Windiws XP Installation:

[Guest]

I am trying to install a fresh copy of Windows XP on a cleared out harddrive.
I select the partition I want and it goes to format it. When it starts to
format it get's to 20% or just stays at 0% for about 5 minutes. Then a new
screen comes out and says the Win. XP setup was unable to format the
partition what is the problem???

 

[Guest]

What was the reason for reinstalling windows?
Use Recovery Console and perform chkdsk /r

 

[RJK]

You may need to "zero-fill" your hard disk, (sometimes erroneously called a
"low-level" format), ! ...which will clear XP errors that are not being
cleared because of the options you're choosing when reinstalling ! ...and
will overcome some partitioning problems that you may be encountering
because of previous hard disk configuration/s.
Trundle along to your hd manufacturers web site were you can download the
utility software written spcifically for your make and model of hard-disk.
Then you can slap it onto a bootable floppy disc, or bootable cd-rom disk,
and boot up from it, and run the hd utility software. This hd software will
almost certainly include a facility for testing for bad clusters,
(unreliable storage areas on your hd).

If you want to extensively test you hard disk for reliability, visit
http://www.grc.com and download Spinrite 5

regards, Richard

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Delete the existing partition and create a new one from the resulting free
space at the point when it asks where to install WinXP. Then format and
proceed with the installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Plato]

I am trying to install a fresh copy of Windows XP on a cleared out harddrive.
I select the partition I want and it goes to format it. When it starts to
format it get's to 20% or just stays at 0% for about 5 minutes. Then a new
screen comes out and says the Win. XP setup was unable to format the
partition what is the problem???

If the above happens, sometimes one has to try the following.

1. Remove all partitions. Recreate partitions and try again
2. Zero fill the hard drive. Recreate partitions and try agin.

Sometimes it means the hard drive has bad sectors that cant be marked
bad. Which sometimes means the hard drive is bad. Often, people think
its windows is bad and then try
re-installing/fdisking/partitioning/formatting, and find out later that
one really has a hardware problem.

 

[Rock]

I am trying to install a fresh copy of Windows XP on a cleared out harddrive.
I select the partition I want and it goes to format it. When it starts to
format it get's to 20% or just stays at 0% for about 5 minutes. Then a new
screen comes out and says the Win. XP setup was unable to format the
partition what is the problem???

Download a drive diagnostic utility from the drive manufacturer's web
site. This will create a bootable floppy or CD. Run the diagnostics
from there.