XP formatting trouble

memory

memory

Member
Hi,fairly new to the forum. Hope I can get some answers. I have been trying to format but no luck. When I come to the screen where you select the partition to format, there are 4 options and they all say Unknown disk, there is no disk in the drive. If I press certain keys, like the up arrow, it will take me to a blue error screen. At the bottom it gives me a number, 0x0000008E. I am not 100 % sure that is the right number but I'm pretty positive.

Anyway I have tried the recovery console and when I type in map, it gives me 2 drives, G and H. These 2 drives are part of my media card reader. Those are the only 2 drives it lists. Can someone help me out?

BTW, I am using XP Pro.
 
memory

memory

Member
The 2 drives that it show are not my hard drives. The 2 that it shows is part of my media card reader. And no my hard drives are not setup in raid array.

It is like it is not recognizing the hard drives. Under my computer it is showing both hard drives.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
unplug your media reader if you can and then run the set up through disk management again.

Or assign your card reader lower logical drive letters, like X, Y, and Z that way they don't conflict with anyting

Or

Assign your new HDs drive letters and use this command via start > run > cmd
(for example purposes we will use H as your drive letter you assigned your extra drive)

format h: /fs:ntfs /q
 
T

terii

New Member
Explain to us in great detail how you are going about this format. It appears that you might be trying to format from within Windows. If so it will not work that way. You have us all confused now. Please explain.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
terii said:
Explain to us in great detail how you are going about this format. It appears that you might be trying to format from within Windows. If so it will not work that way. You have us all confused now. Please explain.
Click to expand...

This is true only to the start up volume. You can not format the volume you booted off of in windows, however all other volumes are fair game.

However, you make a good point, his/her post is a bit confusing. At first glance I thought that he/she had installed extra HDs and was trying to set them up.
 
memory

memory

Member
I put the Windows cd in the cd drive, then I restart it. Then I press a key to boot from cd. Then it starts loading all the files and stuff.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
so you are trying to wipe out your system and reinstall clean from the OS disk? Do you have a SATA drive? If so you will have to hit F6 during the inital booting off the CD process to load third party drivers for your SATA controller.

What are your computer specs?

I have to run, and will check the post later if no one else chimes in and helps.
 
memory

memory

Member
Yes I have 2 SATA drives. One of them is just for games and backup. I have never had to hit F6 before on this same machine I don't think. If I did, I don't remember hitting F6.

My computer specs are:
Dell Dimension 9100
Intel Pentium D @ 820
PNY GeForce 6800GS
250 WD and 200 WD hard drives
2 DVD drives
1gb of ram
Sound Blaster Audigy 4 soundcard
Windows XP Pro
 
Last edited:
memory

memory

Member
Can someone help me out? If I can't get it figured out, I will have to take it somewhere and have to pay to get it fixed. I really don't want to do that.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
Go to dell's webpage and download the SATA controller drivers and toss them on a floppy. Boot off the windows xp install disc and hit F6 to load third party SATA driver support. Choose your driver and load it, and then continue on with set up.

You have to toss them on a floppy because the windows installer is ghetto and only reads drivers from floppy.
 
memory

memory

Member
I can't put them on a blank cd because I don't have a floppy drive. And nobody in my house has a floppy drive.
 
memory

memory

Member
I could not find the driver for the hard drive that I have. I have a 250gb Maxtor. The Dell website only had drivers for 160gb, 80gb and Intel Matrix Storage Manager.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
The driver is for the SATA controller not the HD, and if you are installing win XP from an actual OS disc, and not a recovery partition or a Dell restore disk, then you have to load the drivers from a floppy. There is no other way, because the installer will only look in a floppy.

It is super annoying and I have a usb floppy drive because of it at work when I have to do custom installs.
 
memory

memory

Member
I don't understand this. I have never had to install drivers from a floppy disk. Why now? Will I have to go buy a floppy drive?

Also, on Dell's website, does it matter which driver I chose? There are 2 drivers, 160gb Maxtor and 80gb Maxtor.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
No, the drivers are not for the hard drive, it is for the SATA controller on the motherboard. Once the driver is loaded you can toss whatever size HD your controller will support. Unless there are two different configurations for that model of dell, like the 80gig model has controller revision A, and the 120gig model has controller revision B.

Yes, the OS treats it as a third party disk controller, like a SCSI controller, and windows installer only looks to floppy drives for the controller's driver. This is a design flaw in the OS by microsoft, and it should be fixed in Vista
 
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