TRYING TO INSTALL WIN XP PRO *PROBLEMS Invalid image

[av4ry]

Hi im having lots of problems with my SEAGATE 80 GIGZ HDD.
My dad turned off my PC while windows was updating itself and i got a blue screen after that..decided to start all over and format the hard drive. I formatted it using WIN XP PRO DISC REPAIR TOOLETC...changed THE HDD back to a FAT32/MS-DOS PRIMARY....also used SEAGATE DISCWIZARDS *Took 4 hrs to completely do a full format...ya i know i did a lot of formatting..just to be sure everything is gone

i decided to just to install WINDOWS ME and i couldnt..it said it couldnt install a file onto a the HDD??? *THE SAME FILE OVER AND OVER* But i installed it alright before the format. then i just went ahead and tried to install WINDOWS XP PRO and then during the blue screen where its coping files to the hardrive it would say XXXXX.dll not a valid windows xp image place on your hardrive *SOmething like that* Whats going on? Can anyone help?

XXXX.dll would also be a different file not always thje same file..

Yes the CD is not scratched, iv tried 2 other copies and had the same problem..and iv tried using different cd-roms.

what to do?????

 

[Jontmke]

Do a "thorough" or "surface" scandisk to check for bad sectors. Even though the format should have found them.
It will take a looooong time.
JON

 

[av4ry]

ummm how do i do a scan disk when i dont have a OS installed in my hardrive yet?
and how about if that doesnt work?

 

[linney]

Your Hardrive might be damaged.

All you can do is to Format and try to install XP (or ME).

Use the XP CD to Format your drive and set up partitions with NTFS. Or smaller partitions if you want FAT32.

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - Q314463
Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314463

http://www.mcmcse.com/windows_xp/guides/filesystems.shtml

HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q313/3/48.asp

Or If you want ME, use a ME Startup disk to Fdisk and format your drive as FAT32. ME can't handle NTFS.

 

[Jontmke]

Do you still have an old win98 startup disk? Boot with that and then run scandisk. Here is the command:
a:>scandisk c: /nosave/autofix/surface
Now this will only work if the HD is still fat32, not ntfs.

JON

 

[greyted]

av4ry,
If you can get online, follow the link below for Seagate HDD diagnostic tools.

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html

Ted

 

[hodgesj]

check for bad memory, I had this problem , or at least a similar one and it was 2 bad memory sticks. replaced, and the machine worked like a new one !

 

[mmv]

I think you are looking at a corrupt Hard drive or Disk controller.
Difficult to fix really.
You might need to change the controller.

 

[fuunstatic]

doesn't sound like a corrupted hard drive if you can do the following

with a win98 boot disk boot the pc up

the a:\fdisk /mbr
to fix the master boot record

then
a:\fdisk

use option 3 to delete all partitions
use option 1 to create a new one (primary partition)

then after a reboot format this partition as fat32 etc
ie a:\format c:

afterwhich you should install OS as normal "Work to live, don't live to work"

"The problem with troubleshooting is that sometimes it shoots back"