Re: Format Hard Drive



"skylux" wrote:


is there a simple answer to why the win XP will not re-intall as the BIOS
recognizes the hdd and i have not deleted the fat32 partition, i just
reformatted the NTFS partition. i have all the disks from dell - the winxp,
diagnostic disk etc. the manual says exactly what i did. on bootup, press
f12, insert winxp, choose boot from cd-drive and follow the instructions.
dell offers three restores 1) manual restore 2) PC restore 3) system restore.

why does the winxp not recognize the hdd, as its installed an working.

If you have all the disks that Dell supplied with the computer, and are
following the instructions for reinstallation that Dell provided and it still
doesn't work; I think it might be time to call Dell and have them explain why
their restoration process doesn't work. They are the manufacturer, they ought
to know.

thanks for replies.

sm



"skylux" wrote:


i tried to load win xp, after formatting the harddrive and leaving the fat32
intact. as you mentioned, the WinXP Set Up Home Edition - gave the following
message -

"Setup did not find any hdd installed on your pc. Make sure any hdd are
powered on and properly connected to th pc and that any hdd related hardware
configuration problem is correct. This may involve a manufacture supplied
diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. Press F3 to Quit".

Is there a patch for this? The BIOS does recognize the hdd.

thanks

sm



"Bill in Co." wrote:

Dell (or at least some of them) use one partition as a restore partition
(which restores the Dell to just it was the day it was shipped), and another
as a diagnostic partition. And I believe they were both primary
partitions, hidden, and FAT or FAT32. If you delete any of those
partitions, you *will* have bootup problems, without doing some patchwork.

Tim Med*** wrote:
Acer computers use a small-sized hidden Fat partition as the restore
(after
catastrophic failure) partition.
--

Cheers, Tim Med***, Peckham, London.


"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23hy4ZZkvJHA.248@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In which case it would be wisest to leave it there. For example, if it
is a Dell, and you delete one of those Dell partitions, you may not be
able to boot up without a fair amount of work, because part of the Dell
MBR boot up process expects those partitions to be there.

Daave wrote:
Or it could be a diagnostic partition (which I would recommend keeping).
What is the make and model of the PC? Did the PC come with this hard
drive?


JS wrote:
Then it could be a Restore Partition
created by the PC vendor.


"skylux" <skylux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4ECAC56E-5485-479C-B423-8BE29FE408CD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

apologies 71mb.


"JS" wrote:

Did you mean to say 71GB or is it really
71MB partition?

--
JS
http:/www.pagestart.com


"skylux" <skylux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:BBCE58A6-DC67-4181-BB1C-9D29589B696A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
hi,

i am trying to format a 300gb hardrive. in win xp sp3 under
computer management and then disk management, i can detect the
harddrive. the problem
is that it shows 1) drive letter H: and 232.75gb NTFS healthy
configuration
and 71 mb FAT healthy EISA configuration. now, i can easily format
the NTFS
configuration but i can't get rid of the FAT partition.

any suggestions on how to make the harddrive "whole" with no
partitions and
just 300mb NTFS healthy configuration?

thanks
sm



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