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XP format failed?

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by topesblues

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When I format the HD (20G-ntfs) I get about 90% complete when I get a message that the HD may be corrupt. (I did this three times) I have installed the disc on a Win 98 pc and was able to format it and run a thorough scan disc with out any errors. I then put the disc back in the original pc and tried to format it again and got the error again. I tried to format it to a FAT partition and also received the errors. So for grins I decided to format a 10G partition and was able to install XP. I then went to disc manager and created another 10G partition on the remaining drive space. I was able to format and run a scandisk on the second partition without any errors. Any idea why I can?t format the whole drive but if I create two drives I have no problems? Is there any MS articles on this? Thanks in advance for any help with this.

7 replies

by sgt_shultz

wonder if you hit the 1024 cylinder limit. think it is controller thing. you try 3rd party controller yet? or BIOS update? let me see if anything in support.microsoft.com...

by willcomp

Have seen a similar occurrence. Can't recall particulars but believe fix was BIOS update. Wasn't 1024 limit. Tried BIOS, as shot in dark best I can remember, and it worked. That is, BIOS update changes did not mention any such fixes. Also think it was a FIC mobo.

Happy hunting.

by aqtsinger2

This partial answer copied from an MS Newsgroup general WinME:

>> You can download partitioning and formatting software from your hard disk's
>> manufacturer's web site to put onto a floppy and use that to format and
>> partition your HD. It's free and very user friendly.

>Good idea. The 80GB drive is a Maxtor and came with a CD with such software.
>I've gotten software with hard drives before, but always ignored it and just used Fdisk etc.
>to do the job, because looking at the supplied software didn't impress me much.
>But that was some time ago, it's probably much
better software now, and I will use it.

Other related discussions on motherboard limitations at 8GB for older system, 127GB newer.

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