I have partitioned and formatted a Maxtor hard disk inside Dell DIMENSION XPS M166s according to the procedure laidout by Chrles in PCGuide.com. During formatting, it tells me the system for C: and D: partitions are at one time unknown and another time FAT 16 and another time FAT 32. It gave me conflicting statements about the true size of the hard disk. It also took long recovering allocation units. I tried to install Win98 and while copying files, the system stopped at 46% and a message pop up saying "ATTENTION:Windows encoutered serious problem while copying files to drive C:". From then I cannot do otherwise than to reboot and start all over again. I have had this over and over again for about two weeks now and I need to intall Win 2000 Server for my assignments.

Can anyone help me solve this. The following are some questions I would like to ask:

1. Where in the Internet can I can system disk complete with generic
drivers for CDROM drive?

2. What did I not do correctly in partitioning and formatting this Maxtor
hard disk?

3. What is the meaning of the pop up message "ATTENTION: Windows
encountered serious problem while copying files"

4. What should I do to get this PC up and running to be able to install
Win2000 Server in dual boot.

I would appreciate any clue or advice to get this problem solved. Thank you all.

Mawutor


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"Knowledge is a Baobab Tree"

1. Bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com)

2. After setting up the partitions you need to reboot. Also you need to remember to say yes when asked about large disk support.

3. Could mean just about anything, from that it couldn't read the CD to thehard drive was not properly working....basically it was saying "this install is trashed.......", without any other details to pin it down exactly it would be very hard to say for sure.

4. Go grab Maxtor's diagnostic software...there may be a problem with the drive...I recently built a machine for my sister, brand new Maxtor drive...in under 1 month the drive was on its way back to Maxtor...dead new drives do happen.....

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Hi MJC,

Thanks for your help. You are right- the disk is on its way to Dell cemetry
I performed ALL the tests and it reported three errors
L90SY2
L90S01
L90R03
I cross checked the codes from the www.Maxtor.com (http://www.Maxtor.com) knowledgebase and they all point to REPLACE DISK.

Thanks again for your help but I will try to see if it is Dell or Maxtor who has to help with a replacement. If you have any advice, I welcome it.
Bye.

Mawutor

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"Knowledge is a Baobab Tree"

Hi MJC,

Thanks for your help. You are right- the disk is on its way to Dell cemetry
I performed ALL the tests and it reported three errors
L90SY2
L90S01
L90R03
I cross checked the codes from the www.Maxtor.com (http://www.Maxtor.com) knowledgebase and they all point to "REPLACE DISK".

Thanks again for your help but I will try to see if it is Dell or Maxtor who has to help with a replacement. If you have any advice, I welcome it.
Bye.

Mawutor

------------------
"Knowledge is a Baobab Tree"

The R03 error is the same one my sister's drive had...hmm I wonder if there is a trend here?

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.