Reformatting Didn't Work..help!

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Originally posted by Chewie UK+10 August 2004 - 13:57--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Chewie UK @ 10 August 2004 - 13:57)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-brucelee21@10 August 2004 - 07:27
i&#39;ll try reformatting again...but my antivirus has 5 w32sasser.c worms quarantined. Should I worry about these? How/should I remove these before I format?

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I don&#39;t think you fully understand what you&#39;re doing when you format.
Formatting a hard drive completely wipes off all data on it. Every file that you see on your hard drive, be it a picture, an mp3, a movie or a word document, will be gone after you format.
To get any files back that you wiped by mistake will require software specific to the purpose, and results are not guaranteed. [/b][/quote]
well put, or you could just burn them to cd before you format for backup purposes.

ummm...I do understand the concept of formatting. That is what I did, backed up all my info on cd&#39;s, then wiped the hd clean, reinstalled windows. But still getting problems, like programs closing, cpu restarting. I ran chkdsk f/, scandisk, etc. I thought that by formatting my hard drive, all these problems would go away. Did I miss something?

if you had formatted properly the viruses should have been wiped completely along with all files and software

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Originally posted by ObiWan@10 August 2004 - 22:05
if you had formatted properly the viruses should have been wiped completely along with all files and software

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where did I go wrong in my format then? I followed the on screen instructions in the windows setup, all my files were erased, windows reinstalled? I don&#39;t get it?

did you re-install the virus from your back-ups? I know, stupid question. Just make sure you have NO partitions on your drive AT ALL. use DOS to delete all logical partitions. you should just have ONE primary partition of 80gb (it wont be exactly 80, but damn close)

also, windows will ask you in the beginning that it has detected an existing windows install, and ask if you wanna do a fresh install. THIS IS THE POINT WHERE YOU WANNA MAKE SURE YOU ONLY HAVE 1 HDD AND 1 PARTITION. Cuz it will install to a different partition (or drive), which will leave you with 2 windows installs on the same comp, and that just got you nowhere. Best thing is to get out to DOS and do an FDISK, and erase everthing you can (logicals, primaries, partitions, anything....... as DOS wont erase itself, so you cant possibly screw up) You will always have 1 primary left that cant be deleted. just keep selecting options in the DOS windows, hell, theres only 4 options, so use &#39;em all.

sorry about the multiple posts, but this should help you (excerpt from microsoft)

How to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program
Important If you follow these steps on a hard disk that is not empty, all the data on that hard disk is permanently deleted. We recommend that you back up your hard disk before you follow these steps.

To partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program:
Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup disk into the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.

Note To start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM (or from the startup disk), your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer&#39;s BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.
If you are starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do this.

Note If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver.

For additional information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver while the Windows Setup program is running, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314859 Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP Setup

If you are starting from the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each of the additional disks when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk.
At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.
All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition.
Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.
Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to create additional partitions if you want them.
If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. If you do not want to format the partition and install Windows XP, press F3 two times to quit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps. In this case, you must use a different utility to format the partition.
Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options:
Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
Format the partition by using the FAT file system
Leave the current file system intact (no changes)
The option to leave the current file system intact is not available if the selected partition is a new partition. The FAT file system option is not available if the selected partition is more than 32 gigabytes (GB). If the partition is larger than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT32 file system (you must press ENTER to confirm). If the partition is smaller than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT16 file system.

Note If you deleted and created a new System partition, but you are installing Windows XP on a different partition, you will be prompted to select a file system for both the System and startup partitions.
After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to continue. After the Windows Setup program is completed, you can use the Disk Management tools in Windows XP to create or format more partitions.

For additional information about how to use the Windows XP Disk Management tools to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

well........I did my second format and still these freakin errors&#33;&#33;&#33; I followed the instructions step by step, however when deleting the partition of 76gb, there was an unpartitioned space of 8mb, and I could not delete it. But once I deleted the 76gb, the unpartioned space was no longer there.
So I continued and it formatted...30mins later, it asked to reboot. I decided to boot from the cd cause I didn&#39;t try that last time. So I tried to install windows it said that another operating system is intstalled yada yada yada, how could this be if i just formatted?...so I quit, restarted and booted from the hard drive...which took me to the windows installation.

So with that done, I started to install drivers, updated windows, etc. And the computer kept restarting on its own...meaning the problem has not been solved.

Could this be an unfixable problem, like maybe my hard drive is screwed? It has been making some unusual humming noises that aren&#39;t normal.

but seriously...if a format doesn&#39;t fix this problem...what will?

I think you need to clarify what errors you get exactly, we are all assuming your problem is related to the partitions from your first post, but it could a hardware issue, so you need to give us details of exactly what problems you encouter.


@ CHEWIE - Technically you do not wipe all date when you format, all formating does is delete references to the files. The only way to wipe all the files is by low level formating, which writes over the files.

But as far as windows id concerend formating does wipe the data because it cannot use the files it does not have references to.