Hello, I have a WD 320gb hard drive that I had partitioned into a C: (130 gb for xp and programs) and D: (for data storage). I reformatted my C: to reinstall a fresh copy of XP. However, my WinXP install cd won't let me continue with the reinstall, instead telling me that I needed a compatible partition to install WinXP. I tried deleting the partition and creating a new C: partition. No go. I tried deleting the partition through Partition Magic. Also no go. This is my first time trying to re-install WinXP on a partitioned hard drive. Any suggestions?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Have you formatted the partition (or let setup format it)?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The first thing I did was to format the C: partition to clean it. That was problem free. When I went in with my install CD though, the message asking for a compatible partition came up. Then I went in with Partition Magic and tried to format the partition NTSC first, but it wouldn't let me do it again. I tried Fat32 as well, but the same problem occurred.


On Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 9:56 am, Jacob6601 wrote:
>Have you formatted the partition (or let setup format it)?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Davis,

Did you go into Bios Setup and set "Boot From CD" as first in Boot order.

Start Computer with WinXP CD In the CD/DVD drive and let XP do the Partitioning and 
Formatting for you. you may have missed a couple of steps using Partition Magic.

I would Suggest using a drive of this size as storage, rather than having Your OS 
on it. 

BW





__________________________________________________________

There's nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.




On Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 9:23 am, Davis wrote:

>Hello,

>

>I have a WD 320gb hard drive that I had partitioned into a C: (130 gb for xp and 

>programs) and D: (for data storage). I reformatted my C: to reinstall a fresh copy 

>of XP. However, my WinXP install cd won't let me continue with the reinstall, instead 

>telling me that I needed a compatible partition to install WinXP. I tried deleting 

>the partition and creating a new C: partition. No go. I tried deleting the partition 

>through Partition Magic. Also no go. This is my first time trying to re-install 
WinXP 

>on a partitioned hard drive. Any suggestions? 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Boot from your XP CD and format it from the cd







On Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 10:02 am, Davis wrote:

>The first thing I did was to format the C: partition to clean it. That was problem 

>free. When I went in with my install CD though, the message asking for a compatible 

>partition came up. Then I went in with Partition Magic and tried to format the partition 

>NTSC first, but it wouldn't let me do it again. I tried Fat32 as well, but the same 

>problem occurred.

>

>

> 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've formatted through XP as well. However, I still get the "XP needs compatible partition" message.


On Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 10:07 am, bob wells wrote:
>Davis,
>
>Did you go into Bios Setup and set "Boot From CD" as first in Boot order.
>
>Start Computer with WinXP CD In the CD/DVD drive and let XP do the Partitioning and
>Formatting for you. you may have missed a couple of steps using Partition Magic.
>
>I would Suggest using a drive of this size as storage, rather than having Your OS
>on it.
>
>BW
>
>
>
>
>
>

__________________________________________________________
>
>There's nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Go to the WD website and download diagnostics for the disc. There is a chance you 
have a bad boot sector.

Also, do you have an "upgrade" to xp? Try installing ANYTHING else on that drive.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Did you check the Jumper on the back of the HDD? Is it set to Master?

Run MFG Diagnostic Software.

What kind of HDD, IDE/Sata?

Try another HDD? 

BW



__________________________________________________________

There's nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.




On Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 10:20 am, Davis wrote:

>Thanks for the suggestions. I've formatted through XP as well. However, I still 
get 

>the "XP needs compatible partition" message.

>

>

> 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

PM7 doesn't work with NTFS.PM8 does but it is very risky business.I think that's 
the case with your HD.Get Kill Disk.
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,22920-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html






On Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 10:02 am, Davis wrote:

>The first thing I did was to format the C: partition to clean it. That was problem 

>free. When I went in with my install CD though, the message asking for a compatible 

>partition came up. Then I went in with Partition Magic and tried to format the partition 

>NTSC first, but it wouldn't let me do it again. I tried Fat32 as well, but the same 

>problem occurred.

>

>

> 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

XP is touchy how the partitions are setup.  If you are using partition magic to manipulate 
the partitions you have probably done some damage.  

But, booting from the XP Cd, deleting the parition, and recreating it should solve 
the problem.  There should be about an 8MB free space not partitioned one you do 
this.  

XP is probably just getting confused because you used parition magic.  

Ultimately, you will need to back the data up to a different drive, then delete all 
partitions with the XP cd, reboot for good measure, then recreate the two new partitions 
again using XP setup.  Transfer the data back as necessary.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks for the help everyone. I gave up, so what I did was wipe all the partitions off the harddrive and started over completely with just one partition. I do believe the problem was partition magic mixing up which partition was logical and which was primary.


On Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 3:54 pm, appleoddity wrote:
>

>XP is touchy how the partitions are setup. If you are using partition magic to manipulate
>the partitions you have probably done some damage.
>
>But, booting from the XP Cd, deleting the parition, and recreating it should solve
>the problem. There should be about an 8MB free space not partitioned one you do
>this.
>
>XP is probably just getting confused because you used parition magic.
>
>Ultimately, you will need to back the data up to a different drive, then delete all
>partitions with the XP cd, reboot for good measure, then recreate the two new partitions
>again using XP setup. Transfer the data back as necessary.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

• Search this forum
• Start a new thread on a different subject

• Report abuse of the forum