Low Level Format Prior to Installation

[seekermeister]

I tried this again, but ended up exactly the same. It appeared that PW had deleted the partition listed as NTFS, but not the one lated unallocated. When I applied the changes, it said that it was successful, but when I rebooted back to PW, the partitions still remained. Going in circles is causing my head to spin.

 

[seekermeister]

If there really is a hardware problem involved, I think that the only choice that I have is to move the harddrive to my primary rig for both partition cleaning and installation, and then move it back, hoping that the problem doesn't effect it. I kind of have a hunch that this may be caused by a defective BIOS or bad chip, because it won't retain the CMOS settings on shutdown. I have a chip ordered, so hopefully that will provide a solution in a few days when it arrives.

 

[seekermeister]

Something is awry, because when I select to delete a partition, there is no OK involved, until after I select the Apply button. It is treating the unallocated space as a partition, but if I understand, undesignated space should be labeled as free space instead. Whatever the case, when selecting the partition, selecting delete, selecting the apply button, selecting the OK button, it always goes through all of the steps that makes it appear that it has done the job, but when I reboot right back into PW...or for that matter, every other program that I have tried, it shows the partition structure unchanged. I even tried the wipe function, but that didn't work either.

I have performed this type of operation many times in the past, and never had these kind of problems. I'm going to discontinue this until I move the harddrive as described, and if there are any other problems wait until the BIOS chip arrives, and if that doesn't solve this, I'll start talking to Seagate about a RMA.

 

[gregrocker]

Did you try running Seatools DOS CD to diagnose/repair drive?

Then maybe zero to force installer

 

[seekermeister]

No, but I did try it on a floppy. Would there be a difference?

 

[gregrocker]

I am suspicious of floppy drives remaining in any machine as have seen them interfere with Win7 installation repeatedly.

Try unplugging and ridding it in all settings in BIOS.

Were you able to zero HD using Seatools?

 

[seekermeister]

Having a floppy didn't interfere with W7's installation on my primary rig, and many of the programs that I have tried to use, which had the problems were on DVDs, not floppies. I will keep what you say in mind, and if it appears to me that this might be an issue, then I will disconnect it (temporarily).

As far as Seatools goes, I didn't see any function for zeroing in it, but that may be due to the fact that I made those floppies quite some time ago, and there may be much more up to date downloads available...I'll check.

 

[seekermeister]

I've been trying to download SeaTools For DOS, but whether I select the floppy version or the CD version, instead of a download, it just displays a webpage full of code. If this is anything like what I have seen on occassion, perhaps copying the page to a text file and then burning it to a CD might work, but I have doubts. I think that their download page is broken.

 

[gregrocker]

See if this one works any better: BenchmarkHQ

 

[seekermeister]

No. When I selected the download, it just gave a webpage full of code, just as before.

 

[SIW2]

Can you download mbam free , update it and do a full scan ?

Malwarebytes . org

Also:

http://www.avast.com/

 

[seekermeister]

I already have Malwarebytes, but neither it or the AV are of any use when the OS is not yet installed.

 

[gregrocker]

I think he was referring to the reported download results for the Seagate DOS tool which sounded to me like some kind of bug, too.

Since you're trying to wipe the HD cleanly, how about using DBAN burned to CD?

 

[Tews]

Download a copy of Ubuntu and burn it.. boot and select the "Try without making changes ( Live Mode )"... From the Administration menu select the partition editor, and proceed with a format...

 

[chev65]

Have you tried using Dban for wiping that harddrive clean and rezeroing it? I've seen it work a bunch of times for these types of problems.

Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing

 

[seekermeister]

No, but I do already have it downloaded and archived. I looked at it several times, and dismissed it, because I had given up on that particular approach to the problem. Since you mentioned it, I'll give it a shot.

 

[seekermeister]

No joy. I ran "dban-beta.2006042900_i386.iso", but it wasn't clear whether it worked or not. I ran both the dod and dod quick methods, and each time the interface that was presented afterward was mostly devoid of values. The only thing that made it appear that it had run was the flashing lines of data prior to the interface, and a "1" count on the pass.

I ran the W7 setup again, and it still had exactly the same partition as before. The only difference that I saw was that the format command wasn't gray out on the partition. I didn't want to format it, because there is a 100GB space before it that I wanted the OS in, and I still couldn't delete the partition.

After so many different ways that I have tried to do this, I'm more convinced than ever that there is a hardware issue causing the problem. Therefore, I shall revert back to plan B and move the harddrive to the primary rig and see what happens there.

 

[chev65]

If Dban doesn't work nothing will. There shouldn't be anything left on the disk after using Dban. You can also do what you want with the partitions after you install 7. You need to format the disk regardless. I would clear the cmos and try again.

 

[seekermeister]

The CMOS is exactly why I think that the problem is hardware related, because I'm having an issue with it retaining it's settings, after shutting down. I have a chip that should arrive in the mail within a few days, but I had hoped that I wouldn't have to wait on it. If the problem disappears on the primary rig, then it will be clear that the secondary rig's hardware is at fault. If the problem doesn't disappear on the primary rig, then it will be clear that the harddrive itself is the problem.

 

[seekermeister]

I finally got around to moving the HD back to my primary rig, and the partition deleted as it should have before. This indicates that the problem must have been the motherboard on the secondary rig. I guess that I will wait until the new BIOS chip arrives before attempting to install the OS again, because if it could interfere with something as simple as deleting a partition, I doubt that the OS would install as it should. I just hope that the chip fixes the problem.