reformatting xp.. different method???

[krnjason]

ok, the last time i reformatted, i put in cd, f10'ed then picked the drive to boot from... but this method doesnt work for sum reason. when i pick the drive to boot from it continues to boot xp like nothing happned. is there any other way to delete c drive and install a freshcopy? my comp does not auto boot from the cd drive for some odd reason.. i heard of using a command promt/dos but i think i have to make a floppy/disk that boots up as dos? please help.. thanks a lot in advance

[cim]

Do you know how to access your system's BIOS?

[krnjason]

the only buttons i know at the start of windows are f10 and f8.. then im confused after that

[CBC]

when you first boot up your system, you get a black screen & then you should be seeing some text scroll down the screen prior to you gettign the Windows boot up logo. At the point when your black screen starts showing your BIOS info, you need to hit & hold down the delete key to get to your BIOS settings. You'll have to look around in the different options there to find Boot Sequence, & set your ROM drive you stick your Windows CD into as First Boot. Then restart your system with the CD in the drive. After you are done doing your install, you can retrace your steps back to your BOS settings & reset Boot Sequence back to be the drve you installed XP on.
google is your friend also...

[thevoelk]

If you can make a DOS or Win98 boot floppy, leave it in your drive. Then run FDISK and delete all partitions. This should force your computer to boot to the XP CD, regardless of the boot order. I'm only advising this since you say you want to reformat the drive.

[TBoneit]

Are you sure it was F10?

Asus Mobos use F8

Dells use F12

for example

[Bjs]

No ...

Note : Who made mother board and what model ... I could then tell you extactly how to make change's to your bios if I had this information ...

This depend's on what format the drive is in ...

When pc boot's up , just keep taping the del key till bios is shown , then look for boot option's ... to prevent xp booting normally .

Look up pc manufacter ... some use different key or combination's to enter bios ...

Set first bootable device as cdrom .
As for hd , set it to non bootable .

insert cd , and save bios , and reboot pc ... away you go .

When install has completed , and it reboot's , hit del to enter bios and setup second bootbale device as hd , save , eject cd , system will now reboot from hd install .

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Certain problems can happen .

Either way , you must follow the info to bios in any case ... so here's the other .

Fat32 formated partition .

Do a search for delpart , fdisk.exe , and format.com

Delpart is part of a package for nt2000 , and can remove ntfs partition's .

Fdisk.exe and format.com , best from win98/se boot disk (search for me boot disk's) .

Clean install for fat32 ... really clean .

Place all three program's on a floppy (this get's exchanged with the boot floppy when required)

Enter bios , disable hd as bootable device (prevent's xp skipping through) .
Boot from bootable floppy to dos prompt .

Swap floppy's .

Run fdisk , and delete all partition's ... extended/s first , bootable is last .

Reboot pc when done ... TURN IT OFF .

Place boot floppy back in drive .

Turn pc back on and repeat booting with floppy .

Swap floppy's .

Run fdisk , this time you create 1st partition (normally 32gig is maximum allowed)

80 gigabyte drive breakup :

1st partition = 32gig or make that 35% and go .
2nd partition is extended , say no to all , and tell it 35% .
3rd partition is also extended , repeat as for 2nd , but allow it to convert remainer .

When done , return to main screen , and choose option to set bootable partition a 1st on drive .

Reboot pc ... again turn it off .

Swap boot floppy into a: drive .

Turn pc on and repeat boot with floppy .

Swap floppy's .

This time you run format.com .

As you now have 3 partitions , the command is

format c:
Hit enter and wait .

Format d:
Hit enter and wait .

Format e:
Hit enter and wait .

When done , insert cd (os) , take floppy out and reboot pc .

Re-enter bios , reset hd to as bootable , save , and reboot pc .

As there is nothing on hd to boot , pc boot's form os cd .

As it is formated too fat32 , you may leave this alone when reinstalling xp .

This is the only time you will get fat32 install option ... normally it's only ntfs available .

When reinstall is completed , eject os cd , and allow pc to reboot .

Install system board driver's (not usb2 for those who have xp with sp1 only)
Reboot .

Install all other internal hardware in pc .... reboot .

Install sp2 ... reboot .

Now install usb2 driver's from motherboard manufacturer ... that's the correct install for usb2 .

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For those with ntfs ... do the no hd boot in bios first .

Boot from bootable floppy .

Swap floppy's

You will run

Delpart .

Delpart is the fast gui method of removing ntfs partition information from hd , both for xp and linux .

When ntfs partition's have been deleted , save ...

Insert os cd , remove floppy's and reboot ... turn pc off .

Then restart it .

Should you wish to install under fat32 , please go up to how to turn hd to fat32 partition's , up above .

For ntfs ... as there is no partition info on hd .

Re-enter bios , and set hd as second bootable device .

Again , as there is no boot info on hd ... pc will boot from os cd instead .

This will only allow install under ntfs ... as there are no partition's defind , the os will create these for you before installing the os ... do so , when os has installed , follow my guide line's to installing motherboard system driver's , then other attached hardware driver's ... sp2 if you have an earlier xp os cd ... finally finishing up with installing manufacturer's usb2 driver's ... and reboot ... done .

------------------------------------------------------------------

All you need do , is reset up your internet account info .
Place a backup of you favourite's into the favourite's folder (you did make a zipped backup ... yes) .
Reinstall scanner's , printer's , ect ...

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For those with capture device's , apart from agp type's ... these must be removed .

The install for these is software first .
Shutdown pc .
Install device .
Restart pc .

Warning : when ever pulling card's in and out of motherboard's , turn pc off at power point ... they can start up .

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Finally finish up by reinstalling your favourite program's of choice .

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Consider a hard drive imaging product like drive image ...

This way should pc become bogged down with crap ware , or a program develope's sudden death syndrome with message's that make no sence .

You can reload pc from image file , saving you alot of time .

----------------------------------------------------------------

Best program's you should have :

Adaware se : keep's thing's out where they shouldn't be , like browser hijacker's .

Avg antivirus free :

Just did a test tonight on a system with norton's antivirus ... updated .

Loaded 3 month old avg on system , and 10 virus's were picked up ... norton's not only slow's a pc down to an almost complete halt ... but once again fail's completely at keeping system safe and secured .

--------------------------------------------------------------

Good online technique's :

For dialup's :

Use internet connection on desktop to connect .
Then update avg first ...

When done , you is about as safe as you can be till next update is released .

For adsl / isdn :

Same technique before any email or web browsing .

Consider installing zonealarm , for when away from pc connected to "alway's on" service's .

This way you can lockout internet incoming traffic while you is away , keeping pc relatively safe .

Or better yet ... turn it off ... then turn modem off .

When required , turn modem on , wait 2 minute's , then turn pc on .

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Been doing this for year's .

My favourite system :

Compaq desktop pro
P4 1.6gigahertz
256mb's ram
40 gigabyte hd
64 mb geforce 4
lg dvd burner
Pci modem
17" dell monitor
Standard feature's

Quad boot : win95b / win98se / winxppro / nt2000 + bootable linux os (6 version's) .

Bought for testing various program's , esspecially from this site's tool's section ... and making guide's cross compatable for all where ever possible ...

5 pc's + laptop (for portable service's to local's)

Yes it can take alot of my time doing it in several os's ... but we is here to help ...

[jimmalenko]

Good lord ......

^^ it's not that complex, really ... it isn't.

And No, you don't need a boot floppy, fdisk, or any crap like that. All that shit was left behind when Win2000 came out.

The only thing you need to do is work out how to get into your BIOS - hopefully when your PC boots up, it says something like " Press [DEL] to Enter setup" down the bottom when the white writing on a black screen is processing prior to the windows logo.

Alternatively if you have a brand name PC then you may be getting a splash screen covering all this. In this case I've found either F2 or F12 to generally work for getting into the BIOS. If either of these don't work, then I'd suggest either consulting your motherboard manual, contacting your PC vendor and asking them, or alternatively google searching.

All you need to do is change the First Boot Device to CD-ROM (it doesn't matter what the 2nd or subsequent devices are set to). This is normally in "Advanced BIOS setup", but it could differ so again consult your manual and it should have layouts of the BIOS menus.

Your PC will want to reboot a couple of times following the reformat and then again after the installation of XP. When it restarts the 2nd time, you should probably change the boot order back to what it was (but leave the XP disc in your drive).

[budz]

Good lord ......

^^ it's not that complex, really ... it isn't.

And No, you don't need a boot floppy, fdisk, or any crap like that. All that shit was left behind when Win2000 came out

krnjason here is a helpful link on how to boot to your BIOS:

http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/enter-BIOS.html