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Windows XP Installation Hangs at 'Formatting Drive'

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  • Windows XP
  • Computers
Last response: in Windows XP
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July 8, 2014 2:23:38 PM

I'm having to reinstall Windows XP to my Dell Dimension because Pinguy (Linux) kept freezing. This computer came with XP on it, but wiped the drive before adding Pinguy. I'm trying to install Windows XP SP 3, but every time it gets to formatting the drive, the CD stops and I can see the light on the CD drive go out. I got the ISO file from online since I didn't have a boot CD/disk to use.

I've tried disconnecting the printer and anything else from the computer except the keyboard and mouse, and I've tried disabling the usb support (can't boot from usb on this computer) and A drive. I'm sure how long I should wait for the computer to format.

There aren't many options in BIOS to try with this computer - the BIOS is rather simplistic.

I'm just at a loss as to what to do. Do I need more memory? Maybe the CD drive needs to be cleaned (don't know how to do that)?

Any ideas?


Computer: Dell Dimension 4500
BIOS: A04
Processor: Intel Pentium 4
Processor Speed - 2GHZ
1 GB memory

More about : windows installation hangs formatting drive

July 8, 2014 2:37:27 PM

hi

if you had freeze problems with linux, sounds like you got defective hardware.
Install crystaldiskinfo or hard disk sentinel on another computer and plug the drive in this computer to check out the health.

If it ok, you might want to run memtest on the rig to rule out memory problems.

But since you get the problem when formatting disk, i am pretty sure it the hard drive of the disk controller.
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July 12, 2014 3:27:03 PM

dextermat said:
hi

if you had freeze problems with linux, sounds like you got defective hardware.
Install crystaldiskinfo or hard disk sentinel on another computer and plug the drive in this computer to check out the health.

If it ok, you might want to run memtest on the rig to rule out memory problems.

But since you get the problem when formatting disk, i am pretty sure it the hard drive of the disk controller.



I took the hard drive out of the computer, and put it in my Acer in the effort to try to install with a more powerful system. I forgot to rehook the DVD drive, but didn't notice that until after I took the hard drive back out. In any event, installing the hard drive back into the Dell did the trick. Installation ran smoothly!

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