Formatting freezes at 97% ???

[audiopimp]

Hi, I'm about to go and try to fix a buddy's pc and from what he tells me on the phone the problems lies in when he formats the drive. I haven't tried yet so I don't know if he's doing it correctly but here's what happens: it formats up to 97% then it freezes. What could this be related to? Is there a problem with the MBR? what do any of you suggest I do first?

What I plan on doing is firstly, removing all uneeded pci cards incase they are at fault then during my formatting I will do format c: /s /mbr. will this work?

Thanks for all your help

 

[wolluf]

Why's he formatting disk? Was there a problem that wasn't resolved?
I'd suggest using fdisk to remove and create new partiton first (I'm assuming there's no data to save if its been formatted (attempted) - and that desired o/s is win9x/ME). You could also try mounting disk as slave in another PC (preferably one running 2k or XP - better partitioning/formatting tools, but 9x/ME ok) and formatting it there.

PS. I think /mbr is parameter to fdisk, not format - and you don't need /s

 

[nightowl17]

Most of the time when formating stops it is an indication of bad sectors in the hard drive run scan disk to confirm this and then do a low levil format to correct the problem .A good low level format tool can be gotten from

http://www.maxtor.com

look for powermax in the downloads section and just follow directions easy to use Hope This Helps Solve Your Problem
nightowl17

 

[audiopimp]

Thanks for your advise. Whoa, now its a day later and let me tell you...it's time I learn WinXP like I know all its predecesors. Anyhow, I was informed incorrectly; it wasn't during the format that it would freeze, it was during the pre-formatting disk check that it froze at 96 percent, always... anyhow, what would help me know is a reference on trouble shooting and installing win xp. I will be using the powermax utility that nightowl17 suggested and hopefully that'll work...

Thanks again.