Hi,
I am having
the very same problem
with my SATA disk and an ASUS MOBO.
Windows cannot format the disk, it simply CANNOT no matter what. I already exchanged my SATA disk (it was a Samsung HD160JJ) for another model (a Seagate Barracuda) and the problem remains!!!
Since I could not install the OS on this disk, I decided to use my PATA disks for the installation and then, later, use Windows Disk Manager to format the SATA disk.
However even after the installation Windows could not format the disk! The symptoms were the same, format proceeds smoothly but when it reaches 100% Windows says it did not complete sucessfully and the disk remains unusable.
Some things I already tried:
- Exchanged the disk for a new model.
- Exchanged the SATA cable.
- Disconnected all my PATA disks leving only the SATA disk connected.
- Checked my BIOS settings and configured the controller for SATA (instead of RAID).
- Installed the MOBO drivers on my working Windows XP and tried to format the SATA disk.
None of these worked.
Now I will try to update my BIOS to see what happens.
I think this might be an issue with my VIA chipset. What do you think?
Did you try to flash an updated BIOS?