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Windows XP forum: setup was unable to format the partition

by: rsjbsmt307 March 29, 2009 5:50 PM PDT

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setup was unable to format the partition

by rsjbsmt307 - 3/29/09 5:50 PM

I have an Intel D845BG mobo with a P4 1.8 GHz that had been a running XP system until the HDD died. I installed an HDS/IBM 80 GB HDD (IDE) that had been a secondary drive in another XP system. Debian Linux installs and runs just fine on the HDD. I decided to make it a dual boot system which means (I think) that XP has to be installed first. I am using a Windows XP Full Home Edition with SP2. It doesn't matter if I give XP the entire drive or attempt to partition it into smaller pieces (as small as 8GB), the format function (Quick or slow) always ends with the error message " setup was unable to format the partition, The disk may be damaged. Make sure the drive is switched on and properly connected to your computer..." and then talks about SCSII. I ran the HDS/IBM Drive funtion tests - no errors. I used Super Fdisk to format the drive with no errors. Why can't XP format the drive and use it?


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Just one thing.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 3/29/09 6:06 PM

In Reply to: setup was unable to format the partition by rsjbsmt307

Don't trip up XP by partitioning ahead of installing XP. XP likes blank drives.


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setup was unable to format the partition

by rsjbsmt307 - 3/30/09 3:11 PM

In Reply to: setup was unable to format the partition by rsjbsmt307

Additional info - I tried an old XP Upgrade with SP1 CD and it let me partition the HDD, formatted OK, and went into the install function of copying files. It rejected the product key, which was not the key that came with the CD, but it did get past the format issue. The machine is an old VPR Matrix (Best Buy) and I suspect it has a modified BIOS. So my next step is to flash the BIOS if I can find one. Intel no longer provides it for this board. I had used the XP SP2 CD to do a clean install on its home machine about 2 weeks ago after its HDD bought the farm, so I am fairly confident it is not a problem with the CD itself. And again, Debian installs and runs fine. Weird, huh?


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setup was unable to format the partition. the disk may be

by internetkr - 2/16/10 7:03 PM

In Reply to: setup was unable to format the partition by rsjbsmt307

Problem solved check ram memory.


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ok

by delgadj2878 - 11/27/12 3:15 PM

In Reply to: setup was unable to format the partition. the disk may be by internetkr

why would the ram have anything to do with the HDD ?


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Has everything to do with the HDD.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 11/27/12 3:38 PM

In Reply to: ok by delgadj2878

Before anything is written to the HDD the content is in RAM. Corrupt the RAM contents and the HDD will be corrupt in no time.
Bob


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