[chuckmils]

Hello,
I'm trying to reinstall windows on my desktop. I get the error "Setup was unable to format the partition. The Disk may be damaged."

I downloaded the driver fitness test that was recommended in another question for the same problem. I tried to open the file to burn it to a cd and i get an error message "Device Drive error! Cannot create target diskette."
prior to this it tells me to select a drive (drive A being the only option). I didn't even know i had a drive A. Do i actually need to use a floppy disk/drive for this to work? I should be able to just burn the DFT to a blank cd and boot my desktop from it right?

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
CMM

[Advertisements]

What 'other question'?

[Hello71]

What 'other question'?

[chuckmils]

It was another post in this site titled "Setup was unable to format the partition. The Disk may be damaged." The tech recommended to that guy to download the Driver fitness test and gave him a link. Since i'm having the same problem while trying to install windows I just followed his advice to that guy. So i clicked the link:

http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287

and tried it out. followed by the problems i mentioned. sorry for the cunfusion

[rshaffer61]

Does the system with problem have a working cd\dvd drive?
It is better to make a bootable cd and that way you set the bios up to boot to the cdrom first and the system doesn't need windows or anything to work correctly. I believe the suggestion you are referencing is this. If the file you are downloading is a ISO then you need to burn using a ISO or Imaging burning program.


Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[chuckmils]

ok, i got the cd burnt. I booted from it. I selected the SCSI menu choice since that's that type i have. Now i have 4 options.
1. For adapter
2. for LSI 320 Controllers
3. for Tekram and Symbios Controllers
4. for ATTO 320 Contollers.

oh and my hard drive is a hitachi. so this should work. But which one do i select?

[rshaffer61]

I would say the first one.

[chuckmils]

okie doke.
So, it goes through its little pre test stuff and comes to a menu where i can either run quick test or advanced test on ATA PCI IDE 1 Master HDP725032GLA360. Do i do quick or advanced?

[chuckmils]

ok, i just did the quick check. It came back and said Operation completed successfully Disposition Code=0x00

Do you know what the code means?

[rshaffer61]

Try the advance test and if that comes back ok then we will need to look at other options.

[chuckmils]

After that test, the result was still the same. Disposition code 0x00. so back to the original problem i suppose.

The complete error message was:

Setup was unable to format the partition. The Disk may be damaged.
Make sure the drive 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 you computer manual or scsi adapter documentation for more info.
You must select a different partition for xp. to continue, press enter.

I tried installing the op system like 3 or 4 times using the longer format option. At 100% it kept coming up with this message. Using the quick format, it would stop at 20% and not move.

[rshaffer61]

OK so is there data that needs to be saved from the disk?

[chuckmils]

You mean my hard drive? I saved all the data that was on it before i did the reinstall. There shouldn't be anything on it at all. It's already been formated. Otherwise, what disk do you mean?

[rshaffer61]

Thats what I was asking about. If it has been formatted then the problem is it's just not seeing the drive?
You will have to manually install the Sata\Raid drivers for your MOBO to make everything work correctly.

To do that follow the next steps:

Clean Install

Turn your PC On

As the PC starts quickly insert the Windows Vista DVD into the DVD drive

If all goes well a black screen should appear with the legend 'Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.' If you miss this screen just reboot your machine again

At the 'Press any key to boot from CD or DVD' screen Press Enter or any other key to start the Windows Installation

Windows will now start loading files into memory

After files have been loaded the screen will change to a black screen with a green progress bar. Beneath the progress bar are the Microsoft copyright details

After a short while the language selection screen will appear. Select the desired language, and then click the Next button

The Install screen will now appear

On the Install screen Press the Install Now button

At the next screen Insert your Windows Product Code number and press Enter

Next you need to accept the EULA (End User Licence Agreement). Place a Tick in the Accept box and then Click the Next button

At the next screen you will need to Select your Installation type. As you are performing Clean install only the Custom option will be available for selection

The next screen asks 'Where do you want to install Windows

On this screen, bottom left hand corner, you will see an option marked Load Drivers. Click on this option

To install the device driver(s) you will need to insert the installation media that came with the RAID/SATA drives and which contains the relevant driver(s). This media can be floppy disk, CD/DVD or USB flash drive. Once you have inserted the media into the relevant drive, Click the OK button

The system will now search the media for the relevant driver(s)

After the search has been completed the driver(s) will appear in the 'Select the driver to be installed' Window

Select the relevant driver and then click Next

The driver will now be installed

If more than one driver requires to be installed, repeat steps 17 to 19 until the necessary drivers have been installed

After all drivers have been installed, click the Next button to continue installing Windows Vista.

[chuckmils]

I'm installing XP. So, i pushed enter to install windows XP. Then, i accept the user agreement. The next screen, still blue, is:

-To set up XP on the selected item, press enter (this is C: Partition 1 [unknown] 305235mb <305234 free>
-TO creat a partition in the unpart space, press c
-to delete press D

I assume it's the first one, so i select the first item.

Then i have to 2 options, one is to format that partition <quick> and the other is the longer way.

Then the problem i have is when i do this, It doesn't work and i get the error i told you about. I get the error message i spoke of when i do both the quick and the fast format. Do you want me to try the longer format option again? Or is there i different option i should select?

Edited by chuckmils, 21 December 2009 - 07:10 PM.

[rshaffer61]

It sounds like you are doing everything correctly but try the longer method and see what happens.