, the OS would not complete installing, I guess because it feeds the installation to the memory and yet isn't able to retrieve it back. You might want to try and attempt running memtest86 in order to determine that the memory modules are not defective.
 
Perhaps try a Linux distro and see it'll see the HD and perhaps you could delete the partition(s)?
 
so install linux on my rig as a 2 OS system, boot to it and check it out? whats a good noob version of linux? mostly point and click style?

-- i'll try the switches on the HDD..

thanks for both of your suggestions.
 
dubstar said:
so install linux on my rig as a 2 OS system, boot to it and check it out? whats a good noob version of linux? mostly point and click style?

-- i'll try the switches on the HDD..

thanks for both of your suggestions.
I don't think you would even have to "install" linux. You could try a "Live CD" version like Knoppix
here (it's not the official site but looks more navagitable then the official :p).
 
If you like my suggestion, hint hint reputation [read signature]. :p

In any case, I personally would run memtest86 before even trying Linux... I mean it would be good to know whether your memory had problems or not before you wasted your time. Memtest would create a boot floppy for you so you can boot to it and run repetative memory tests, verifying if there are any problems.

You can download memtest by going here.
 
Punkrulz said:
In any case, I personally would run memtest86 before even trying Linux... I mean it would be good to know whether your memory had problems or not before you wasted your time. Memtest would create a boot floppy for you so you can boot to it and run repetative memory tests, verifying if there are any problems.

You can download memtest by going here.
Memtest isn't a bad idea, but will do nothing for trying to read his HD that seems un-readable even on other PC's. Although it would possibly prevent this from happing to any other HD put into the problem machine. :)
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

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