How do you get past the "Drive C: is corrupted and cannot be repaired" 1

[gh1155]

I have seen quite a few people in the Microsoft newsgroup who have this same message during the first part of the install. I receive the same message. The only response I received was to format.

Shortly after the first reboot where it is preparing to Install, it flashes on a blue screen "Setup has determined that Drive C: is corrupted and cannot be repaired". Setup will not continue. Press F3 to continue.

I am using the XP Home upgrade edition and installing over existing ME.

Here are my specs:

Intel PIII 1000 Mhz
256 Meg RAM
Tyan Tomcat i813e Motherboard
IBM Deskstar 40 Gig HD, 7200 RPM
ATI Radeon VE 32 Meg RAM Video Card
Creative SB PC512 Sound Card
Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter
Logitech mouse and keyboard. Latest driver installed for
XP

I did run a thorough Scandisk and found no errors.

I also saw in a newsgroup where someone had success disabling UDMA support which I did and still have the same problem.

I saw in another newsgroup, that someone had fixed their boot record or MBR and solved the problem. I tried the fdisk /mbr and that didn’t help. I think there is some validity to this because I had Norton installed at the time I was installing XP and Norton came up and said that the Master Boot Record had changed. I clicked C for Continue. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do. Does anyone know what I can do to get my MBR or boot record back to where it was?

Any and all suggestions welcome especially if it solves the problem.

I understand from the Microsoft newsgroup that another person called Microsoft and had no solution. There have been other suggestions to reformat. I really don't think that will solve the problem as other people have tried that and still have the same problem. No. I haven't tried the CD on another computer. The only one I can try it on is my wife’s. You don't mess with her computer. I really don't think it is a defective CD though.

I have been trying for two days to get this to work. I don’t give up easily.

Thanks, Greg

 

[jazzgirl]

I think your only solution is to reformat. It really is never good to upgrade on top of an existing OS, in this case ME. You need to format and do a clean install. You CAN do this with the upgrade disk. Just make sure you have your 2000, 98, or 98SE disk available when it asks for a qualifying product.

 

[gh1155]

Thank you Jazzgirl,

Thank you for your advice.

I know that a format and a clean install of any OS is always a good idea. I was just hoping there was another solution. Partly, because I do tech support for other people and was curious to how well XP works on top of ME until I ran into this problem.

As an after thought. Why is it that most people say to format when you run into a problem that people can't answer or know the solution? That isn't the solution to the issue since quite a few people have the same problem. It is an overall fix. Just wanted to voice my opinion.

One question I do have. Is XP worth it?

 

[dilettante]

gh1155,

I agree, it does sound like a cowardly cop-out. But you have to consider how screwed-up people get their machines, and in thousands of ways!

This isn't even the answer all the time, because they may have screwed up their BIOS.

---- Rabid rant, feel free to ignore ----

Or they may have one of those AMD-supporting chipsets on the motherboard that have "different" ways of implementing certain EIDE functionality. If only some people with this stuff had participated in the XP betas and public betas!

I get the impression these people tend to be gamers though, with a combo chip on their shoulders: anti-MS and anti-Intel. So they sat out the XP beta programs, huddled with their DOS-based games.

As a result it is sometimes necessary to deactivate some advanced features, at least until after XP is installed along with specialized IDE-controller drivers for those chipsets.

The same goes for many power-management issues.

I recall MS begging for more AMD combinations to test against. It is really too bad, and I hope the community has learned a lesson.


All that preaching aside (none of it applies to your situation)... let's try another sermon.

Norton burglar tools.

These products have proven themselves dangerous hundreds of times over the past two decades. I'm not singling out Norton's products, others have had their share of sharp edges as well.

It's a free country (I'm speaking of the U.S. here), so use what you will. But don't complain if stuff like this happens - even with a virus control suite, which is a necessary evil. Most likely this machine had a virus (or worse yet one of those software "BIOS-extenders" for large hard drives).

---- End rant ----

Ok, here's a suggestion to solve your problem. Like the "Invisible Pedestrian" Halloween costume, this is "not for blind kids!"

DANGER, DANGER, Will Robinson!

Assumptions:

* Your MBR is screwed up.

* You are willing to lose your entire HD contents including ALL PARTITIONS AND PARTITION INFO.

* If this doesn't help, you'll take/send your HD to a service center or just trash it and buy another one.

Ok, as "Groundskeeper Willie" says I warned ye!


1.) Create a bootable DOS floppy. This doesn't need CD-ROM support unless you can't boot your XP CD and you don't already have a bootable floppy for XP Setup.

For machines that are CD-challenged, see

http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q310994

This boot floppy should ideally be created using an "XP upgrade-eligible" OS such as Win98, 98SE, Me, NT4, or 2000. It may not make a difference, but don't use any actual DOS version or Win95. If you have a full-install XP CD you may be able to ignore this advice.

2.) Copy FDISK.EXE (I think it is an EXE and not a COM) to that bootable floppy.

3.) Download

http://service.boulder.ibm.com/storage/hddtech/zap.exe

This is a self-extracting EXE you need to put in some folder and run, or open with WinZip et al. and extract to some folder. This archive contains ZAP.COM and ZAP.TXT

4.) Copy ZAP.COM to that bootable floppy.

5.) Meditate on life, love, family, the universe at large, and whether or not you want to do this after all.

6.) Boot the floppy on the machine with the hosed MBR.

7.) Enter

ZAP 0

where 0 is for the drive to be ZAPped, the first drive being 0.

ZAP writes the first 128 logical blocks of the drive with 00h pattern, starting at Cylinder 0, Head 0, Sector 1. If this doesn't clean your pipes, nothing will.

8.) You have passed the point of no return. Breathe deeply, think serene thoughts. A new 40MB 7200RPM HD is only about $100 for a careful shopper , after all.

9.) Enter

FDISK /MBR

to create a basic MBR.

10.) Remove the ZAP floppy. Burn it.

11.) Resume with a clean attempt to install Windows XP, preferably by booting the CD.

12.) Hold your breath, XP Setup should be able to partition and format the drive under your direction.


There are alternatives to IBM's ZAP utility, such as doing this manually with a disk sector editor, or even through DOS DEBUG with a short machine-language program. The problem is, I couldn't find any of them and they require more detailed instructions that are harder to screw up anyhow.

I have done this before so I know it has worked for me. I sincerely hope it works for you as well. Perhaps you will want to await further comments from others before proceeding on my advice alone, however. The procedure is indeed drastic.

 

[dilettante]

By the way...

XP is worth it, especially if your machine's innards are on the Hardware Compatability List.

Unless you're made of bux though, if you have Win2K already I think you should stay put for now.

If you're still on 9x (sorry folks, Me is 9x - get over it) or NT4 I would seriously start saving my pennies for XP.

I'm getting great results on PII 350s with 192MB RAM.

 

[gh1155]

Dilettante,

When you're right, your right! Very well put. After reading your response, I decided to fdisk and format. It was definitely worth it. XP is very nice from what I have seen.

Anyway, wanted to Thank you for your response.

Greg

 

[Jakman]

Thei'r right. A clean install after a format "will"illiminate any questions in that area. And yes
"XP" is worth it , I was also scepticle. I suggest at different points after installing XP make a restore points after installing drivers and apps. Run things for a say a day , if all is fine continiue. Installing only you're favotite apps. Run them a few days. You will find the culprit. I like XP but it is quirky.

 

[RICHINMINN]

I think XP "may" be worth the hassle of the upgrade, but in several cases that I'm aware of, it wasn't. I've been building PCs for over 15 years, and several that I've built within the last year or so had MAJOR problems when their owners decided to upgrade from 98SE and ME.

Upgrading to XP on an existing system is particularly troublesome, because of XP's inability to utilize many of the drivers that your current system is using. Also, upgrading an operating system is always more trouble-prone, since you're assuming that you're going to end up with a "new" system, but you're still dealing with a hard drive that's already several years old, some of the applications on your system may not be compatible with XP, ad infinitum. When possible, I ALWAYS start with a newly-partitioned and low-level-formatted hard drive.

Suggestions:
1) Copy any irreplaceable files (Word documents, etc.) from your system to diskettes (or ZIP, or LS-120, or whatever).
2) Determine what components are in your system (video card, modem, sound card, etc.) and download updated drivers THAT ARE XP-COMPATIBLE from the manufacturers' websites before you go a step further. If you can't get such a driver, decide beforehand whether you can do without that particular component, or are willing to go out and buy a brand-new XP-compatible version of it.
3) Use FDISK.EXE to completely remove any existing partitions from your hard drive.
4) Start the XP installation and let it partition and format your hard drive, then proceed with the remainder of the installation.
5) Check each of the components of your system to verify that it still works. If it doesn't, reinstall it using the XP-compatible drivers that you've already downloaded.
6) Reinstall all of your applications. (You DO have all the original installation diskettes/CDs to do that, don't you?)

Or, you could go out and buy a brand-new system with XP pre-installed. But then you may have major headaches trying to restore the OS and applications if the system should happen to have problems. (I've known people who have bought the $899 PC loaded with tons of applications, only to be unable to restore those applications when their system crashes. I've had to rebuild several of those, following all of the above steps.)

RICHINMINN