Reformatting Issues - Please help!

[kmalecka]

Hello!

I'm trying to reformat a computer and running into an annoying issue. I boot from the XP cd, get to the little screen that loads some files at the beginning of reinstalling windows, and then a screen comes up that says "STOP: this process has been shut down to prevent further harm to windows" (or something to that effect). It lists possible reasons for this as viruses on the computer, new changes with the hard drive, or a corrupt hard drive. I ran chkdsk to see if there was anything wrong with that hard drive - that came out just fine. But every time I try to reformat, BAM! I'll admit there are probably viruses on the computer - that's why I'm trying to reformat. Can a virus cause a screen like this to come up?? I can't get past that point. Any one ever get a screen like that while reformatting? How did you get around it? Is there another strategy to reformatting a computer? Thanks!

 

[nopcode]

You sure you're not confusing reinstalling with reformatting.

It sounds to me like the existing windows installation is conflicting with the new install.

*If* you dont have any data that you need from the hard drive and just want a new install then i'd suggest reformatting the hard drive first from a boot floppy image. some good ones are here www.bootdisk.com
The win 98 ones usually work best for me, (you will need to run the program to create a dos boot floppy)

Boot from the floppy and then format from the command line.

Example:
Format c:


then reboot from the windows cd to install.

If however you want to save some data, you may have to plug the drive into another pc to save the data you want first.

 

[kmalecka]

It's my understanding that if I want to reformat a computer, I can boot from the Windows XP CD, repartition my hard drive, then reinstall windows. I want to erase everything and start fresh. I've done just that with a previous computer. Lots of computer don't even have a floppy drive anymore, so XP discs became bootable.

My problem is: before I'm even allowed to repartition my hard drive, the set up stops and I get a blue warning screen that cites a code and says STOP! Then it tells me if this is the first time I've seen this screen, then try again. If not, then it seems I have some hardware problems.

Does anyone know anything about these screens? Ever gotten one? Is it due to viruses on the computer? Other people that I've seen talk about this all think their hard drives are corrupt...

 

[RealBlackStuff]

You are not booting first from that CD. Go into BIOS to change the Bootup sequence to:
(floppy)-CD-Harddisk.
If the problem persists, you CD is either corrupted or not quite legitimate(!).

 

[kmalecka]

Yes, I'm booting from the CD - I already went into BIOS and made sure of that. The CD was the Windows XP disc that came with the computer and I've also been trying another XP disc that came with another computer - both give me the same stop screen.

I've found out that an error of STOP: 0x0000007B means multiple things. I could have a virus in the boot sector of the computer, but my antivirus (symantec) isn't catching it. The CD drive is also not recognized by the computer and I've been booting from an external drive. To reformat this computer, do I need to first fix the internal CD drive?

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Try another CD drive before you wipe your stuff! Borrow a regular CD-rom player-only from a friend.