Problems Formatting: Need Help

[maui_mallard]

Hi,
I wanted to format a hard drive and re-install the operating system ( Windows 98). It only had a primary partition, in which I deleted and I went to format it and... I get
Not Ready
Format Terminated
It does this when it reaches around 9%. It is a fairly old computer with 166mhz processor 64 mb of ram, and a 2 gb hard drive. I really would appreciate the help!! Thanks

[caperjack]

how did you deleted the partition ???
,when you remove a partition you need to then create a new one ,before you can format harddrive ,i assume you used FDISK to delete the partion so useing fdisk again creat a new partition .then restart computer and format the drive

[maui_mallard]

Yeah,
I have already done that and it still only gets to 9%!

[caperjack]

usually indication of a bad hdd

[conspiringfate]

Re-partition the hard drive..
Maybe your hard drive has a bad sector
You might also get that error if the Virus Protection setting in BIOS is enabled
Try the WDC testing utility: http://support.wdc.com/download/dlg/dlgdiag11.zip

[maui_mallard]

hey thanks,
at this point in time it is still formatting, but it has reached a higher percentage then before. Thanks alot!!

[maui_mallard]

hey,
*knock on wood* it stopped at 87%. I was so excited to se the percentage in the double digits, but then my hopes were flushed to the depths of the pacific ocean!