reformatting without a reformat disc?

[Akhet]

neither of my cd rom drives are being recognized by my computer so i want to reformat so that things can all be put right again. i have the reformat disc, but as the comp does not ever recognize that it is in the drive, that isnt much help. anyone know another way?

[Shocker Milwaukee]

Some proprietrary machines (HP, Compaq, Dell) have a recovery partition that contains the OS & original software. If yours has this partition, you can do a recovery (format & install) from there. Otherwise, try to repair your OS with your install disc (this should reinstall your CD-ROM drivers). Or boot in Safe Mode (basic drivers only), if you can. I assume you can access the internet (you're posting from your machine)... try to find & install your CD-ROM drivers, as they're probably corrupt.

[Akhet]

Some proprietrary machines (HP, Compaq, Dell) have a recovery partition that contains the OS & original software. If yours has this partition, you can do a recovery (format & install) from there. Otherwise, try to repair your OS with your install disc (this should reinstall your CD-ROM drivers). Or boot in Safe Mode (basic drivers only), if you can. I assume you can access the internet (you're posting from your machine)... try to find & install your CD-ROM drivers, as they're probably corrupt.

i have an hp xt936 with me - where can i find drivers for it?

[BJ_M]

www.hp.com

[BJ_M]

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html


one step further

[Shocker Milwaukee]

They will be on your install/recovery disc for sure. Look into Windows Explorer. How many hard drives do you have? How many can you 'see' under Windows Explorer? If you only have one, but can see two hard drives (C: & D: ), then you probably have a recovery partition & can reinstall from there. Can you boot into Safe Mode? If so, can you 'see' your optical drive(s)? If so, reinstall from your disc in Safe Mode. You could also go to the homepage of you optical drive manufacturer & download a driver.