maxtor 40gig diamondMax plus 8 ata/133 probs

[DRaZZ]

i just got this hard drive brand new, for my g/f
man im prolly be dumb here, but windows wont go in, when i try to install windows it skips the tests (scandisk n all that stuff) and tells me that the drive may need to have a msdos partition, so i go into scandisk and try to set one, then it starts to test the drive integrity, and hits 99% then restarts, and does this over and over, i havent ever had a problem installing an os before, so never got cleaver with it. any help is appreciated so damn much as the g/f is really gettin on my back now !!!
thanx guys
DRaZZ

[glock19owner]

Have you tried using a 98 start up disk and formating that way?

[DRaZZ]

sorry yea, im installing windows 98 se, im using the startup disk, i tried to format the drive, but it wont format either, also when i had it hooked up to my comp, i booted into windows (from my hard drive) and went into "my computer" and there was no sign of the 40gig drive, but at the bios it detected both hard drives : /

[Cjwinnit]

You might need to create a partition on the drive using FDISK..

[DRaZZ]

i just used that "part" thingy, even that didnt work, it said something about files missing from the hard drive, not boot files i dont think, they were called something else but my memory has just gone blank :|

[DRaZZ]

ok this time i tried to format again and it started the format, then before it changed from 0% formated it stopped and gave this message, "invalid media or track 0 bad - disk unusable"
please please please tell me this isnt as bad as it sounds ???
im real stuck here :(

also using that part program, it says that there is invalid information on the boot sector or somethin

[Cjwinnit]

Download a diagnostic utility from Maxtor and check the drive.

Here ya go. (http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/files/powermax.exe)

[DRaZZ]

thanx mate, just really hope this aint as bad as it seems to be. its nearly 2 here now so i will check tomoro, thanks for your help :)

[Cjwinnit]

Originally posted by DRaZZ
thanx mate, just really hope this aint as bad as it seems to be. its nearly 2 here now so i will check tomoro, thanks for your help :)

Report back what happened and see what you can do. If it is a new(ish) disk you might be able to return it, but you could possibly repair the damaged sector....

[DRaZZ]

i used that part program again, to slightly better affect, this time it made the partition, but i wasnt sure how big to make it, so i made it the same size as the hard drive, that then allowed me to get to windows installation screen, then it said that i didnt have enough memory to install windows, i did a different partition without using all the memory, and still get the same message, that was partitioning into fat 32

[CrazyP]

didnt have enough memory is you ram, how much memory/ram does this computer have? I think bare minimum for windows 98 is 32MB


BTW memory does not = hardrive, memory is always ram

[DRaZZ]

it aint the ram, i only have 256mb's but i have never had any problems installing an os in the past on this machine, and i format my hard drive ALOT !!! its just this one i got for the g/f, its brand new, and not accepting windows :(

[Myrdhinn]

I assume you fdisked, partitioned the drive and made the boot partition "active" and then formatted? if so and you have a bad track zero, return the drive for another one.

[DRaZZ]

its getting the drive to create a dos partition in the first place that im having problems with mate, im guna try to partition again, cuz it was saying that there was no fat 32 ms dos partition before, so i think thats what i need to get right ! does it matter what format ie fat 32 or fat 16 i use ??? im installing windows 98 se