Problem with partitioning -- How to format hard drive and reinstall Windows?

Robin Laing Robin.Laing at drdc-rddc.gc.ca
Wed Nov 16 16:52:03 UTC 2005


peter wu wrote:
> Hi, all,
> 
> I have a dual-boot system (WinXP & Fedora 3), but during further 
> partitioning of C: drive with PartitionMagic, for some reason, it got 
> really hosed up. Now I lost access to Linux (but luckily, I can boot to 
> WinXP from GRUB).
> 
> - I tried to boot from Linux CD and 'linux rescue' but I don't have 
> /mnt/sysimage, and this method failed.
> - I also tried 'fdisk -l' but it returns nothing, and can't do anything 
> further.
> 
> Since I seem to have Windows, I tried to just reinstall Linux with 
> installation CD, but it gave me an error saying "No Drives Found." The 
> msg said there was no valid device on which to create new file systems.
> 
> So, I decided to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows, but the 
> reinstallation method provided by Dell (my computer manufacturer) 
> doesn't work on the machine.
> 
> - I tried to boot from the Windows CD. I get the following msg: "Setup 
> is inspecting your compute! r's hardware configuraton..." Then the 
> computer hangs.
> 
> The system seems to be really messed up. Is there any way to get out of 
> this mess? I am basically looking for ways to format hard drive.
> 
> I'd appreciate your help, in advance.
> 
> --peter
> 
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> 

If you have a floppy drive, you may be able to make a boot disk and 
put the old dos commands of fdisk and format on it.

This might also be useful.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

One of the tools may be helpful.

In one of your previous posts you mentioned that PartitionMagic left 
your drive in an strange state and the Linux partition full.  It has 
been years since I last used PM, but doesn't it allow a undo feature 
to be saved?  Or did you skip that step? :)




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