Upgrade/Repair 'hanging'

[cway]

I started a Upgrade/Repair of Windows Home Edition on a dell laptop about 4 hours ago...and it has been on the 'Preparing Installation' step (Setup will complete in approximately: 53 minutes) ever since. I occassionally see the hour glass appear like it is doing something...But is it?? '53 minutes' has not changed in 4 hours!!!
Is this common?? Or should I Cancel and start over??
I am doing a repair because something got into the computer and did not allow me to open anything..i.e.: My computer, My documents, Mcafee software would shut down after less than a minute of starting up...etc.

Help please!!!

 

[jcortes]

first check the disk to make sure its good and doesn't have scratches on it. then do a clean install not a repair that wont get rid of a virus which is what that sounds like

 

[cway]

The computer is only 10 months old...so it should be good.
What website could i go to to get easy instructions on how to do a clean install?
I know nothing needs to be backed up saved on it...so thats good...ha.

Thank you very much for your reply!!

 

[jcortes]

http://www.windowsxphome.windowsreinstall.com/sp2installxpcdoldhdd/indexfullpage.htm

good luck

 

[cway]

Thanks for that website...
I have a question:
I am at the "Setup is formatting" screen...and its been sitting at 0% (like it hasnt started doing anything yet) but the green lights on the computer are solid...like the hard drive is doing something.
The first(original) problem i encountered (before i started this clean install), was the CPU Usage kicking up to 100% whenever i try to open anything...which would cause everything to practically freeze. I am hoping that is not having any affect on it trying to format!?!? It's now going on 20-25 minutes where it's still at 0% (kinda scary!!)
What should or could i do if it never does anything?

Thx again!!

 

[jcortes]

run a chkdsk /r in the recovery console and let it see if the drive is bad that could be the problem. if there is nothing wrong with the drive and it has no errors or bad sectors preform a low level format on the drive using Maxtor Powermax. sounds to me like a drive problem though.

 

[cway]

It finally started running...it finished formatting...then copied...(then i think Installed...cant remember) but then i got a blue screen that said:
Stop: c0000221 unknown hard error\systemroot\system32\ntdll.dll

what the heck is that?
I was doing some research on the net...and saw a suggestion to run the clean install again...so that is what i am doing right now.
If the same thing happens...i will try the chkdsk /r

Have you ever seen that Unknown Hard Error error before?

 

[jcortes]

im thinking its a bad hard drive run the chkdsk /r and if it still does it preform a lowlevel format and if all else fails pick up a new hard drive. also could be ram so i would check that as well using memtest86+