Please help! Windows could not format a partition on disk 0.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
M

modfather

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2008
26
0
18,530
I'm so bummed! I bought the following:

ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Antechttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antec EA650 650W ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
SAPPHIREhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire 100243-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Cardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_card - Retail
ASUS VW222U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display with HDCP support - Retail
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Casehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case - Retail
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550 - Retail
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAMhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burnerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_recorder with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q - OEM
Microsoft FA6-00010 Black USB Wired Ergonomics Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM
Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

And put it all together, tonight. I'm a novice system builder, but everything seemed to go perfect. Until I tried to load Vista x64. When I first booted, I saw on my screen:
"Adapter 1"
"Disks information:"
"No hard disk is detected!"

So I found out by searching around, that I needed to disable the IDE port on my mb, via the bios. I did that, and tried again, but this time (and I actually got this problem before, as well), Vista starts to install, and then I get prompted for my CD Key, and finally, it asks me about my hard drive. When I partition it all to one partition, it tries to copy files and then comes back with this error:

"Windows could not format a partition on disk 0. The error occurred while preparing the partition selected for installations. Error code: 0x80070057."

I've looked around at this error message, and it seems to be somewhat common, but I haven't found any great replies to how to fix the problem. And most people having the problem are trying to set up RAIDS. I'm not, here. I'm so confused and depressed! :(

If anyone can help, I'd sure be appreciative!

Thanks!
Steve
 
M

modfather

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2008
26
0
18,530
Folks, thanks for the feedback.

ghmage, I am not set up for RAID, as far as I know, so this doesn't apply to me?

croc, I looked through their website pretty well, I don't know what installation utility you mean. I looked at their guide for installation, but there really isn't much to it. As far as they're concerned, just plug it in and go...

Any further details on this or other suggestions? I'm so very very bummed. I'm wondering if the hard drive is bad...
 
J

jitpublisher

Splendid
May 16, 2006
8,747
2
31,960
May or may not help you at all, but I have heard people having Vista 64 install problems if you have over 2 gig of ram installed. You might try removing 1 of your sticks and see if that helps. They then put the rest of the memory back in after the install and all mysteriously works fine.
I have also heard people say the only way they were able to get Vista 64 to install was to put the drive in another running system, and pre-format the drive.

Thats about all I have, good luck!
 
M

modfather

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2008
26
0
18,530
Thanks. I've already taken out 2 of the gigs - no help. I'm gonna try to format the hard drive in this computer. We'll see!
 
roadrunner197069

roadrunner197069

Splendid
Sep 3, 2007
4,416
0
22,780
Check the boot order. I had the problem because I had a USB drive plugged in and it was trying to install to it. I checked the boot order and my main drive wasnt coming up in the bios, as soon as i unplugged the usb drive it worked.
 
M

modfather

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2008
26
0
18,530
Hmmm, main drive is detected in the bios. Here's a new development, though:

I put the hard drive in another computer (this one), and it prompted me to format. I said "yes" and off it went. 2+ hours later, when the progress bar finally hit the right side, a little dialog box popped up and said "Windows was unable to complete the format".

Helpful, huh? ;)

So now I downloaded something called KillDisk to see if I can wipe it. I'm really starting to wonder if this hard drive is toast. With no one from Seagate to call (any suggestions if there's SOMEONE I might call on a Saturday or Sunday?), I may have my son pick up a new HDD at his work - Best Buy - and try that. If it works, I'll just return this one. I'd love some other options, though... :)
 
roadrunner197069

roadrunner197069

Splendid
Sep 3, 2007
4,416
0
22,780
I was having issue with Seagate lately, as well as many others on the forum. I have switched to WD for the time being. Seagates failure rate is way to high right now.

You could download seatools from seagate and test your drive like that.
 
M

modfather

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2008
26
0
18,530
I just ran Active Killdisk, and it came up with the following:

Bad (unwritable) sectors detected from 240726843 to 240745742 on Hard Disk 1.

Guess I need to RMA this?
 
cmptrdude79

cmptrdude79

Distinguished
Feb 22, 2006
233
0
18,690
Modfather,
I was going to reply to you on the EggXpert forums, but seems this will work just as well. Firstly, I have to agree with the other posters (on the EggXpert forums) that your build looks good. You may have lost 2% or 3% performance by going with DDR2-800 instead of DDR2-1066, but that's pretty trivial really.

In answer to your current question, yes, with that error, that particular hard drive is bad. It will need to be RMA'd either to NewEgg or directly to Seagate. Best of luck on your build; it'll be a beast once you finish breathing life into it.

-J
 
M

modfather

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2008
26
0
18,530
Thanks, cmptrdude79, and all others who helped with this. Just as a followup, my son works at BB, so he got me a pretty nice deal on a WD 1TB drive. So I bought that, and RMA'd the Segate. Installed the WD drive, and it works like a champ! I couldn't wait for a new drive from Newegg... lol. It was a Friday night and I had computerin' to do!

So in any event, yep, formatted the new hard drive just fine, and playing games, surfin' the web, and running productivity software like a champ! Have to say, Crysis looks fantastic and PLAYS fantastic. Think I'm going to buy Fallout 3 and give that a go. ;)

Thanks again!
 
C

crimsonnblue

Distinguished
Dec 13, 2006
3
0
18,510
I would just like to add to this thread a bit. I'm having the exact same issues with many similar parts. I have the 1.5 TB seagate and I was getting the same errors. I tried to install vista x64 to the drive as one big partition and it didnt work. However I created a 200Gb partition and it started installing. Pretty silly if you ask me.

Wonder why this would even be an issue.
 
J

jlaeschl

Distinguished
Apr 4, 2009
1
0
18,510
I have the same seagate 1.5TB and Vista x64 didn't want to do 1500 either. So, I just partitioned 1000GB and it is loading now.
 
F

Faisal Mohammed

Distinguished
May 3, 2009
1
0
18,510
Hi everyone,

If you want to install 32 bit Vista on a hard-drive of size more than 1TB, then you need to partition it so that the size of the maximum partition is less than 1 TB.

There are two kinds of hard-drive partitions: MBR partition (which we normally use) and the new GPT partition. GPT disks are based on GUID partition table and not on MBR. 32 bit versions of Vista do not support GPT disks and have size restrictions for MBR disks/partitions. 64 bit versions of Vista with Service Pack 1 support GPT disks which can have partitions greater than 2TB.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Faisal Mohammed
CEO
www.giftsauction.com
www.aviationhotdeals.com
 
Tiponlaskar1

Tiponlaskar1

Honorable
Dec 16, 2012
1
0
10,510

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom