[BARROS]

Hey,

My mate has bought a new hard drive and has been working well for about a week until now. He went to turn on his computer and it would POST and then go to the Windows XP loading screen... then it goes black. The PC is still on but nothing on the screen.

He thinks its due to a virus or something but anyways, he wants to format it. I have tried installing it as a SLAVE drive along with the MASTER drive of his PC but it cant read it. I have also tried running it as the MASTER but still it wont work...


Can anyone help us with this problem??

Cheers in advance

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Can't he format it using the Windows CD?

[RichP]

Can't he format it using the Windows CD?

[Kemasa]

Does the disk get seen during the machine's self test? It should print that it is there or go into the setup menu and make sure that it can be seen.

It could be that there is a problem with the disk.

If you can see the disk, then you could try using dban to wipe the disk, booting from the floppy so that there is nothing else which could affect it.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

[BARROS]

Hey guys,

I tried that DBAN tool. I started it last night and left it running (takes about 8 hours i think - thats what it told me)

I had to leave my mates house, However im goin' to check on it today and see if it worked.


I will let you's know

[Kemasa]

Can't he format it using the Windows CD?

The answer is maybe. It depends on what the problem is. Using Windoze means that there still could be something on there which adversely affects the ability to work with it. That is why other programs tend to be a safer method. Personally I would suggest having a Knoppix Live CD, which allows you to do things and is a nice tool even if you normally use Windoze.

[warriorscot]

Kemasa its spelled windows, not windoze thats slang and youll confuse people when you get some people who dont know what an OS is and only now windows as a screen that pops up when the PC starts it helps to spell things clearly.

The windows CD format usually isnt ideal however it would do the job it overwrites the file system and OS files are overwritten, there are remnants left but they are usually data but after format are just counted as empty space and overwritten they will almost never be recoverable or conflict after a format. Dban overwrites completely leaving a blank HD with nothing bot 0s on it which is why it takes so long.

If DBan doesnt work i would suspect a duffed hard drive, i would suspect that anyway, very few viruses are obvious like that and corrupt the OS so entirely and unlikely that in a week you get such a nasty virus unless you are completely daft and uninternet savvy. I would get hold of the disk manufacturers diagnostic tools and run them on the drive.

[Kemasa]

Kemasa its spelled windows, not windoze thats slang and youll confuse people when you get some people who dont know what an OS is and only now windows as a screen that pops up when the PC starts it helps to spell things clearly.

Well, if you want to risk running afoul of M$, then you can use the other word, but then perhaps you should read:

http://www.microsoft...ge/windows.mspx

so that you properly respect their trademark and should notate that you are using a registered trademark.

It is rare that people don't know what is being referenced by the use of the term WIndoze. It is also more accurate :-).

[warriorscot]

Actually you wouldnt run afoul as you have to reference in a service in common usage there is no such thing as trademark violation if refering to is in conversation as we arent selling a product its ok.

It is rare that people don't know what is being referenced by the use of the term WIndoze. It is also more accurate :-).

1. you would be surprised at some of the people who come on here ive seen more than a few that would be confused or unsure of the term and we want to demonstrate confidence and competance in the subject it helps to use full terms otherwise they get confused. 2. personal opinion on your part.

[Kemasa]

Actually you wouldnt run afoul as you have to reference in a service in common usage there is no such thing as trademark violation if refering to is in conversation as we arent selling a product its ok.

It is rare that people don't know what is being referenced by the use of the term WIndoze. It is also more accurate :-).

1. you would be surprised at some of the people who come on here ive seen more than a few that would be confused or unsure of the term and we want to demonstrate confidence and competance in the subject it helps to use full terms otherwise they get confused. 2. personal opinion on your part.

Perhaps you should ask M$. If you want to use the correct term, you should use the correct term including the operating system. I have windows on my machine as I use X11, but it is not an operating system and is not related to M$.

There are a lot of opinions on both sides :-).

[warriorscot]

Only sides i see are good english and bad english to me, and seeing as some members have bad enough english as it is we shouldnt perpetuate and set bad examples typos are allirght but intentional incorrect spelling and slang is bad form. I dont think MS care wether you include the full term when talking in reference to one of their OSs on a forum and they have never said it wasnt ok your link was for software authors for writting there documentation.

[Kemasa]

I see more sides that you it seems. If you are talking to a person about Linux and you say to open a window, they could get confused.

Ask M$ and see, don't assume that they think it is ok. They go to great lengths to protect their trademarks and such.

If you want to talk about English, in the last sentence the word "there" should be "their". Also shouldnt is wrong, it is shouldn't. "allirght" is correctly spelled as "alright". You are also missing a few "," and other puncuation. All of which set a bad example. My point is that if you want to argue a position, you should be in a good position to do so. I often make mistakes, but in a message where you are saying what is right and what is wrong, you should be more careful :-).

The bottom line is that I am not going to change your opinion and you are not going to change mine, so what else is there to say? If you want to invoke the term police, then do so and see what happens.

Edited by Kemasa, 24 August 2006 - 01:13 PM.

[kidnova]

Not trying to be bossy or anything, but this is probably an issue for PM, don't you think? You guys both do great work and this seems a little trivial.

Edited by kidnova, 24 August 2006 - 01:17 PM.

[BARROS]

Managed to format the hard drive and seems to work good now

This topic can now be closed since the issue has been resolved

Cheers guys

[warriorscot]

Great glad you got it solver, ahh it bugs me intentional mispellings and slurs if i made something i wouldnt like it to be maligned bot more so the fact that when you cant spell for crap and try to actually do it properly its annoying when others dont, theres a difference between intentional errors and non intentional errors i cant spell to save myself my grammar sucks mostly because they dont teach it in schools anymore thus the only grammar i ahve ever learned i taught myself to pass an exam then forgot promptly. Then add on to the fact that my keyboard isnt the best typing keyboard(Zboard love the thing but its a curse sometimes).

Whats wrong with saying open a window in linux most modern linux GUIs use the WIMP system, it would be totally terminology wise correct MS didnt invent the term window or windows they seized upon a principle of OS design they were first and got the name if they hadnt got it someone else would have named an OS windows , its based in the WIMP design principle: Windows, icon, mouse, pointer(although variations, mouse is sometimes menu etc.) its not a MS thing to have a window or term the GUI element as a window it existed before windows as an operating system.