Format C:\ Hard Drive

[Guest]

Hi.

Can someone of you guys tell me how to format my C:\ drive without booting
the Vista installation DVD?
I can't boot my Vista DVD because of a software installation that messed up
my system.
System Restore is not working but I can boot the Vista DVD when I remove the
C:\ drive.
So I think if I get the drive formated the DVD will boot normal again and I
can restore my system with a Vista Ultimate backaup image.
Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Tommy

Go into BIOS and change the boot order such that the DVD drive precedes the
hard drive.. you should then be able to boot from DVD..

Hi.

Can someone of you guys tell me how to format my C:\ drive without booting
the Vista installation DVD?
I can't boot my Vista DVD because of a software installation that messed
up
my system.
System Restore is not working but I can boot the Vista DVD when I remove
the
C:\ drive.
So I think if I get the drive formated the DVD will boot normal again and
I
can restore my system with a Vista Ultimate backaup image.
Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[Guest]

........thanks for your reply but I tried this allready and it wont work.
However the Vista DVD or Ghost Recovery CD boots only half way through.
As I said with a removed hard drive I can boot the CD or DVD.
Also booted from a USB Flash drive which didn't worked as well.
Tried the same thing on a different rig and it worked.
That's why I think the only option for me is to format my C:\ drive.
Or do you got a better solution?
Thanks again......Tommy.......

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

.......thanks for your reply but I tried this allready and it wont work.
However the Vista DVD or Ghost Recovery CD boots only half way through.
As I said with a removed hard drive I can boot the CD or DVD.
Also booted from a USB Flash drive which didn't worked as well.
Tried the same thing on a different rig and it worked.
That's why I think the only option for me is to format my C:\ drive.
Or do you got a better solution?

I don't think that it could have anything to do with a messed up OS
installation as it starts loading from the CD/DVD before it starts to load
the OS.

It sounds like you might have a hardware problem. There might be something
wrong with your HDD. Check your cables (and jumpers if you are using PATA
drives) as well. Try using another IDE/SATA cable.

ss.

 

[Dave B.]

A software installation couldn't possibly cause the problem your having,
neither Windows nor any installed software can effect the PC booting to a CD
or DVD, you have other issues. If the machine boots with the drive
disconnected from the system, but not when it's connected, your drive may be
failing, download and run the hard drive, mfg's diagnostic utility on the
drive.

 

[Guest]

........I'm quiet sure that it is related to my installation of Notebook
Hardware Control.
Anyway, my system is an Acer Aspire 9525 notebook with 2x160 GB SATA hard
drives and no Raid is enabled.
I had memtest running which didn't show any errors but I could get a hard
test CD from Hitachi and test my drive for errors if you think that could
help.
The funny thing is that my system is booting fine and I also can boot the
memtest DOS CD and also Acronis will boot in the recovery environment but I
don't have any Acronis restore points present only Ghost 12 and the Vista
Image Backups.
And those 2 won't boot all the way through only just before the setup menu
should show.
Hopefully someone of guys got a suggestion on what I should do next.
For now I'll run a hard drive test and post back here afterwards.
Thanks again.......Tommy.......

 

[Michael Solomon]

.......I'm quiet sure that it is related to my installation of Notebook
Hardware Control.
Anyway, my system is an Acer Aspire 9525 notebook with 2x160 GB SATA hard
drives and no Raid is enabled.
I had memtest running which didn't show any errors but I could get a hard
test CD from Hitachi and test my drive for errors if you think that could
help.
The funny thing is that my system is booting fine and I also can boot the
memtest DOS CD and also Acronis will boot in the recovery environment but
I
don't have any Acronis restore points present only Ghost 12 and the Vista
Image Backups.
And those 2 won't boot all the way through only just before the setup menu
should show.
Hopefully someone of guys got a suggestion on what I should do next.
For now I'll run a hard drive test and post back here afterwards.
Thanks again.......Tommy.......

Is your Vista DVD a true Vista DVD or is it an OEM recovery disk provided to
you by Acer. If a recovery DVD, it's possible you've corrupted something
required for that DVD to boot properly. This is all the more likely given
that other removable media seems to boot fine.

As others have pointed out, something you install within the OS or the OS
itself should not have any impact on the boot process. From what I can see
of the software you installed, it works completely within the OS environment
and should have no impact on your ability to boot the Vista DVD but a
recovery disk may have other parameters or may work with hidden recovery
partition on your setup that might have been corrupted.

As to the formatting issue, you could purchase an inexpensive USB floppy
drive, assuming your laptop supports booting from such a devices, create a
boot floppy within Vista or actually any Windows OS and format the C drive
after booting from the floppy. If you do make the disk from another Windows
OS, be sure to have Vista format the drive when reinstalling Vista.

 

[Guest]

.......the Vista DVD is an OEM version originaly was Home Premium on the rig
which I've never used because I did a clean Ultimate install right away.
Funny thing is Norton Ghost 12 won't boot either.
It stops booting exactly at the same point as the Vista DVD.
Isn't there a way to format via Save Mode with Command Prompt or something
like this?
I just had a run with a Hitachi Fitness Test DOS CD which booted again fine.
No errors but there is an option on that CD to erase the boot record or even
erase the entire disk.
Could I do this and then format afterwards before the new installation?
What about the EISA partition?
If I erase and reinstall will the EISA be created again by itself or how
does this work.
I don't want to just go for it and mess up even more than I probably did
allready......

 

[Michael Solomon]

......the Vista DVD is an OEM version originaly was Home Premium on the
rig
which I've never used because I did a clean Ultimate install right away.
Funny thing is Norton Ghost 12 won't boot either.
It stops booting exactly at the same point as the Vista DVD.
Isn't there a way to format via Save Mode with Command Prompt or something
like this?
I just had a run with a Hitachi Fitness Test DOS CD which booted again
fine.
No errors but there is an option on that CD to erase the boot record or
even
erase the entire disk.
Could I do this and then format afterwards before the new installation?
What about the EISA partition?
If I erase and reinstall will the EISA be created again by itself or how
does this work.
I don't want to just go for it and mess up even more than I probably did
allready......

You can't do it in Safe Mode and I doubt you'd be able to do it from the
Command Prompt but it's worth a try. Boot the system start tapping F8, at
the menu, select Command Prompt.

Even if you can accomplish this, it still seems as though something else is
going on here. Only something that interacts with the system outside of the
OS environment could impact the boot prior to the OS initialization in that
process.

Have you contacted Acer?

 

[Guest]

........yes I did asked Acer but I'm in Thailand and I'm not sure if they know
what they are doing.
I have an appointment with Acer and they want to flash my BIOS even though I
have the up to date version on it.
I could do this myself but if I burn the motherboard who takes
responsibility so I thought if it is necessary to do a BIOS flash I'll let
them do it.
What do you think could this help solve the problem.
I'm not so sure that's why I'm trying to find another solution in here.......

 

[Michael Solomon]

.......yes I did asked Acer but I'm in Thailand and I'm not sure if they
know
what they are doing.
I have an appointment with Acer and they want to flash my BIOS even though
I
have the up to date version on it.
I could do this myself but if I burn the motherboard who takes
responsibility so I thought if it is necessary to do a BIOS flash I'll let
them do it.
What do you think could this help solve the problem.
I'm not so sure that's why I'm trying to find another solution in
here.......

There's a possibility the issue could be in the BIOS. You never mentioned
whether or not you were ever able to boot from removable media, only that
you weren't able to do it after this software installation.

In any event, yes, it's much safer to let Acer do it. And since they'll be
there, show them the issue, come with your various disks and show them
what's happening and test after the update, in their view, to see if that
resolved the issue because if it doesn't they may be able to figure out
what's wrong.

 

[Guest]

........I tried to boot from DVD with my C:\ drive removed and it was booting
fine.
So it's not the DVD drive and it's not the BIOS.
Also did run a drive test from Hitachi but there were no errors.
Still I'm thinking that something is wrong with the drive or with the boot
record on it.
The way I understood is the EISA partition the one that handles the booting
but I'm not sure about that.
It looks like the drive needs to be formated and then have another and try
to boot from DVD.
But how can I formate without being able to boot from the DVD
drive...?...Thanks again.......Tommy.......

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Tommy, you have to go into BIOS to set the boot order. If it is set to boot
from the C drive first, it will continue to do that as long as a C drive is
present. Removing the C drive will force the BIOS to look for any boot
device still physically connected. It does not prove that the BIOS is ok,
and there is no question of it not being ok anyway.

What you have to do is manually set the boot order, and I would suggest that
you contact Acer regarding how to do this.


..

.......I tried to boot from DVD with my C:\ drive removed and it was
booting
fine.
So it's not the DVD drive and it's not the BIOS.
Also did run a drive test from Hitachi but there were no errors.
Still I'm thinking that something is wrong with the drive or with the boot
record on it.
The way I understood is the EISA partition the one that handles the
booting
but I'm not sure about that.
It looks like the drive needs to be formated and then have another and try
to boot from DVD.
But how can I formate without being able to boot from the DVD
drive...?...Thanks again.......Tommy.......

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[andy]

......the Vista DVD is an OEM version originaly was Home Premium on the rig
which I've never used because I did a clean Ultimate install right away.
Funny thing is Norton Ghost 12 won't boot either.
It stops booting exactly at the same point as the Vista DVD.
Isn't there a way to format via Save Mode with Command Prompt or something
like this?
I just had a run with a Hitachi Fitness Test DOS CD which booted again fine.
No errors but there is an option on that CD to erase the boot record or even
erase the entire disk.

If you don't care about the contents of the disk, try erasing the boot
record, which should remove the partition information. Then try
booting from the Vista DVD. If it doesn't boot, then erase the entire
disk.

 

[Guest]

........I tried everything possible.
Flashed the BIOS with the Acer Guy and nope.
Then we put in a brand new hard drive and nope again.
It's just booting from CD or DVD if the one hard drive is removed which
isn't defekt because it won't work with a new one as well.
We flipped them and nope.
So now the notebook is with Acer and as soon as I know what it was I'll post
back here.
Maybe it's something everybody can learn from.
Thanks a lot for trying to help, I really do appreciate it......Tommy.......