Vista Home Premium wont re-install

Hi,

I had a virus on my pc (I am writing this with my laptop) I decided to
format the drive to get rid of the virus as the repair from my dvd would not
work. I then tried to install Vista again and it got through to the very last
stage of the process and then told me it had not installed correctly. At this
point my pc stuck and it would not restart, and once I got it to restart it
would not go to the desktop anymore.

I though the best option would be to format the pc and try the install from
a clean drive. Because I could not get to the windows screen to format I used
my old copy of xp to format the drive, chose NTFS and pressed format but it
said I had to first unhandle the drive before I could proceed. Now I am stuck
with a computer that wont boot, won't install Vista and I am at a complete
loss what to do.

The hard drive seems to have no letter and the system is worth a load of
money and I need to fix it. Please help me out?!

"huntly9" <> wrote in message
news:ECA0C7A4-3161-45C9-8EE2-...
> Hi,
>
> I had a virus on my pc (I am writing this with my laptop) I decided to
> format the drive to get rid of the virus as the repair from my dvd would
> not
> work. I then tried to install Vista again and it got through to the very
> last
> stage of the process and then told me it had not installed correctly. At
> this
> point my pc stuck and it would not restart, and once I got it to restart
> it
> would not go to the desktop anymore.
>
> I though the best option would be to format the pc and try the install
> from
> a clean drive. Because I could not get to the windows screen to format I
> used
> my old copy of xp to format the drive, chose NTFS and pressed format but
> it
> said I had to first unhandle the drive before I could proceed. Now I am
> stuck
> with a computer that wont boot, won't install Vista and I am at a complete
> loss what to do.
>
> The hard drive seems to have no letter and the system is worth a load of
> money and I need to fix it. Please help me out?!


You have to start the comptuer with the XP cd to format the system drive.

"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

> "huntly9" <> wrote in message
> news:ECA0C7A4-3161-45C9-8EE2-...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I had a virus on my pc (I am writing this with my laptop) I decided to
> > format the drive to get rid of the virus as the repair from my dvd would
> > not
> > work. I then tried to install Vista again and it got through to the very
> > last
> > stage of the process and then told me it had not installed correctly. At
> > this
> > point my pc stuck and it would not restart, and once I got it to restart
> > it
> > would not go to the desktop anymore.
> >
> > I though the best option would be to format the pc and try the install
> > from
> > a clean drive. Because I could not get to the windows screen to format I
> > used
> > my old copy of xp to format the drive, chose NTFS and pressed format but
> > it
> > said I had to first unhandle the drive before I could proceed. Now I am
> > stuck
> > with a computer that wont boot, won't install Vista and I am at a complete
> > loss what to do.
> >
> > The hard drive seems to have no letter and the system is worth a load of
> > money and I need to fix it. Please help me out?!
>
>
> You have to start the comptuer with the XP cd to format the system drive.
>
I tried that it would not format until I had unhandled the drive? I did this
and then formated, now the system wont boot from the disc or the hard drive.
I think now my hard drive has no assigned letter and I am stuck not being
able to boot or re-install.

"huntly9" <> wrote in message
news:E3918FE3-640F-4424-A909-...
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> "huntly9" <> wrote in message
>> news:ECA0C7A4-3161-45C9-8EE2-...
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I had a virus on my pc (I am writing this with my laptop) I decided to
>> > format the drive to get rid of the virus as the repair from my dvd
>> > would
>> > not
>> > work. I then tried to install Vista again and it got through to the
>> > very
>> > last
>> > stage of the process and then told me it had not installed correctly.
>> > At
>> > this
>> > point my pc stuck and it would not restart, and once I got it to
>> > restart
>> > it
>> > would not go to the desktop anymore.
>> >
>> > I though the best option would be to format the pc and try the install
>> > from
>> > a clean drive. Because I could not get to the windows screen to format
>> > I
>> > used
>> > my old copy of xp to format the drive, chose NTFS and pressed format
>> > but
>> > it
>> > said I had to first unhandle the drive before I could proceed. Now I am
>> > stuck
>> > with a computer that wont boot, won't install Vista and I am at a
>> > complete
>> > loss what to do.
>> >
>> > The hard drive seems to have no letter and the system is worth a load
>> > of
>> > money and I need to fix it. Please help me out?!
>>
>>
>> You have to start the comptuer with the XP cd to format the system drive.
>>
> I tried that it would not format until I had unhandled the drive? I did
> this
> and then formated, now the system wont boot from the disc or the hard
> drive.
> I think now my hard drive has no assigned letter and I am stuck not being
> able to boot or re-install.

You said it wouldn't startup on disk either. I assume you mean the Vista
DVD?
Anyway if you go into your PC's setup in the bios you might check to see
what the boot sequence is & may have to change this if if it is trying to
boot to the hard disk only.

Bob

"huntly9" <> wrote in message
news:E3918FE3-640F-4424-A909-...
>>
> I tried that it would not format until I had unhandled the drive? I did
> this
> and then formated, now the system wont boot from the disc or the hard
> drive.
> I think now my hard drive has no assigned letter and I am stuck not being
> able to boot or re-install.


You shouldn't be seeing anything about a handle in use unless you are
attempting to format from within a running Windows so I don't understand
what you are looking at. If the media boots the computer then you should be
able to delete the partition and create a new one without any references to
handles. If the media is not booting the computer then follow Bob D's
advice to check the boot order in the BIOS and make sure the optical drive
is ahead of the hdd in the list. If it is then the media should boot the
computer and you should be able to edit the partition and format. Don't
just format, though. Remove the existing partition and create a new one in
its place first.

"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

> "huntly9" <> wrote in message
> news:E3918FE3-640F-4424-A909-...
> >>
> > I tried that it would not format until I had unhandled the drive? I did
> > this
> > and then formated, now the system wont boot from the disc or the hard
> > drive.
> > I think now my hard drive has no assigned letter and I am stuck not being
> > able to boot or re-install.
>
>
> You shouldn't be seeing anything about a handle in use unless you are
> attempting to format from within a running Windows so I don't understand
> what you are looking at. If the media boots the computer then you should be
> able to delete the partition and create a new one without any references to
> handles. If the media is not booting the computer then follow Bob D's
> advice to check the boot order in the BIOS and make sure the optical drive
> is ahead of the hdd in the list. If it is then the media should boot the
> computer and you should be able to edit the partition and format. Don't
> just format, though. Remove the existing partition and create a new one in
> its place first.
>

Hi,

Thanks for explaining that I have checked the boot order in the bios before
and it is set to optical drive first. The unhandling thing came in when my
partner decided to use command prompt to format the drive instead of the xp
disc.Which I think only confused matters.

Now though I am stuck on the boot screen no matter which disc is in there xp
or vista. And I can no longer get it to go to the bios screen. It is just
sitting there. Is there a way out of this or do I have to get a new hard
drive? Thanks for helping here I appreciate it very much guys.

"huntly9" <> wrote in message
news:E6FBF73E-8902-42C9-98E9-...
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> "huntly9" <> wrote in message
>> news:E3918FE3-640F-4424-A909-...
>> >>
>> > I tried that it would not format until I had unhandled the drive? I did
>> > this
>> > and then formated, now the system wont boot from the disc or the hard
>> > drive.
>> > I think now my hard drive has no assigned letter and I am stuck not
>> > being
>> > able to boot or re-install.
>>
>>
>> You shouldn't be seeing anything about a handle in use unless you are
>> attempting to format from within a running Windows so I don't understand
>> what you are looking at. If the media boots the computer then you should
>> be
>> able to delete the partition and create a new one without any references
>> to
>> handles. If the media is not booting the computer then follow Bob D's
>> advice to check the boot order in the BIOS and make sure the optical
>> drive
>> is ahead of the hdd in the list. If it is then the media should boot the
>> computer and you should be able to edit the partition and format. Don't
>> just format, though. Remove the existing partition and create a new one
>> in
>> its place first.
>>
>
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for explaining that I have checked the boot order in the bios
> before
> and it is set to optical drive first. The unhandling thing came in when my
> partner decided to use command prompt to format the drive instead of the
> xp
> disc.Which I think only confused matters.
>
> Now though I am stuck on the boot screen no matter which disc is in there
> xp
> or vista. And I can no longer get it to go to the bios screen. It is just
> sitting there. Is there a way out of this or do I have to get a new hard
> drive? Thanks for helping here I appreciate it very much guys.


Don't speculate that the drive is bad yet. Using your other computer,
download the drive diagnostic utility from the hard drive mfg's website and
follow the accompaning instructions to create a cd so you can boot with it
and test the drive. Also, disconnect any peripherals not needed for
installation, especially usb ones. Try reseating the hard drive cables,
video card, and memory. If the box has been moved around during all of this
then it could simply be something not connected firmly.