[Sugartooth]

I'm back Phill! What should we try now?

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Hello Anna,

 

We need to try and confirm how much of the HDD has been wiped and how much if any space on the HDD can be written to.

 

Can you boot up DBAN and use the interactive mode option, this will show you any total HDD space and/or any partitions on the HDD.

[phillpower2]

Hello Anna,

 

We need to try and confirm how much of the HDD has been wiped and how much if any space on the HDD can be written to.

 

Can you boot up DBAN and use the interactive mode option, this will show you any total HDD space and/or any partitions on the HDD.

[Sugartooth]

Hi Phill,

 

Does this help at all?

 

[phillpower2]

Hello Anna,

 

Yes thanks, we can at least now see that there is 500GB of free space on the HDD and that the drive has no partitions on it.

 

Can I ask if you had a USB thumb drive in the computer when you took that picture.

[Sugartooth]

Hi Phill,

 

DBAN is on one of my thumb drives (16GB), so yes, it was plugged in.

[phillpower2]

Hello Anna,

 

Thanks for confirming that it was your thumb drive.

 

Can you try using the Autonuke option but before starting the wipe make a note of the start time and upon completion the finish time, it can take many hrs to wipe a drive properly and if the process finishes in only a short period of time it would suggest that something was amiss.

[Sugartooth]

Hi Phill,

 

The Hardware clock operation start and finish dates/times are wrong in the picture. I started the scan on 12/6/19 at 4:51PM (according to my cellphone). When I checked at midnight, the scan still had 41 minutes remaining, so I believe it took around 8 hours.

 

[phillpower2]

Hello Anna,

 

Can you check that the time and date are both correct in the BIOS and if incorrect put them right please.

 

As your picture shows the HDD has been wiped clean and there is only a single 500GB partition on the drive, time to try again with a clean install of Windows, can`t for the life of me remember but do you have an ISO on both USB and a DVD disk, if yes to the DVD I would suggest that you tried to install from the DVD rather than the USB.

 

Fingers crossed for you and good luck.

[Sugartooth]

Hi Phill,

 

Still didn't work. I corrected the time and inserted the DVD. The screen had all different colors of the rainbow again, then righted itself. The DVD drive was making odd noises and couldn't read the disc. I tried with my USB, but it resulted in this again.

 

[phillpower2]

Hello Anna,

 

It is looking like it is the HDD that has issues I`m afraid 

 

Use the diskpart - list disk command to see what if any properties are shown for the drive then get back to us if you will.

[Sugartooth]

Hi Phill,

 

 

Use the diskpart - list disk command to see what if any properties are shown for the drive then get back to us if you will.

 

I don't know how to do this. I'm assuming I need to run a Command Prompt, but Windows isn't installed. What do I use to run it with?

[phillpower2]

Hello Anna,

 

Apologies, was pushed for time when I last replied and forgot to include the copy/past info doh 

 

 

Turn off the PC, and put in the Windows installation DVD or USB key.

 

Boot the PC to the DVD or USB key in UEFI mode. 

 

From inside Windows Setup, press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt window, at the command prompt enter the commands that I have highlighted in bold.

 

Open the diskpart tool

 

diskpart

 

Check what if any storage devices are detected;

 

list disk

 

Something with a couple of pictures that may help Open Command Prompt at Boot using Windows 10's setup media

[Sugartooth]

Hi Phill,

 

I did what you instructed, but the Command Prompt does not work. I've tried it 3 times and even let it sit overnight thinking maybe it was just r-e-a-l-l-y slow in opening.

[phillpower2]

Hello Anna,

 

What actually happened, if nothing it suggests that the drive is inaccessible and needs to be replaced or tried in another computer or hard drive enclosure.

[Sugartooth]

Hi Phill,

 

I meant that nothing happened when I pressed Shift+F10. Is it better to replace the hard drive or buy a new laptop? I'm thinking if I replace it, something else may go wrong. Lol