Format and Clean install

I have a virus which I suspect is a keystroke logger. I cannot isolate it and want to do a complete wipe and format and re-install XP professional. (Since the unit was new I have always had occasional freeze-ups, etc., which I would also hope to correct with the latest version of software.) Unfortunately when I purchased my A31 new from IBM, no Windows XP discs were provided. Now the Lenovo web site says that only questions and inquiries are accepted from users who are under warranty. Is there no other solution than to go out and buy a new XP Professional (or Vista?) software package?
Thanks,
Richard

Welcome to the forum!
Does your A31 still have the orginal recovery partition intact? If so, you can do a clean restore from there.
What COA do you have on your machine? It is perfectly legit to get a burned copy of the original IBM disks for the OS that your machine has the COA for.
Let us know.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

Similar Messages

MacBook Pro Core i5 10.6.5 (problems with formatting and clean install)

A friend of mine is wanting to sell me his brand new MacBook pro. He wants to wipe the hard drive and get me back to the way he received it. He does not have the cd's that came with it to do this. Me being a pretty avid computer technician I tried every possible way of restoring this laptop and wiping the hard drive. Since its running the newest os 10.6.5 I cannot seem to access a cd or usb drive with snow leopard 10.6.3 to wipe and reinstall. Its like the only cd that will work is the one that came with the laptop in the first place. Something to do with recognizing the newest hardware. Now I tried on a last years addition Macbook with a 10.6 cd and was able to access the cd and usb dmg image without a problem, but when I try on this core i5 macbook I cannot access either usb or dvd. Does anyone have any input to share with me. If you have any questions whatsoever I will answer them np.

Yeah he is a rich kid who really doesnt care, he dropped it and did very minor damage. Put it this way he doesnt want to bother with it, so he is selling me the macbook for a 1,000 dollars and just requested that I do a complete wipe. Of course after screwing with it for a few hours I told him he needs to order backup cd's. The problem is he might change his mind by the time he ever gets around to getting the cd's. Anyway I was hoping someone might just have a little secret on what might or might not work in my situation. I mean what is the real difference between last years model and this years model the hardware correct? No upgrade cd is going to have anything newer than what is on the laptop currently. Is there a beta cd newer than 10.6.5. I just need to find a dmg image 10.6.5 or newer to complete my task. Anything older will not work.

Phantom folders after HD format and clean osx install

I was having frequent checksum and other misc errors while trying to mount DMGs or install programs so i decided to format my drive and do a clean install of snow leopard.
After the format and clean install of snow leopard, I did the following..
Join my wi-fi network
Run software update
Installed Xcode
Installed macports, ruby19, python, scala, macruby
installed bbedit, textmate, yojimbo, coda, transmit, omniplan, omnigraffle, omnifocus
Run mobileme sync
and then i discovered the following folders in my application folder.
Access Music
Adobe Bridge CS5.
These folders used to be in my applications folder along with 100+ other applications before I formatted and installed snow leopard.
None of the applications I installed, after snow leopard are dependent or related to these 2 phantom apps even remotely.
How could this have happened?
I'm not on drugs, I've developed software for over 25 years and I'm currently an Architect for financial site that serves millions of users well, so I guess I'm not a complete idiot and I'm also not senile. I'm not 40 yet
Can someone offer an explanation for this? The apple tech I mentioned this to, thought I was a moron as I expected he would. He did find issues with my drive using Disk Warrior though even though disk utility and tech tool had found nothing after several runs.

I'm sorry you had that experience with the Apple tech.
Files still remain on the hard drive even after a format if not done with several passes
If you formatted in Disk Utility or used Disk Utility to format, the data that was formatted would be converted into "Free Space" and placed near the end of the drive. There are security options in Disc Utility that prevent this from happening.
Most likely the reason was those folders remained was because the "Free Space" was not wiped. Disc Warrior, a data recovery software was able to locate more files because of this. It does a great job of recovering deleted or formatted data.
I hope this answers your question.

I formatted and re-installed itunes. now it flashing massage that my ´ipod is synced with another iTunes library. An ipod can be synced with only one library at a time.´ now it is giving 2 options, 1- erase and sync, 2- transfer purchases. what to do?

i formatted and re-installed itunes. now it flashing massage that my ´ipod is synced with another iTunes library. An ipod can be synced with only one library at a time.´ now it is giving 2 options, 1- erase and sync, 2- transfer purchases. what to do?

Follow these instructions:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities

How can I wipe my hard drive and clean install Mountain Lion?

Hi I have a 21.5 inch mid 2011 iMac running Mountain Lion, I want to wipe my hard drive and clean install Mountain Lion. I dont want all my stuff back, just photos and music, the rest I'll reinstall my self. I also dont have a exteranl harddrive. only two USB's one 2 GB and the other 8 GB. How do I do this? And I dont want to pay for mountain lion again. Thanks!

I made my partition and am currently reinstalling mountain lion to put on my flash drive. I'm using Lion disk maker 2 thats compatible with mountain lion. I'm doing it right, correct?

I bought mew iphone 5c i want to copy songs from my laptop but its all in mp3 format and i installed itunes in my laptop and synced all songs are sit in my iphone.but my doubt is iphone support only itunes na.then how mp3songs played????

i bought mew iphone 5c i want to copy songs from my laptop but its all in mp3 format and i installed itunes in my laptop and synced all songs are sit in my iphone.but my doubt is iphone support only itunes na.then how mp3songs played????

Hello there,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
If you would like to sync music to your iPhone, you will need to use iTunes on your computer, and then follow the directions in the article linked to below.
Sync your iPhone, iPad and iPod with iTunes using USB - Apple Support
Cheers,
Alex H.

Erase And Clean Install Error

Hi Guys,
I'm attempting to reinstall OSX on a Macpro - 10.4.10 using the Erase and Clean Install. All goes well with the first installation disc and all is going well with the second disc until it gets to garageband where it freezes and then stops installing and says that I need to try and reinstall again - I''ve tried three times now - is there something I am doing wrong or need to do differently to bypass this problem.
Thanks

First off, there is no such thing as an erase and clean install option. These are these Mac OS X installation options:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607614
So what are you doing according to the actual installer?
Message was edited by: a brody

Apps crashing, boot slow, want to wipe and clean install

Is there a good way to find what needs to be preserved in order to wipe and clean install? I tried Archive and Install, and though it helped, I'm still having issues with scanner software:
<pre>
Host Name: redpoint
Date/Time: 2007-02-26 17:09:52.385 -0700
OS Version: 10.4.8 (Build 8L2127)
Report Version: 4
Command: VueScan
Path: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan
Parent: WindowServer [63]
Rosetta: Yes
Version: 8.4.12 (8.4.12)
PID: 224
Thread: Unknown
Exception: EXCBADACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERNPROTECTIONFAILURE (0x0002) at 0x000008b4
Thread 0:
0 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb80a5453 0xb8000000 + 676947
1 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb809f925 0xb8000000 + 653605
2 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb80bd24e 0xb8000000 + 774734
3 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb811de0d spinlockwrapper + 1985
Thread 1:
0 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb823369b strchr + 72
1 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb81cef17 pthreadcondwait + 3114
2 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb816831a catchexception_raise_stateidentity + 318
3 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb8167856 CallPPCFunctionAtAddressInt + 177220
4 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb816774d CallPPCFunctionAtAddressInt + 176955
5 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb8168418 catchexception_raise_stateidentity + 572
6 com.hamrick.vuescan 0xb820480c pthread_create + 1124
Unknown thread crashed with unknown flavor: 1
redpoint:~/Library/logs/CrashReporter mark$ ls
Address Book.crash.log Mail.crash.log dmnotifyd.crash.log
BackupHelper.crash.log PhotoStudio.crash.log firefox-bin.crash.log
BitTorrent.crash.log QuickTime Player.crash.log iCal.crash.log
CanoScan Toolbox 5.0.crash.log RealPlayer.crash.log iDVD.crash.log
DPE.crash.log Safari.crash.log iTunes.crash.log
EEventManager.crash.log SuperDuper!.crash.log javaldx.crash.log
EPSON Scanner Monitor.crash.log SystemUIServer.crash.log lssave.crash.log
HP Image Zone.crash.log TWAINBridge.crash.log sh.crash.log
HP PrecisionScan Pro.crash.log VLC.crash.log soffice.bin.crash.log
HP Scanjet Manager.app.crash.log VueScan.crash.log
HP Uninstaller.crash.log X11.crash.log
redpoint:~/Library/logs/CrashReporter mark$ vim vuescan.crash.log
0x94724000 - 0x9473efff libRIP.A.dylib /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libRIP.A.dylib
0x9b6bf000 - 0x9b6c1fff Interposers.dylib /usr/libexec/oah/Shims/Interposers.dylib
0xb8000000 - 0xb82d9fff com.hamrick.vuescan 8.4.12 /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan
Translated Code Information:
Rosetta Version: 17.15
Args: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan -psn02490369
Exception: EXCBADACCESS (0x0001)
Thread 0: Crashed (0xb7fff9d0, 0xb80a5453)
0x000cb408: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0xca408
0x0007e850: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x7d850
0x0007eecc: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x7decc
0x0007ef60: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x7df60
0x0007a078: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x79078
0x0002ad90: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x29d90
0x00037430: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x36430
0x90809bbc: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation : _CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 0xac4
0x93203fa0: /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.fra mework/Versions/A/HIToolbox : _RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 0x124
0x932035b4: /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.fra mework/Versions/A/HIToolbox : _ReceiveNextEventCommon + 0x1ac
0x00141248: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x1402480x00141330: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x140330
0x0025bb9c: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x25ab9c0x00003168: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x2168
0x000027fc: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x17fc0x000026a4: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : _mh_executeheader + 0x16a4
0x00000000: /Applications/VueScan.app/Contents/MacOS/VueScan : + 0x0
PPC Thread State
srr0: 0x00000000 srr1: 0x00000000 vrsave: 0x00000000
cr: 0xXXXXXXXX xer: 0x20000000 lr: 0x000cb408 ctr: 0x90003260
r00: 0x00000000 r01: 0xbfffea20 r02: 0x00000000 r03: 0x00000000
r04: 0x0031af24 r05: 0xfefefeff r06: 0x80808080 r07: 0x00000000
r08: 0x00000000 r09: 0x00000008 r10: 0x63fefeff r11: 0x48444044
r12: 0x00808080 r13: 0x00000000 r14: 0x00000000 r15: 0x00000000
r16: 0x0000c350 r17: 0x00000000 r18: 0x00000004 r19: 0xbffff010
r20: 0x00000001 r21: 0x002ac930 r22: 0x17e5d018 r23: 0x00000000
r24: 0x17ebf000 r25: 0x17e5d000 r26: 0x00318034 r27: 0x00000001
r28: 0x00000000 r29: 0x170a4000 r30: 0x17fd1000 r31: 0x000cb328
</pre>
Any help would be appreciated.
MacBook White (1st, gen, base configuration) Mac OS X (10.4.8) May '05 Switcher, never looked back

Archive and Install preserves all of your apps and prefs. including VueScan and something is messed up with your VueScan install. Try removing VueScan and any associated files (search for any files containing "VueScan") and reboot. If you still have problems post back.

Need help with backup and clean install

Need Assistance with G5
Background
I'm an inexperienced Mac user with a G5, twin 2.0 gig processors and 1.5
gig ram. The OS is v10.3.6. It is the latest OS that will not slow down
internet (Safari/Mail) applications. Anything newer has really slowed internet applications down big time.
Current Problem
I've probably messed up my hard drive by switching back and forth
(archive/install) from newer to present OS. I now have corrupted data and
while my Mac is useable, several things do not work (disk utility, printing
and possibly more). I have a mixture of new and older versions of
these applications/utilities in my OS.
Going Forward
I believe I need to wipe out my hard drive and do a clean install. I also have a Mac mini which I can use (I believe) for backup via firewire.
Backup
Is everything I need to backup in the "User" folder? My spouse and I have
separate accounts and a shared account on the same Mac, with a total of 8.5 gig of data, mostly photo's and music. We want to save that and the usual preferences and favorites/bookmarks/addresses/email, etc. It would be nice if all I had to do was drag the user folder into the target drive.
I'd appreciate any assistance. I have more questions which I'll get to later, but I need to start somewhere.
Thanks all
Mac G5

Backing up your Users folder will save everything in all the accounts on the computer including pictures, music, preferences, etc. as long as they were kept in that folder.
If you have File Vault turned on you should turn it off. The "correct" procedure for transferring to your Mac Mini is as follows:
1. Turn both computers off. Connect them together with a Firewire cable.
2. Boot the G5 into Target Disk Mode.
3. Then boot the Mac Mini normally. The G5's hard drive should be present on the Mini's Desktop.
4. Create a new folder on the Mini and name it something appropriate like G5 User Backup. Drag the Users folder on the G5 into this new folder on the Mini.
After the transfer completes you should verify that everything has been transferred and is there in the folder.
5. Drag the G5's hard drive icon from the Desktop to the Trash or CTRL-click on its icon and select Eject from the contextual menu.
6. Shutdown the G5 and remove the Firewire cable connecting the two computers.
You can now proceed to fix the G5. Because you are planning to erase the hard drive I would like to suggest you do an extended format to prep the hard drive properly for your restoration:
1. Boot from your Panther Installer Disk. After the installer loads select Disk Utility from the Installer menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
You can then quit Disk Utility and return to the installer. Now proceed to reinstall OS X. Be sure you set up your accounts with the exact same usernames and passwords as you used before.
Once you have completed your reinstallation on the G5 you can restore your Users folder from the Mac Mini.
1. Shut down both computers. Connect them with a Firewire cable.
2. Boot the G5 into Target Disk Mode.
3. Boot the Mac Mini normally. G5's hard drive should appear on the Mini's Desktop.
4. Open a Finder window on the G5's hard drive and drag the Users folder to the Trash (don't delete yet.)
5. Now copy the saved Users folder from the Mac Mini to the G5 (only the Users folder, not the folder in which you stored it.)
6. Eject the G5's hard drive from the Mini's Desktop and shut down the G5.
7. Disconnect the Firewire cable.
Now restart the G5. If all worked well it should start up normally and you should find everything normal in your accounts.
There is one potential problem in all the above. All your account preferences are contained in the Users folder. If you have any corrupted preferences, they will still be corrupted and may continue to cause problems. If that's the case you may need to trash the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder's contents. Hopefully, this won't be the case, but you should be aware of the possibility.
If eveything is working normally you can empty the Trash and delete the contents. Same on the Mac Mini.

Format and clean off Hard Drive

Hi,
I want to totally clean off my HD on my G3, dual USB ibook. I want to format it (or whatever), so that anything that may be on there is gone. Once I do this, I want to re-load Tiger back on. Will everything work again or are there drivers, like with windows that I'll have to reload again?
My main question is:
How do I format and totally clean off the internal HD and how do I reload Tiger and make it a bare bones computer again? What is the best way of doing this and do I need other software to do this?

The only sure way to know that your data is unrecoverable is to remove the hard disk and destroy it.
Here is the link to Apple's Knowledge Base article on zeroing the hard drive using Tiger's Disk Utility:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1011.html
This should be good enough security for you unless you plan on turning it over to computer specialists who know how to do data recovery.
If you want to have the applications that came with the iBook back on it, you will need to use the Restore CDs that came with it before installing Tiger. Choose the appropriate link to the method of restoring you need from this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61802
Once you have the iBook restored to its like-new condition, you can upgrade to Tiger and you will have all the original applications, too.
Good luck!

Help with iPhoto migration/upgrade to Aperture, after HDD replacement and clean install.

I'm getting ready to replace the internal HDD in my iMac, and perform a clean install.
I'm currently running:
OS X Lion, version 10.7.5
iPhoto '09, version 8.1.2
After the clean install:
The latest version of OS X Mavericks
Installing a fresh version of Aperture, and *hopefully* importing all of my photos from my old iPhoto, into new Aperture (193 GB worth of photos).
What's the best (specifically: SAFEST) way to go about making sure my photos successfully import from my old HDD, and old version of iPhoto, into a new version of Aperture on what will basically be a brand new computer? Is this just a matter of dragging and dropping the "iPhoto Library" to an external USB drive, then somehow bringing that folder into Aperture after my machine is up and running with it's new hardware and software?
Thanks in advance for your help!

From what I understand, iLife 11 comes bundled with 10.9
No -- no version of iLfe or of iPhoto comes bundled with any OS
if I simply drag and drop my existing iPhoto library to an external drive right now (despite being a library from an old version of iPhoto), I'll be able to simply import that library into the bundled version of iPhoto 11 that'll come with my clean install of 10.9, without any corruption of image library, loss of metadata, etc...?
Sort of
1 - the EHD must be formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)
2 - there is no iLife '11 bundled with Mavericks (or any other OS) - you must pruchase iPhoto '11 in the App store
3 - there is no importing of anything involved - you simply drag your iPhtoo library to the pictures folder of the new system and launch iPhoto letting it upgrade the library
No corruption, lss of data or other problems - unless somethng goes wrong - which is why you need a backup before doing this - your copy on the EHD is fine - just do not open it directly - make sure you are opening a copy
LN

Despite recent macbook with GUID, still needed re-format with clean install

Apple must have their hands full fielding thousands of calls from fathers with mac book endowed children who ran to the Apple store on the first day of availability, enduring the long pay lines and expense of Leopard only to find that the hope and expectation for a simple, hassle free upgrade was not to be.
They have or will eventually learn that afterone or more failed install attempts, the HD icon was flagged with an exclamation and that the only option was to reformat the hard disk. They will then freek out due to lack of backup for the HD contents including mail, itunes, imovie, documents, safari settings, etc., and will have to scramble to backup the data if they can.
If they are lucky and patient, they will be able to eventually speak to an Apple rep who will try to walk them through this frustrating and time consuming precess, but more likely the que will be full. The rep will check your HD and partition settings with you and state that they are not sure why you have to re-format as you already seem to be running the latest GUID format.
I hope that something can be done to alievate the pain of these poor unsuspecting parents!
It is too late for me!
Sufice it to say the a clean install did work.

It is obvious that a clean install on a blank disk will always work.
It is also obvious that not everyone will have a backup or clone before upgrading, trusting that Apple did their job well.
On anything but a plain vanilla box, it seems that the upgrade may not work or may not work properly.
I am sure that most of the installs are flawless and here we are seeing, as it should be, the words of those who need help.
We certainly do not need the gloaters, who by their nature are helpless.
We need good data as to what installs worked and what failed, and why and how to fix it so the next person does not have to suffer the same problems.
I have three boxes to upgrade this week. I may keep one or two at the Tiger level until the X11 stuff is straightened out.

Should I reformat and clean install to my iMac?

I have an 27" iMac that is about five years old. It was custom top of the line i7 hyper threading 16 GB of RAM yada yada but it's much slower to boot up and the 1 TB hard drive is almost full. I'm sure some of that is orphaned files and other junk. I'd like to think that reformatting the hard drive and doing a clean install of Yosemite followed by a Time Machine restore from an external disk would be helpful. Is there an article or something that can tell me how to do this safely? Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.

HI ..
Make sure your Mac can run Yosemite > Apple - OS X Yosemite - How to Upgrade
You can reformat (erase) the drive then restore OS X using OS X Recovery.
Then upgrade to Yosemite.
Yosemite requires 5.16Gb's of drive space.
Click your Apple menu  top left in your screen. From the drop down menu click About This Mac > More Info > Storage
Make sure there's at least 15% free disk space.

How to change startup disk for a 2012 Mac mini with dual HDD and clean installed with Windows 8.1?

Hi,
I have a Mac-mini (late 2012 model), originally with Mac OS X Maverick Server installed (with two HDD). Recently, I had clean installed Windows 8.1 on one of the HDD (worked perfectly, just slow) and swapped the other HDD (with Mac OSX) with a SSD. I then cloned the Windows OS HDD in to the new SSD. Now I am trying to boot this Mac mini from this SSD, however, since this Mac mini do not have BIOS for me to change the boot sequence at the startup, is there any one can help?
Thank you,
Liusc

If you boot with the Option key depressed what boot options are shown?
Also:
Restart your computer
After Windows is installed, you can switch between OS X and Windows. Use the Startup Disk preference pane in OS X, or the Boot Camp system tray item in Windows to select your startup disk, then restart your computer
How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support

New Internal Hard Drive and Clean Install: Errors, Frustration and Hopelessness

First Off:
Macbook 13" (late 2009) ... It was running Mountain Lion 10.8.5 with 2 gigs of memory and 160gig stock hard drive.
I started this process almost a week ago and despite numerous attempts every night I have had no luck. I appologize if the details here are fuzzy, my head is spinning after reading dozens of threads and attempting multiple solutions to each error I've received and i cant remember everything I've tried so far...
I got my new memory in the mail first, upgraded to 4 gigs and everything works fine with that..
Next came my new Seagate Momentus 750 gb 7200 rpm SATA 3gb/s 16Mb Internal Hard Drive.
Using this guide: http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/17/make-bootable-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-usb-install -drive/ (and cross checking other guides) I ended up creating a bootable external drive using my 160gb External Firewire drive for my clean install to my new hard drive. So far so good.
I then shut down the computer, removed the old internal hard drive, installed the new, restarted the computer holding option key and booted up using the External Hard Drive, and the install software started fine. Note: I have attempted to re-erase the drive so many times without luck that I cant remember if I actually successfully erased the drive originally to begin with the installation, but either way I started the OSX reinstall and it got almost all the way finished before it gave me the error message:
"Install failed. Mac OS X Lion couldn’t be installed, because the disk (volume name) is damaged and can’t be repaired. Click restart to restart your computer and try installing again."
restarting of course did nothing, it repeatedly gave me error messages and made me quit installation...
Disk Utility isnt getting me anywhere, im either getting errors like:
"POSIX reports: the operation couldnt be completed. device no configured"
it wont allow me to erase the drive or partition the drive
"Disk Erase failed with the error: File System Formatter Failed"
and everytime the drive fails to erase or partition, it disappears from the list of drives on the left of the disk utility screen and i have to restart the computer for it to reappear for a second try. Typically the volume under the drive is greyed out and says that it is unmounted.
Ive zapped the PRAM.... and Ive done other things that I cant quite remember right now because my brain is boiling from reading too many **** threads on multiple devices....
halp.
halp me plase.

So funny story...
While writing this discussion I had to come to the computer and try to erase the drive so I could see the error code for reference. The erase didnt work as usual but I wrote the error code down here.
I also could not remember the error code for partitioning the drive so I attempted that as well so I could write down the code, and this time it magically partitioned successfully! The only thing I did differently was that I didn't rename the partition because i figured it wouldn't matter anyway. Since the partition was successful, I attempted the Reinstall of ML and it magically worked!!
I dont know what the **** happened but ive been attempting this install every night for like 3 hours since Monday and this is the first time it went through... for no apparent reason?
Ghosts? Magic? Full Moon?
we may never know...
Thanks anyways guys!

Format and Clean install

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