Still Can't Reformat. HELP!!!

[Guest]

I have spent more than a week searching, reading, trying....with no success.
I have a Win XP Pro SP2 Disc, set my bios to have cd rom as the 1st boot
option, even set all 3 boot options to cdrom, but PC boots from hd each time.
Result: can't reformat.

Downloaded the MS 6 floppies boot disks. Changed BIOS. Booted from the 1st
floppy. Asked for the 2nd. Loaded it, but system stopped responding. Tried
this several times, reformatting the floppies, redownloading the program &
recreating the floppies - all with EXACTLY the same result: hangs after
asking for the 2nd floppy.

Tried the Dr.D W98 SE boot disk. System stopped responding after displaying
the A prompt. Can't type anything at this point.

What else can I do????? If someone can REALLY help me, I'd be most grateful.
I think I've tried all suggestions from other posts.

 

[Linda B]

You might want to give BartPE a shot:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Of course, it'll only work if there's only something wrong with your
bootable CD (as opposed to the drive), but it's worth a try.

Just an idea...

 

[James Hahn]

If a standard W98se boot floppy gets you to the A prompt and then the system
hangs, I would guess that there are hardware problems. Download a good
hardware diagnostic package and give it a thorough run.

Try the boot floppy with the extra hardware disabled (in BIOS) or removed.
You need a floppy, keyboard, RAM and video to get to a functioning A:
prompt.

 

[Clark Griswold]

I have spent more than a week searching, reading, trying....with no
success.
I have a Win XP Pro SP2 Disc, set my bios to have cd rom as the 1st boot
option, even set all 3 boot options to cdrom, but PC boots from hd each
time.
Result: can't reformat.

Downloaded the MS 6 floppies boot disks. Changed BIOS. Booted from the 1st
floppy. Asked for the 2nd. Loaded it, but system stopped responding. Tried
this several times, reformatting the floppies, redownloading the program &
recreating the floppies - all with EXACTLY the same result: hangs after
asking for the 2nd floppy.

Tried the Dr.D W98 SE boot disk. System stopped responding after
displaying
the A prompt. Can't type anything at this point.

What else can I do????? If someone can REALLY help me, I'd be most
grateful.
I think I've tried all suggestions from other posts.

One of my machines won't boot from the cd, so I must use the floppies too.

Try disabling power options such as ACPI in the bios. I had a Win 2000
installation hang within the first minute of reading the cd. Disabled the
ACPI and off she flew.

 

[Guest]

Could you give some hints on 'good hardware diagnostic package'? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Linda, but part of the reason for wanting to reformat is that I can
no longer burn to cd. Keep getting errors after a few minutes.

 

[Guest]

By this, do you mean changing s1(pos) to s3(str)?

 

[Clark Griswold]

By this, do you mean changing s1(pos) to s3(str)?

1. You can try going with bios defaults and then disabling the whole APM
deal in the bios. After Windows install you can enable it. I may be wrong,
but, with my experience most of the action at the early stage of an install
is with the bios.

2. Is there a file displayed when the floppy hangs? That would point you to
the bios setting that needs adjusting. The file displayed for my Win 2000
install hang; allowed me to set the bios correctly.

3. As far as the inability to burn to cd - Did you remove temp files,
including temporary internet folders? Then chkdsk and defrag,

 

[James Hahn]

Your first choice is the package supplied with the PC. If that's not
available, go to the manufacturer's www site and see if it's available for
download. An alternative is any of the www sites specialising in this type
of product, such as
http://www.tufftest.com/