Windows Won't Let Me Format/Need Assistance

[Chris]

About three days ago the task bar has been unresponsive
upon starting windows. Luckily the recycle bin and the
AOL icons were on my desktop, by the way I have XP
Professional. So since I couldn't access anything on my
task bar which by the way showed a loading icon whenever I
pointed the cursor on it, but like I was saying, it
appeared that logging on to AOL had made somehow the task
bar to be functional everytime.

Other than that it wouldn't be if you're following me...
So I contacted AOL and they told me that it's not the AOL
software that's causing the problem, they said it may be
that the windows registry or something was damaged and
that they suggested that I format my hard drive(which I
already had in mind), but upon trying to do that, an error
message shows up, what I do is second click my hard drive,
click "format", check in "quick format", "start" and the
error message reads "Windows was unable to complete the
format".

Please help me with this issue, I've saved all my
important files on a disc and basically what I want to do
is format my hard drive and use Windows XP as a boot up.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to format the existing
C: Windows partition (preferably NTFS) and then install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


| About three days ago the task bar has been unresponsive
| upon starting windows. Luckily the recycle bin and the
| AOL icons were on my desktop, by the way I have XP
| Professional. So since I couldn't access anything on my
| task bar which by the way showed a loading icon whenever I
| pointed the cursor on it, but like I was saying, it
| appeared that logging on to AOL had made somehow the task
| bar to be functional everytime.
|
| Other than that it wouldn't be if you're following me...
| So I contacted AOL and they told me that it's not the AOL
| software that's causing the problem, they said it may be
| that the windows registry or something was damaged and
| that they suggested that I format my hard drive(which I
| already had in mind), but upon trying to do that, an error
| message shows up, what I do is second click my hard drive,
| click "format", check in "quick format", "start" and the
| error message reads "Windows was unable to complete the
| format".
|
| Please help me with this issue, I've saved all my
| important files on a disc and basically what I want to do
| is format my hard drive and use Windows XP as a boot up.

 

[CS]

About three days ago the task bar has been unresponsive
upon starting windows. Luckily the recycle bin and the
AOL icons were on my desktop, by the way I have XP
Professional. So since I couldn't access anything on my
task bar which by the way showed a loading icon whenever I
pointed the cursor on it, but like I was saying, it
appeared that logging on to AOL had made somehow the task
bar to be functional everytime.

Other than that it wouldn't be if you're following me...
So I contacted AOL and they told me that it's not the AOL
software that's causing the problem, they said it may be
that the windows registry or something was damaged and
that they suggested that I format my hard drive(which I
already had in mind), but upon trying to do that, an error
message shows up, what I do is second click my hard drive,
click "format", check in "quick format", "start" and the
error message reads "Windows was unable to complete the
format".

Please help me with this issue, I've saved all my
important files on a disc and basically what I want to do
is format my hard drive and use Windows XP as a boot up.

Formatting is a drastic action which removes all your data and
programs and may not fix the problem after reinstalling. Support
advice from AOL is usually worthless much like their service.
I suggest getting rid of AOL and their software and find a better ISP.
But that's up to you.....

Anyway, if you really want to format your hard drive, boot from your
XP CD and follow the install directions. You'll be give an
opportunity to format, remove/create partitions and so forth. You can
not format your hard drive while XP is active. You can also format
your hard drive by booting the machine with a Win98 boot disk and use
the format command. Or fdisk and format.

 

[Plato]

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

Nice, very nice advice.

 

[NobodyMan]

About three days ago the task bar has been unresponsive
upon starting windows. Luckily the recycle bin and the
AOL icons were on my desktop, by the way I have XP
Professional. So since I couldn't access anything on my
task bar which by the way showed a loading icon whenever I
pointed the cursor on it, but like I was saying, it
appeared that logging on to AOL had made somehow the task
bar to be functional everytime.

Other than that it wouldn't be if you're following me...
So I contacted AOL and they told me that it's not the AOL
software that's causing the problem, they said it may be
that the windows registry or something was damaged and
that they suggested that I format my hard drive(which I
already had in mind), but upon trying to do that, an error
message shows up, what I do is second click my hard drive,
click "format", check in "quick format", "start" and the
error message reads "Windows was unable to complete the
format".

Please help me with this issue, I've saved all my
important files on a disc and basically what I want to do
is format my hard drive and use Windows XP as a boot up.

You can't format Windows from within Windows. That's like sawing off
the tree limb you are standing on.

The XP CD is bootable and contains all the utilities you'll ever need.

BTW, they advice you got from AOL tech support should be taken with
some reluctance. Contact a local computer store (a real one, not a
Best Buy or Circuit City) and listen to their advice.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Other than that it wouldn't be if you're following me...
So I contacted AOL and they told me that it's not the AOL
software that's causing the problem, they said it may be
that the windows registry or something was damaged and
that they suggested that I format my hard drive(which I
already had in mind), but upon trying to do that, an error
message shows up, what I do is second click my hard drive,
click "format", check in "quick format", "start" and the
error message reads "Windows was unable to complete the
format".

If you want to do this (and it is an open question whether it is not a
result of AOL software getting into bits of the system which it should
not) then You do it as part of a reinstall of the system after booting
the XP CD direct. Enter Setup, and after the license agreement take New
Install. When it asks you to confirm where, hit ESC; select and delete
the current partition and make a new RAW one to be formatted at the next
stage

The important point is the delete. Without that it will just go ahead
and make a new install over the top of the old one