# Problems reformatting



## waterfandx (Mar 5, 2005)

I have a PC that became so screwed up somehow that windows stopped loading, and when I tried to reformat it, I discovered that DOS didn't even recognize that it had a hard drive. I'd type in format c: and it would say 'bad command or file name.' Even this I could only do with a boot disk, otherwise when I started up the computer, it wouldn't even go into DOS. I played around in fdisk for a while and got it to recognize C as a drive, sort of, because now I can go into C but if I try 'dir' or 'format C:' I get 'invalid media reading drive c abort retry fail' or something to that effect. But before it wouldn't even go into C. The version of windows I had was 98, and I have a 98 upgrade CD that I tried starting it up with (I'm planning to install 2000 once reformatted), which makes it go into drive D: and not do anything else. When I type in setup it looks like it's going to load it then freezes. I have absolutely no idea where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

When playing around with fdisk, did you delete the C:/ primary partition? Even if you didn't go into fdisk, delete the primary partition and then recreate it.

Then go back to the dos prompt (after restarting), and type "fix /mbr" then when the next prompt comes up, try "format C: /u /s"

And see how it goes.

Late,


----------



## waterfandx (Mar 5, 2005)

Yes, that's the first thing I did with fdisk, but then when it still wouldn't let me reformat I made an extended Dos partition, then logical, etc etc just to see what it would do. Unfortunately, now when I start it up it loads up then says 'Secondary hard disk drive 1 not found, f1 to continue, f2 for setup.' f2 goes into bios and f1 just freezes the computer apparantly. A while back I had a friend that I don't think knew what he was doing look at it and I remember he was screwing around in bios, so I went into bios and changed secondary hard disk drive 1 from auto to none, which I assume he had changed, and now when I start it up it just loads and then goes to a white blinking cursor. Does this mean I need a new boot disk or what?


----------



## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Well, go back into fdisk and delete both extended and primary partitions and make one large primary - how big is the hdd in total?

then go into bios and check ur boot preferences. and check ur ide channels. - is ur hdd set to master and is it on the end of the ide cable?

Late,


----------



## waterfandx (Mar 5, 2005)

Okay, I set disk drive A for boot priority (which must have been what he changed), so it's letting me into the prompt again. All I get by doing "fix /mbr" is the "invalid media type reading drive c" again, ditto for the other thing you said. What are ide channels? Integrated devices or what?


----------



## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

IDE is the kind of connection most HDD's use. In your BIOS settings, there should be some mention of IDE channels 0 + 1.

Were you able to use fdisk to create the primary C:/ partition? - if you havent done that, then you wont be able to format it (because it wont exist).
- also check in fdisk if you can set the file system, because I dont think u can format a raw partition.

Late,


----------



## waterfandx (Mar 5, 2005)

The only thing I can find in bios about IDE is under integrated devices, and it only has two options: auto and none (it's on auto). I did create a primary C:/ division in fdisk (the total space it says is 4110 Mbytes), but it doesn't say anything about setting file systems, how would I go about doing that?


----------



## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

is 4110MB the total size for your HDD?
I am not familiar with Windows2000, but if its advanced enough, when you go through the install process, it should give you the option to format and set the right file system for the driver during install. Try booting into the Win2k installer on the CD and see what happens.

Late,


----------



## waterfandx (Mar 5, 2005)

Yeah I believe that's the total size. It definately won't run the installer on the CD, it just freezes when I try.


----------

