I just want to start over...

[Maggie Lawson]

Hi there,

I need some help with formatting my primary hard drive to get rid of clingon system files.

History

I have a 2 year old Dell XPS420 desktop pc running Vista Home Premium 32 bit. The only physical modification that has been made to the computer is the addition of a secondary internal hard drive (1 tera WD).

About two months ago I decided to look at upgrading my OS to Windows Seven. Vista has been nothing but a sickly spoiled brat and I got tired of forever having to sort out issues and problems. I was concerned that purchasing Windows Seven could end up being an expensive mistake so I decided to try one of the modified 'skinny' Win7 operating systems floating around.

I used Runtime's DriveImage XML to back up my C drive, in fact I made a complete mirror image of my computer and saved several copies in various places...just in case.

Then I created a separate partition on my primary hard drive into which I installed the 'skinny' win7. Plenty of people have dual boot systems so I wasn't expecting too many problems. The installation went just fine but within a day or so I noticed issues with my computers performance. Programs would hang or be very slow to respond, sometimes startup would go fine and other times I'd get to the 'welcome' window and progress no further.

I checked out event viewer and noticed a lot of errors relating to the registry. They were all concerning registry handle leaks with comments like 'Windows has detected that the registry is being used by other applications or services and will now dump something. The other common error messages were regarding services that failed to launch at startup due to something it was dependant on not being available.

I wondered if the Dell installed Vista OEM partition was causing a conflict with Win7 so I decided to delete the OEM partition and C drive (which had vista installed in it) and reinstall win7. While in win7 I ran diskpart from command prompt and deleted the OEM and C drive partitions forcibly. At boot I began to reinstall win7 and using advanced disk options, I created new partitions and formatted them before reinstalling win7.

Again within a few days of install I began to experience the same issues with registry handle leaks etc and failure to launch services. I repeated the forcible deletion and formatting of C drive several times but wasn't able to get a stable OS installed. I even tried installing a full and legal copy of Windows 7 that I borrowed from a friend just to see if it was the modified win7 that was the issue but the full version limped along the same as the modified version so I scrapped it.

By now I'm thinking I am like a toddler with a machete and shouldn't have messed around with the system. Repentant, I decided to reinstall Vista Home Premium using my reinstallation DVD. The installation went just fine but still the problems of registry handle leakage, failed services and application hanging persisted. The desktop would freeze within a few minutes of logging on and booting in safe mode etc made no difference.

I have managed to install vista home premium but have had to limit any additional software to anti virus, mozilla and windows updates. Anytime I try to install my usual collection of programs (like ms office, jdownloader, virtual clone) the system becomes more and more unstable.

Events/Errors

These are the typical errors I am receiving at the moment. Full details attached as txt file.

-Unable to initialize the security package Kerberos for server side authentication.
-Windows Servicing failed to complete the process of setting package KB955430 (Update) into Resolving(Resolving) state
-Windows Servicing failed to complete the process of setting package KB955430 (Update) into Absent(Absent) state
-Error during RPC serialization: (hr = 0x80070724)
-Windows detected your registry file is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded now. The applications or services that hold your registry file may not function properly afterwards. DETAIL - 0 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-1373565094-724834214-1068680412-1000:
-Windows detected your registry file is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded now. The applications or services that hold your registry file may not function properly afterwards. DETAIL - 1 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-1373565094-724834214-1068680412-1000_Classes: Process 3984 (\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Program Files\Trend Micro\AMSP\coreServiceShell.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-1373565094-724834214-1068680412-1000_CLASSES
-Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.

What I Need

I am convinced that my primary drive is still hiding some master boot record data that is somehow corrupting volume snapshot files. The formatting done when I installed the OS is only quick formatting and because the new partition is being created in the same physical location on the disk then perhaps some of the old data is being recalled.

One of the reasons I suspect this is because one time, after a few deletion and formats I accidentally selected repair startup instead of install and was amazed that the startup repair utility found the original copy of Vista!

So what I want to do is a low level format of C drive which would need to be done via a bootable cd or usb flash drive. I have no idea what utility or third party software to use to achieve this. I have googled and bing'd and don't even know what I am really looking for.

All I want is a stable operating system that won't spit the dummy every time I want to run a program.

If anyone can help I would be eternally grateful.

regards

Maggie

 

[richc46]

It is easy to format

Use the Vista install DVD to format before you install
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/117366-clean-install-full-version-vista.html
Read carefully how to format one or several partitions and then install.

 

[Maggie Lawson]

It is easy to format

Use the Vista install DVD to format before you install
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/117366-clean-install-full-version-vista.html
Read carefully how to format one or several partitions and then install.

Thanks for your reply Rich. I have used the Vista install DVD to format the hd several times already. I believe the formatting utility provided on the installation disk is just a quick format and isn't formatting to a low enough level.

regards

Maggie

 

[pinakfans]

Like he said. Reinstall the OS. I just delete Windows.old

nice name too! haha

 

[karriban]

Seeing as this is an old thread, I have no idea if you have found a solution to this or not, but I will post in case some other person stumbles upon this and finds an answer. As for doing a low-level format, it would be best for you to use the software provided by your HDD manufacturer. If it's the 1TB Western Digital you have I suggest going here WD Support / Downloads / Select Product and selecting the appropriate software (I'm assuming it's a 3.5-inch SATA?). If it's a different HDD brand you want to format, then just google
"(HDD brand name) low-level format tool" and you should find something. If you are still unable to find one, I suggest Wipe Drive. It's fairly cheap and the company provides a host of other useful tools as well.