[Polizei]

hello, I hope this topic isn't beaten to death but I'm new here. I have been trying to reformat my hard drive and when I put the cd in and boot off of it, i get to the setup screen and press enter, then it tells me i have no hard disks installed or they are not working! That's impossible as I am talking to you right now using my computer. I dont know why it's telling me this and if anyone can help, please let me know!

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before you reformat - are you sure you want to lose everything?
this is a malware site. if you are infested, why not submit a HJT log and let the experts remove the demons?
do not reformat until absolutely necessary. in the mean time, back up all of your "I can't live without these files".

for those casual readers: back up all of your "I can't live without these files", now.

[bdlt]

before you reformat - are you sure you want to lose everything?
this is a malware site. if you are infested, why not submit a HJT log and let the experts remove the demons?
do not reformat until absolutely necessary. in the mean time, back up all of your "I can't live without these files".

for those casual readers: back up all of your "I can't live without these files", now.

[Polizei]

Yes I am sure. It is not that because I have a virus, but because I am missing registry files and have too many unneaded files on my computer. If you have any idea why it won't let me continue the installation let me know. Basically, instead of continuing the installation, it says that I have no hard drives installed? This should make more sense, as what I said before was rushed.

[bdlt]

you are running xp and when you try to reformat you say

then it tells me i have no hard disks installed or they are not working!

.

do you have a legal copy of MS XP?

[Polizei]

Yes, I bought it last year when I built the computer.

[bdlt]

That's impossible as I am talking to you right now using my computer.

I'm inclined to agree. I'm out of ideas. Anyone else have an idea?

[Polizei]

heh, I know, weird huh... I think I remember having a similar problem when I first tryed to install it, but I can't remember what I did to fix it...

[bdlt]

while we are waiting - please give the exact details of what you tried and the exact messages which were displayed. the error messages are very important, but don't skimp on the details of what you attempted.

[Polizei]

OK, fair enough. I put the Windows XP cd in. I restarted my computer and set the BIOS to boot of the cd-rom. The computer rebooted. Now XP was loading all the drivers and when it finished I chose to continue the setup - Option 1 - install windows. Then an error prompted me to quit the setup stating - "Setup could not continue. No hard disks deteced. Please make sure that they are connected or properly powered on."

[bdlt]

I've only done one xp install and it was over a win98. so please excuse the following suggestion, which most likely won't work. let's try to format while running xp(I know, it shouldn't run, but it is an option in the menu).

if you are sure everything is backed up:
right click start, explore, right click the boot drive, left click format

please post results

[Polizei]

You think that will work? I'm sorta nervous about doing that..

[bdlt]

format is the 1st step on an install. make sure you backup any info before starting.

I don't believe it will run since you are already running xp, but backup everything in case.

[Polizei]

I have nothing to back up

[Polizei]

Didn't work

[bdlt]

I'm completely out of ideas, even bads ones. I must be missing something.

Thanks for hanging in there Polizei. If you think of anything that has been installed recently or anything new, please post.

Anyone out there have any suggestions???????