Reformat issue

[Mike]

I just built a new computer and I know everything is
hooked up properly. I tried formating the hardrive that
I had in my previous PC. I go through the motions of
WinXP setup and it starts to format the drive all the way
to 100%. When it should start copying files for the
windows installation it shows a paragraph saying, in a
nutshell, that the drive cannot be formated because it
may be damaged. This is a Western Digital 40GB 5400rpm
HDD that previously had WinXP installed and worked fine.
Has anyone experienced this? Any advice? Anything would
be most helpfull...Thanks!!!

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Mike;
Run the diagnostics form WD:
http://support.wdc.com/download/

If diagnostics pass, try a Clean Installation this way:
Disconnect all peripherals (camera, printer, scanner, etc)
Go to BIOS and set CDROM as boot device before hard drive.
Insert Windows XP CD and reboot.
At "Press any key to boot to CDROM" quickly press a key and follow the
prompts for a Clean installation:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
Delete all partitions in step 5 if you desire to erase all data on the
hard drive.
Partitioning and formatting will be done automatically.
All data will be destroyed, back-up important data first.

If your computer was shipped with Windows XP, these procedures may or
may not apply.
Check your manual or contact the computer manufacturer for more
details.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
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"Mike" > wrote in message
...
> I just built a new computer and I know everything is
> hooked up properly. I tried formating the hardrive that
> I had in my previous PC. I go through the motions of
> WinXP setup and it starts to format the drive all the way
> to 100%. When it should start copying files for the
> windows installation it shows a paragraph saying, in a
> nutshell, that the drive cannot be formated because it
> may be damaged. This is a Western Digital 40GB 5400rpm
> HDD that previously had WinXP installed and worked fine.
> Has anyone experienced this? Any advice? Anything would
> be most helpfull...Thanks!!!