Hard Drive Dead? - error loading operating system

[Chatsi 0]

Hi all, Im new in this forum but I already read the topics relates to my project, but with no luck didnt work.

 

So this is my problem:

 

I have a HDD Samsung model SP0802N and one time I was formating to reinstall windows xp on it, so i formated and installed but same as the rest of the guys on the reboot i got the message "Error Loading Operating System" I already tried to it all over again but no luck, then I stared having a problem while formating, it will go to 20% on the formating and it will stop, then it will say :

 

Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged.

 

Make sure the drvie is switched on and properly connected to your computer. If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure your SCSI devices are properly terminated. Consult your computer manual or SCSI adapter documentation for more information.

 

You must select a different partition for Windows XP.

To continue, press ENTER.

 

this is if I try the "Quick" format and I i use the long one it just freezes on me.

 

I already try to install Vista,Windows media center edition and Linux and in all of them is the same problem.

 

I aready try to conected as a secunday disck but it windows doesn recognize it, so I dont know what to do.

Thank you.

[danleff 0]

Run the Samsung diagnostics disk on the drive to see if it is bad. The link to the utility is here.

 

Of course this is assuming that you have another computer available to burn the ISO file to a CD.

[Chatsi 0]

well i ran the aplications as you told me but it does not recognize my drive and I get the message: Error: Busy not clear, so i doesnt do anything. anything else i can do?

[danleff 0]

Does the bios recognize the drive on boot?

 

Or, if you get into the bios. is the drive auto detected by the bios?

 

Quote:

I aready try to conected as a secunday disck but it windows doesn recognize it, so I dont know what to do.

 

When you tried the second drive, was it the only drive in the system, or did you add it with the original drive in place?

 

Did you jumper and cable the drive correctly (master, slave...)?

 

 

[Chatsi 0]

yes, my cable and jumper are correct master, slave, and the Bios does recognize my HDD if I star the computer with only that hard drive it tells me the size,brand and everything related to my HDD so im guessing it does detected.

when I pluged as a secundary the Bios still detect the bad HDD so im guessing still good, it just have ome errors "i guess"

 

I meant to say this to,

 

before if I would put the bad HDD as slave, windows will detected but then I stared the computer with Win xp CD and I went to repaire and on the MS DOS y Typed the Format c: and it did, since then it hasnt recognize the HDD on windows and still cant format it

[danleff 0]

I took a closer look at the information that you provided. The issue comes down to a couple of senarios.

 

1. When you tried to reinstall Windows XP, was this after having Linux on the system, or after trying to install Linux on the hard drive?

 

What Distro and version of Linux do you have on CD. This may actually help you to format the hard drive correctly before installing Windows again.

 

It appears that you have been trying a variety of things to format the hard drive. This could simply be the issue that you face now. Either the hard drive is formatted with Linux, or Linux partitions, or you have a situation where the partitioning attempts have made a mess of the hard drive in general.

 

If the whole hard drive was partitoned with a Linux partition, or even a good part of it, the Windows installer can't read these Linux partitions and gets confused, or can't find enough space to install to.

 

2. Now on to the Windows install problem in general. Assuming that the drive is not dead, is this the original drive that came with your system, or did you add it on afterwards? Some bios' and Wndows will have difficulty reading the drive, depending on the age of the system and the way that the bios detectes the hard drive. A bios fix can remedy this, or you need to change the detection of the drive in the bios to allow Windows to proceed to install normally. This usually happens when a much larger hard drive is used in an older system not designed to handle the larger drive. In this case, you may be able to change the detection in the bios to either "large" or "LBA" (from "auto") and Windows should install OK.

 

Which leads to the question, was Windows pre-installed on this hard drive (came with the computer pre-installed) or did you install Windows yourself the first time, on this hard drive?

[Chatsi 0]

well..

 

1. after installing linux I installed win xp about 2 or 3 more timer without a problem.

I used Ubuntu an then mandriva the formated to windows.

and probably I agree that you say that my problem now is to format he hard drive, but I did not have an partition on the hard drive so that is not a problem, this is the HDD that came with my pc but my pc is not to old, probably is almost 3 years old, not to bad, I already updated the Bios to see if that was the problem but it was not, and what you said about changing the detection in the Bios I already did it, I changed to "arge" but still, nothing.

some one told me that I could use the HDD Renegerator, and Im trying that but it takes forever!!!! is been runing for about 24 Hrs and I go only 600 MB scaned :S

 

what do you think mate?

[tigerxml 0]

It's great!

 

Quote:

you may be able to change the detection in the bios to either "large" or "LBA" (from "auto") and Windows should install OK.

It's really helped me! Thank you! I tried about 10 days to find out what happened, and this is the answer.

Thank you!