Friend having Formating Problems!!!

Hey guys im posting this for my friend since he cant post because of his problems.



Basically, my pc always needed a cd to start up. Recently, I replace an old broken cd-drive with a perfectly working cd-burner. For some reason, my bios wouldn't recognize my cd-drives. So I formatted my pc to see if the problem would be solved. It wasn't, and now I couldn't install windows. So I looked around for help, and eventually I popped the lithium battery in my motherboard and put it back


For some reason, right after I install Windows, my pc was flooded with spyware which I could not fight off. The spyware also caused some problems with my activation forcing me to format once again. So, now I get an error saying "Media test failed. Please check cables," and "Invalid partition tables." There is also the mention of "realtek" in the error message. I've tried everything from flashing.


I would really appreciate the help. Thx in advance.

Maybe you need to replace the cables, try booting without the cd drive as well. Make sure the connections are very good, also, use the clear cmos jumper as this may work better than just removing the battery.

I'm the guy that's having the problem. I've tried taking out the cd-drives, and replacing them. I've replaced the cords and made sure they're in place securely. I'm pretty much new to this stuff so, if you could explain more about the cmos jumper I would appreciate it.

BUmp! Please help my friend. He is so stumped and so am i.

First and foremost, what are his complete system specs...and which OS is he trying to install? Also, when you say he can't install Windows...what happens during the install? (BSOD, lockup, error message, etc.). If it's a BSOD or specific error message, it would help us to know the exact message as shown on the blue screen/error dialog.

Make sure you disconnect from the internet while installing the OS. After installing your OS, Then you can add spyware and whatever.

I have Windows XP, and Windows XP Pro. I've tried installing them both. I have a 1.6 ghz Pentium 4, 256 ram, and an Nvidia Geforce 5200 FX. The first time I left the internet on while installing. That's prolly why I got screwed by spyware the first time. I tried to install a second time without my internet, and that's where I am now. I thought me disconnecting hte internet was problem, so I hooked the internet back on and it didn't work either.

bump.

1. Is this problem fixable? If so how?

2. If it's not, then I'm going to buy a motherboard and processor. Will this definitley solve the problem?

Chief Wayne said:

bump.

1. Is this problem fixable? If so how?

2. If it's not, then I'm going to buy a motherboard and processor. Will this definitley solve the problem?

Click to expand...

1> yes - see below
2> you'll waste your money, cause your mobo/cpu is not the problem.


The subject of 'having formatting problems' is misleading. The real problem is installing your OS while connected to the internet and not behind any firewall. There are so many viri/trojans/exploits out there, and you are installing a fresh/unpatched OS that will get comprimised within minutes, before you have a chance on doing any updates what so ever. If your friend, Undyinyclocker, is behind a firewall, take your pc to his/her place and install there, do your updates etc.and you should be OK. Or you could have him/her download/burn XP service pack 1a, and ZoneAlarm. Install your OS, not connected to the Internet. Install the service pack and firewall from cd, then connect to the internet to get the rest of windows updates.

I know I can help you but this thread is confusing.

CAN you install an O/S ?

Are the CD Drives beinng seen ?

If you can install the O/S using the CD then does it show up in my computer ?
If you cannot install the O/S where is it failing

diehrd said:

I know I can help you but this thread is confusing.

CAN you install an O/S ?

Are the CD Drives beinng seen ?

If you can install the O/S using the CD then does it show up in my computer ?
If you cannot install the O/S where is it failing

Click to expand...

See his post #7, it seems as though he can get the OS installed, but then get shammered by trojans/worms, because he is unpatched and has no protection.

No. I installed and got all the spyware and stuff. So I had to format, and now I can't install it. I get an error message saying Media Test Failed. Check Cables. And Invalid Partition Tables. It also has the word Realtek involved if that helps.

Yes, I checked my cables, and even replaced them.

Do you have the "Master" and "Slave" settings correct on the new drives? If they're wrong, they could easily be not detected.

I'll check that out and update.

I plugged my internet back in and tried some things like creating partitions, and I got some different results. Here they are.

Now I get an error saying PXE-E53:No boot filename recieved. Also I get PXE-MOF : Exiting PXE Rom. The media test failed has dissappeared. Hope that helps.

Huuray. I officially fixed it. I took out everything expet the video card. I took out all but one hard drive. I took out one of my cd drives, and fiddled around with the cords and I got it to work. Installing windows as we speak. Getting rid of the internet card got rid of the realtek problem.

Anyways, thanks for all your help.

Nevermind...I installed windows, and I went back to putting everything I took out one by one. I decide to put my second hard drive in, and my hard drives aren't recognized. So I'm not worried yet. I take out the hard drive I put in, hoping that would fix the problem. It doesn't. I take out the cords and cmos battery and fiddle around with that, and finally get the hard drive to work. At this point, I still need a cd to boot. Now I'm waiting for my pc to load up and when I get to the screen that asks me if I want to boo from cd or hard disk, I choose hard disk. When I choose that, the screen quickly goes to a screen with a possible error message and goes back to the screen where I choose where I boot from. So now, I mess around with the cords once more and this time I get a different error message. When I choose load from hard disk, I get a message saying Invalid System Disk. Replace. I know the problem isn't the disk, becuase I tried a Windows Me and Windows 98 disk and I get the same problem. So now, I take the hard drive out and put the other one in so I can install windows, on that. I go in to my bios and my bios sees the hard drive. So I decide to install windows on this hard drive. Everything is moving very slowly at this point. It takes about a 90 seconds just to verify mdi pool data. It loads up the windows xp install screen and when I go to setup a new Installation, I get a message saying Windows doesn't recognize a hard drive on your pc.

I'll be fiddling around, trying to get something going again, and posting updates. If you have any ideas please reply.

Sounds like what happened to me when my 40 gig Western Digital decided to die on me. Try the drive in another computer if you can to confirm that it's not dead. Good Luck

Do you think both drives are dead? Do I need to check both of them out? And how would my bios be able to read them if they're dead?

I would check both just to be safe. They may not be dead at all, but it'll help confirm whether or not they are. Drives that are going bad can do a lot of wierd stuff, including being recognized one minute and not the next.

But like I said, don't panic and think both of your hard drives are fried. Test them out, and go from there

Ok for some reason my pc won't start up...Any ideas? Do you think I fried something? Are there any physical symptoms that tell me that I did this?