Does the PC have the recovery partition? If so use it. Have you tried to fix the problem? Do you have and anti-virus running? Fixing will be easier than replacing the hard drive.
To replace the drive you do not need to format it first. But you do need a valid copy of XP. Do you have this? If so you will remove the old drive and insert the new drive. You then insert the XP CD and power up the laptop, boot from the CD. You may have to go into the BIOS and set the boot order to CD then HD. Follow the screen prompts to format then install XP.
But remember this. You will need drivers for audio, video, NIC, etc. for all the hardware on the laptop as XP will not have them.
If you have the recovery partition on the HD or the recovery CDs (if you made them), this is easier and faster than replacing the HD.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=1&oq=hacked+by+Godzilla&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS385US385&q=hacked+by+godzilla+fix
my IBM Thinkpad T30 hard drive was infected (internet explorer bar said "hacked by Godzilla")so I am trying to install an old hard drive I got from a friend (cant afford new one), not sure how to. I need to reformat the hard drive first? If so how do I do that? running windows XP.
Thanks

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