Any other ways of formatting windows XP? Won't format or install properly. Really need help.?

Question

I have formatted my computer twice before with the OS cd that came with my computer. last night my computer crashed half way through a defrag and now won't boot. I thpught id reformat no big dramas but when i boot up with the cd it sais i need to format it. i did it in quick but it said it wasnt formatted. then when i try to format it again it just stays on 0%. I tried to install XP and it said "setup cannot copy: bootvid.dll" i tried it again and i came up so i pressed skip but then it went straight to "setup cannot copy: avifile.dll" then "bios1.rom" then "bios4.rom" then "bootok.exe" so i reebooted. Please help

and another thing if its the hard drive can i install xp to my external hd (usb)? can you replace harddrives in notebooks?

Answer 1

sounds like the harddrive could be toast ..

Answer 2

when using the windows xp cd delete your hard drive partition, then make a new one then choose format, not quick format. If that doesn't work you could try using a Linux live cd. You can use ubuntu or any other flavor of a Linux live CD. I have had to do this from time to time. worked for me. Of course the reason I am mentioning Linux is, because they come with a formating tool.

Answer 3

The problems copying files might mean your CD is damaged or dirty. If you want a program to format you hard drive, though, download the Ultimate Boot CD. It contains several utilities for formatting your hard drive, as well as checking it for errors, and a lot of other neat tests for your computer

Answer 4

Q1: When you boot-up, does the BIOS identify the hard-drive make, model and size correctly?

Q2: If so, download and create the Ultimate Boot CD. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
Use its utilities to wipe out the whole hard drive and create a primary partition using the whole HDD -- FAT32 (faster than NTFS). Then try reinstalling WinXP.

If installation fails at any point, then you may have a bad hard drive.

Answer 5

With that symptoms is possible that you hard disk is crash, but to confirm this try to mount it as Slave in another machine and try to format it with the windows tools:

From Command Prompt
1) Erase Partition
2) format volumen: /FS:ntfs /x
3) chkdsk volumen: -x -r

Or using another third-party software make Low Level Format(visit your hard disk vendor website). If can't, buy a new Hard Disk.

Answer 6

Sounds like your drive has bit the big one. There is a low level for mat you could try but more then likely you need a new hard drive.