Windows XP O/S only loads so far

[kiwiite]

I used a windows boot disk to partition and format these two hard drives and boy are they giving me grief... I have windows XP 0/S and I was wondering if it's because I'm partitioning and formatting the hard drives in win 98 boot disk that the XP O/S disk won't load the full way...

When I restart the computer after formatting the hard drive and I don't hit the enter key to (boot from cd...)it comes up with the following

couldn't open drive muti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
NTLDR: couldn't open drive multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)

Can someone explain what that means and I can fix it?

Not only that when I press enter to boot from cd... it loads as far as Enter=install D=Delete C=Continue Setup Esc=Cancel

I press C=Continue and it asks me if I want to format the hard drive in fat or ntls or leav the current file system intact <no change>

I press Enter to Continue then it comes up with
CAUTION: A\Windows folder already exists that may contain a windows installation. If you continue the existing windows installation will be overwritten.

All files, subfolders, user accounts, applications, security and desktop setting s for that windows installation will be deleted. The "My Documents: folder may also be deleted

To use the folder and delete the existing windows installation in it , press L

To use a different folder press ESC or To quit setup press F3.

When I hit Esc it cames up with a panel to type what you want to do and I've typed in separate letters e.g D\windows and Local and it loads windows onto these assigned folders and shuts down... but then it only goes as far as there and won't load any further....

AAAAAAArrrggg!!! Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong!!!

Cheers
Frustated

bold = bold

 

[micker377]

I am confused! You talk about two hard drives. You are trying to set up with only hooked up, aren't you? Next, you are getting messages that a Windows installation already exists. This can't happen if the hard drive has just been partitioned and formatted. Have you booted with the Win98 boot disk and checked the partitions with fdisk? If so, does it show a "non-DOS" partition? What type and size are these drives?

 

[kiwiite]

hi sorry yes I'm only using one hard drive in a P3 system... I'm using a 98se oem disk to format the hard drive with... I thought it might of been the hard drive and I have another spare one... so I took off 8 gig one and put in the 6 gig hard drive and tried to partition that one as well and it said that the hard drive could not be partitioned as it was already partitioned... but it could format it in dos... Both hard drives are Seagate drives one is a 6 gig and the other is an 8 gig size... I hope that helps

 

[micker377]

Yes. You have to use the 98 bootdisk. Choose "fdisk", and remove all partitions. Then you create a new partition. Make it "active" and when done, reboot and format the drive. Format c: , not format c: /s. Then when you use the Win XP CD to install, you can choose to re-format or leave alone.

 

[kiwiite]

Awesome that sounds so easy... I'll go and give it a go and let you know the outcome... Thanks so much for your input... God I thought I was going out of my mind trying to figure it out...
Cheers

 

[wolluf]

kiwiite

tip - you only need the XP install CD to partition/format drives - no point messing around with 98 boot floppies and fdisk. XP setup has better partitioning tools (only exception is if you need a fat32 partition > 32GB - which you obviously don't in this situation).

 

[micker377]

Yes, I gave him the long way. That way he could do it step-by-step, and be sure. Can you remove partitions and install new partitions with the Win CD? With fdisk, you can go back and check on the status of each step. Normally, it can be done your way. In this case (with a problem drive), I'd do it with fdisk.