Can't reformat, halp!!!

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Elementgreen

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Recently tried to do a simple reformat, I have a windows vista disc and a windows 7 upgrade disc. After vista installed I went to go get some drivers for my wireless adapter (wouldn't let me upgrade to 7 unless I had an internet connection, strange). I turned my PC back on and then it got stuck on the windows load screen. Reformatted again and tried to reinstall windows vista, only this time I don't think it fully installed, I was away from the computer at the time. Now I can't even get to the windows repair menu when I have the windows disc in, and it still gets stuck on the loading screen. Safe mode will not even load.

I tried pulling out everything in my PC to see if it wasn't booting because of hardware failure but no results. I've had to reset the CMOS every time I tinkered with the hardware just to get it to boot the BIOS. I'm starting to think maybe I just need a new HDD and I'll retry from there, but, anybody have any other suggestions on what the issue may be? If you need further info on my hardware just ask.

Thanks!
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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Have you tried just doing another fresh install? It's possible that part of the 1st install got corrupted. CMOS isn't the problem and I doubt the Bios either. The HD could be bad but you can always put it in another system as another drive and see if the other system picks it up. If it does you can reformat it and then do a drive check and if it's all good then put it back in your other system and reinstall windows.
 
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Elementgreen

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Can't do a fresh install again as it takes me right to the windows load screen even when the windows disc is inside (even when I have the boot order set correctly). I would try to put it in another PC to wipe it and retry but the owner of said PC is adamantly against me messing with it let alone opening it up to throw in my HDD. Forgot to mention I did a memory check before I tried to reinstall the second time (the time it didn't fully install) and said my c drive and my secondary drive was fine.
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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Find somebody else before you go buying parts you may or may not need. Find a local computer repair shop. Heck find somebody that has a external Hard Drive Enclosure and stick it in there and then plug it via a external plug such as a USB or ESATA depending the the Enclosure.
 
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nubbsauce

nubbsauce

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Try performing a reinstall with a FULL format instead of a quick.

To do this:
-When the Windows 7 Installer screen, press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt.
-Type "diskpart"
-Press Enter
-Type "select disk 0" (Assuming that is the drive you want or is the HDD, type "List Disk" to see the drives)
-Press Enter
-Type "clean all" (This will wipe the drive of all data)
-Press Enter
-Type "create partition primary" (This will create a new partition on your drive)
-Press Enter
-Type "format fs=ntfs" (This will perform a FULL format of the drive rather than the quick)
-Press Enter
-Type "active" (So a boot can be placed on it)
-Press Enter
-Type "Exit" Press "Enter", Type "Exit" Press "Enter" (This will leave the command prompt.

Then continue on with the installation, selecting your partition as the install path. This should be a flawless installation of Windows 7 since the Full Format scans for any errors on the drive.

Let me know what happens, if it still fails after the reinstall and full format, it could be hardware related.
 
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Elementgreen

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Let me reiterate that I can't get to any kind of install screen. I have what seems to be a broken install of vista, which I was going to upgrade with the windows 7 upgrade disk. When using either disk I can't get into the windows installer menu, it takes me right to the vista load screen after it has read the windows disk files.
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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Just go with what I said about the enclosure. Call around asking friends if they have one or know somebody that does.

Also you could try and make a bootable USB stick (of course from another system) and boot from the stick to a command prompt and then try to format the HD. Which is kinda what nubbsauce is saying but you need to be able to gain access to the HD from a different source. A bootable USB stick or the External HD Enclosure.
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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You can even get into the Boot Manager from the bios by telling it which to boot from 1st but you still need a bootable usb with dos commands to try to format the other drive or the HD enclosure.
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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No I'm talking about just the external housing to be able to put the current problem child into and then pluging it in another system via USB or ESATA depending on the connection. Something like a one of those prebuilt external harddrives won't work. I'm talking about the empty enclosures you can buy to put Hard Drives in.
 
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Elementgreen

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Oh I see, yeah I don't have any of those. Would it be too risky to just buy another HDD anyway and try again? Im not too confident that its just a hard drive issue. Before the second reinstallation that didn't install correctly, I was having the issue with getting stuck on the windows screen, although it worked just fine before I turned my PC off and went to get drivers. Then again the second reinstallation was a quick install and didn't involve a reformat as it didn't give me the option to. Idk, I'll try the things that I can as suggested above and will report back.
 
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Elementgreen

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Getochkn I think that may be the culprit. When I turned my PC on this evening to try to fix it again I realized that the CD drive wasn't working, opened up my case and made sure the connections were secure, then it started working again. Maybe it got loose during the second install and then corrupted it. But then again if it wasn't reading the disk at this point then what explains the screen that shows me that its reading the windows files on the disk? Then again there's really no point in that process as it just takes me to the windows load screen after that.
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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You can buy another one if you want but we haven't found out what the problem is yet. And if you buy online and still have the same problem then your stuck with another HD that you may need or not. And if you don't need another HD then you have to pay for restock and shipping. If it's local then it shouldn't be too much a problem but most local shops vs online like Amazon or NewEgg are a bit more $.

I'll tell you one thing that happened to me trying to install Windows XP on a old computer of mine. My system started getting real screwy on me and decided to reinstall XP and during the loading coping of files from the CD/DVD to the HD it would crash at random areas. We tried everything and couldn't figure it out. Last suggestion was did you check the ram, Well with 4 Gigs I think it was we didn't think that was a issue but after doing a Mem test it sure the hell was. A few sectors on the chips were bad and it was enough to bring the install to a halt. After buying new ram I was able to install XP with no problems. So there's other things that could be the problem but we just need to knock out each one at a time and the 1st one is the HD if it's got any problems or not and that why I suggested a External HD Enclosure to plug it into another system and checking it out from there. If there's no problem then you can format it on the other system and then plug it back in. And I've also seen that problem where the CD\DVD drive was making a good connection. A guy I knew wanted to reformat his HP to new status and we had problems with it reading the disk, however I had no problems with my computer and the disk so I took my CD\DVD drive out and plugged it into his computer and bam it worked. But once again you still have to check this out with somebody elses computer or get another CD\DVD drive.
 
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Elementgreen

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It might be the ram, but its ddr2 and ddr2 ram is ridiculously expensive right now. I tried pulling either ram stick out and rebooting before the second install and it didn't seem to change anything, then again both sticks could be screwed.
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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Testing ram is easy with MemTest but you still need to make a bootable USB or you could burn to a CD\DVD and put MemTest on it to test the ram. You should test each stick by itself and don't forget the slots the ram is in as well.
 
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Elementgreen

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OK so I figured out the issue. All I had to do was disconnect the other HDD that has all of my stuff from before I reformatted the other drive (the one with windows). This drive contains my steam games, music, DAW and music project files. I was able to reformat and reinstall windows and now I have a fresh install of windows 7. Problem is, I want access to the other HDD that causes windows to get stuck on the loading screen. I remember testing both HDDs after the first install attempt, both were fine. I'm really worried right now because I don't want to lose all 300gb of data I have on my secondary. Tried plugging it in after boot, doesn't see it. Any suggestions? I'm sure I didn't kill the thing because it was alright after the first install (before the failed second attempt). I didn't mess with it at all, didn't format it, nothing.
 
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Bean007

Bean007

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You should be able to still plug it in as you now have a boot drive with windows. If you still have the same problem then it's back to what I said about pluging it in as a external drive. You could try to plug the drive in after you've booted into windows but I've never done that before. You would plug the data cable in 1st before power and then see.

Now I have never plugged in a internal HD while windows and the PC was running, only a external so I don't see a problem but I've never done this before. Once windows is loaded your other HD should ask as just another drive and not try to be a boot drive. You can then copy off you're important stuff to your Windows drive or a USB and then format it.

I just read the last message after I finished this, sorry it's 4:50am and just woke up. So maybe the cable is the problem or it wasn't connected all the way.
 
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