Hanging on 0% formatting

[RACKnRAIL]

Anyone know why XP setup would be hanging on 0% formatting?? I elected a full, not a quick format, on a brand new C:\ partition. I have to think it must be the HD. It did see the 40 gig master when I enabled the boot sequence though. I have not experienced this problem before. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

[Krell]

If you had that Super WinPE Plus 2004 Multi-Bootable All-In-One CD, you could boot to that, and run a chkdsk and make partitions and format from there.

Is this a new hard drive, or one that you have been using?

Do you have anything on any other partitions on that drive?

What brand drive is it? You might consider using the Tools that come with that brand, such as MaxBlast etc to prep the drive if you have a floppy drive installed.


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[RACKnRAIL]

It's about a 4 year old WD. It was working before I started formatting. It was all one drive C with no other partitions. It did have viruses, which was causing some problems with IE. That's why I was formatting. It is my girlfriends moms computer I'm trying to help with here. I have backed up her data already. It has been hanging on 0% now for about 2 hours. Thanx!

[RACKnRAIL]

I am not sure if I should attempt a shut down while it's trying to format?

[Krell]

Shut down OK :icon_thum

WDDIAG.EXE

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=2

Might be time for a low level


Work it :D



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[RACKnRAIL]

I just download the tool and was about to shut down, but now, after almost 2 & 1/2 hours it's showing 1%. wtf?

[Krell]

USE THE FORCE


Boot to the diag media and wipe that sucka!


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[RACKnRAIL]

I don't believe it...it's now starting to format like normal. What could possibly cause such a long hang? Do you think I should just let it continue now?

[Krell]

Nope . . . there might still be something resident and the MBR the Partition table or MFT could be corrupted in some way and you would have problems to deal with in the future.

Youre not losing much time by doing a DIAG and low level on it.


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[Auggie2k]

Sounds like there were bad sectors at the start of the hard disk.

[Krell]

Sounds like there were bad sectors at the start of the hard disk.

Being that old it is entirely possible, but the DIAG will determine that, good idea Auggie!


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[RACKnRAIL]

OK...I'll be booted in 2 secs. I'll keep you posted.

[RACKnRAIL]

The "FORCE" is working! It's reformatting a brand new drive C: partition
and so far, so good. I will let you know if it finds any errors.

thx....

[RACKnRAIL]

Thank you, Krell. I didn't know those (WDDIAG.EXE ) tools were available for HD's. It's finished formatting without any errors. Hmmm? XP is now formatting normally, as it should. I am still wondering what caused the hang to begin with. Do you think virus activity could have caused that to happen?

Anyways, I must try and find that boot cd (WinPE Plus) for future use.

Also, thanx for your input auggie.

[Krell]

I'm glad you can make forward progress, this drive is beyond the life expectancy and could harbor unknown or previously undiscovered problem. You may want to check for SMART errors periodically and do chkdsk /f on the partitions as well.

You know the rest, defrag, virus check etc

Good luck on that installation.

While you have the opportunity of a fresh install, you may consider making a RESTORE CD of that whole system when you are completely finished with the drivers and basic configuration. Then, if things go badly, you can restore in 5 minutes.

Acronis . .

cheers



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[RACKnRAIL]

I'm glad you can make forward progress, this drive is beyond the life expectancy and could harbor unknown or previously undiscovered problem. You may want to check for SMART errors periodically and do chkdsk /f on the partitions as well.

You know the rest, defrag, virus check etc

Good luck on that installation.

While you have the opportunity of a fresh install, you may consider making a RESTORE CD of that whole system when you are completely finished with the drivers and basic configuration. Then, if things go badly, you can restore in 5 minutes.

Acronis . .

cheers



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Thanks again, but is acronis much better than norton ghost? I've never used it and ghost is what I am use to. I will definitely make an image though.

[Krell]

I wouldnt say it is better and if you know your way around with Ghost, use that.

Hope it all goes smoothly



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[RACKnRAIL]

Two cd's and it's a done deal. I suggested to my future mother-in-law that she should buy a new HD and I can just ghost over everything. She thought it was a good idea, as she values her data in a big way.
Thanks again, Krell...:icon_thum

[Krell]

Ur welcome, good job there, now you have something to leverage ur mother in law with



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[RACKnRAIL]

Ur welcome, good job there, now you have something to leverage ur mother in law with



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Yes, leverage. She's almost as hot as her daughter and she's over 50. I am having naughty visions of the leverage already. Fuck, can you imagine if my girlfriend read this!

[RACKnRAIL]

She should have listened and got the HD right away, as it died yesterday. I ran the diag cd again, this time it recommended replacing the HD.The only good news is I made a ghost image, but I will still have to install all her software again.

[RACKnRAIL]

Okay, so I got her a new 80 gig samsung. Her system is an older 450 mhz, but it did previously see her 40 gig WD, but that was after flashing the bios. I have tried every combination of jumper settings there is. I have even tried using a different IDE cable, but for some reason, it doesn't want to see it as a master. I did get it to read once as a slave using cable select settings, but no matter what i try it doesn't want to be the master. I am at work today, but any advice would be welcomed.

I am getting a bit frustrated with it. Let just say I felt like punting it before I left for work this morning.

[Krell]

I would like for you to disconnect all other drives from the location, period.

Then please connect the new drive on the PRIMARY IDE cable, and set the jumper to the MASTER position. Use the newer cable and connect to the FIRST connector, end.

Use your BIOS to view the 4 IDE choices, and then select the first one and press ENTER, then Escape. Then set all 4 of them to AUTO.

Also check the BIOS for an feature that scans the buses, some BIOS to that.

Report back please.


http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html

http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/howto_connect_ide_hd.html


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[RACKnRAIL]

Thanks Krell, I will try that when I get home today. I will let you know what happens by tomorrow morning. Also, thank you for the links. I will read them carefully on my lunch break today.

[RACKnRAIL]

Okay, I tried that and still nothing, however, I was able to set the jumpers to reduce the 80 gb to a 32 gb, which does work. Is it possible that the bios just isn't capable of seeing more than 40 gb? Perhaps a pci controller would be an option to see the full 80? What do you think, Krell?

[Krell]

Why is the full capacity of my EIDE drive not recognized by the system BIOS?

32 GB limitation. This condition is caused by the Award BIOS inability to address hard drives greater than 32GB. Award has been made aware of this issue and has fixed their "core" BIOS as of 06/1999. They are passing this information along to the motherboard manufacturers' that use their BIOS. Updates for the BIOS should be available from individual motherboard manufacturers' to correct this problem. The following are options to overcome the 32 GB BIOS capacity barriers: Please contact your motherboard manufacturer, not Award, for a BIOS update.


Check with the system or motherboard manufacturer to see if they have a BIOS upgrade available for your system.

Purchase an ATA controller card (included with Western Digital drives larger than 137GB). The controller card has two benefits. It will have its own BIOS to support the drive and enable the higher transfer rates the drive is capable of attaining. Western Digital's Online Store (http://store.wdc.com/) has a complete selection of ATA controller cards that allow you to access the full capacity of the drive and use the higher transfer rates.

A third option is to use our Data Lifeguard Tools 10 (http://support.wdc.com/download/#dlgtools) to set up the drive. The tools will install an overlay on the drive to support its full capacity. An overlay is a program that installs on the boot sector of your drive and enables full access of your drive's capacity.

Important: This should only be used with Windows 95/98/ME.

I am using Western Digital's EZ-Drive software. How can I get support for it?

We have replaced EZ-Drive with Data Lifeguard Tools 10. (http://support.wdc.com/download/#dlgtools) Data Lifeguard Tools contains the same functions and more as that of EZ-Drive. In addition, we are phasing out our support of EZ-Drive.



In other words, you prob need to buy a PCI controller card.

Read this over and bookmark it

http://www.directron.com/directron/faqwd.html


http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/images/useries6family.gif

You were "able to set the jumpers to reduce the 80 gb to a 32 gb", , Is your drive set like this? Limit Drive Capacity?

With NO jumpers on, can you see nothing in the BIOS? Please be more specific.

Lets make sure that the ONLY jumper you have in place now is the Master on Single Drive.


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[RACKnRAIL]

It is a samsung 80 gig HD. I have two jumpers on the right hand side. This is the only jumper setting that works.http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/support/Download/userguide/images/jumpersetting_04.gif
Master with limit capacity in upper 32GB
(capacity ≥ 32 GB)

I flashed the bios last year in order for it to see the 40 gig WD that died. I checked for another bios update, but it already has the most recent.

[Krell]

Samsung may have a software work around, but im doubting it.

Sorry to say, but unless you can remove that jumper and be recognized in the BIOS, it's time to upgrade that MB.

Here's a hint . . if you even HAVE that BIOS, it's time to upgrade the MB.



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[RACKnRAIL]

Samsung may have a software work around, but im doubting it.

Sorry to say, but unless you can remove that jumper and be recognized in the BIOS, it's time to upgrade that MB.

Here's a hint . . if you even HAVE that BIOS, it's time to upgrade the MB.

It's only a 450 mhz, but the problem with a MB upgrade is not only will she need a new chip & MB, she will need new ram, etc, etc, $$. She might as well just get a new box and move on. I am going to try the pci controller. I saw one yesterday for under $25. I will let you know how that works. I guess her ghost image will not work now, as I'll now need a driver for the controller at the F6 point of XP installation.

[RACKnRAIL]

That failed too, even with a pci controller. XP kept coming up with a different error, time after time. btw...It is a legal cd of home. I took the HD and controller back. I have now installed a free 13 gb hd, which is working great. It will buy her some time until she decides to get a completely new system.

Thanks Krell! You have been very helpful.

[Krell]

No worries, sorry to hear all your frustrations, the only reason you dont hear of other people beating their head against a wall with old stuff is that they dont try.

13g as a c drive will do till you replace that system

good work!


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