Zero'd drive with KillDisk, now can't reinstall XP

[mattmilw]

My XP Home installation had a lot of miles on it, so I decided to Killdisk it, and start fresh. I wrote the zeros, and started the XP install. When it got to the partitioning, I set the size and NTFS, and it started the format, but quickly stopped. I don't remember the exact message, but it said it couldn't format. I've since ran the Western Digital setup program, but it still won't load XP. I've tried partitioning in FDISK. I've also formatted C: using a WIN98 start disk. The message I'm getting during XP setup is :

An error occured while setup was updating partition information on:

131070 MB Disk 0 at ID 0 on Bus 0 on ATPI [MBR}

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup Press F3

The Drive is a Western Digital 160 gb drive, and the version of XP that I'm loading does not have SP1 or 2.

I sure could use some help.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
From the KillDisk FAQ it seems you did the right things:


Will I be able to use my HDD after Active@ KillDisk erase operation?

To be able to use HDD again you need to:

repartition HDD using standard utility like FDISK

reformat hard drive using standard utility like FORMAT

reinstall Operating System using bootable CD-ROM or floppy


I'd contact them for help.

 

[bcastner]

I am betting this is a BIOS issue.
Is there an updated BIOS available for this computer?

 

[mattmilw]

I do have the latest Bios, though it's dated 4/14/03. I updated it when I put the HD drive in and it wasn't recognizing it's full size. The update corrected it.

 

[eyec]

are you using a full copy of XP or an upgrade copy?

 

[allteltec]

I think XP needs to be at least SP 1 to work on a HD that big. Try slip streaming your XP disk to SP 2. The easy was is by useing autostream from the people that makes autopatch.

 

[mattmilw]

An upgrade copy.

 

[eyec]

you need to reload an OS that will recognize a large drive as you have and then do the upgrade, that is why you are getting the errors.

if you have a copy of W2K (i think that will recognize a large drive) just do the partition and format then make a directory for windows and copy command.com or some basic windows files to that directory so the upgrade will see that you had a previous version loaded. i think this still works, not sure with XP.

or get a full copy of XP to install.

 

[mattmilw]

I've installed the HD on a more comtemporary P4, and I can now install my upgrade copy (pre-SP1) of XP Home on to it.

That sounds like a BIOS issue, as BCastner said. I can't upgrade my BIOS, as the version I have is the latest ABIT has on their site for my board (TH7-RAID).

If I can get my hands on a later version of XP Home that has SP1 on it, will it get me around this issue? I have access to a recent version of XP Pro, but I'm not sure how I'd utilize it, since I use Home.

Thanks for all the great help.

Matt

 

[linney]

You could check your bios and make sure it is set at Safe Defaults or similar and that any bios virus scanning is disabled. Plenty of other suggestions here.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...p+was+updating+partition+information"&spell=1

http://groups-beta.google.com/group...lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-50,GGLD:en&sa=N&tab=wg

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

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

Read the paragraph,
"How to Partition and Format Your Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup."


For more help (shows enlargeable screenshots) go here.

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPPro/installxppro1.htm

 

[bcastner]

Some possibilities of a workaround may be found here:

http://www.48bitlba.com/index.htm

 

[bcastner]

A slipstream of SP1 should be possible: thread779-900263