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General discussion

reformatting hard drive

Feb 29, 2004 4:03PM PST

my sons xp comp desperately needs reformatting!
he doesnt have a factory rebuild disc only xp and driver cds.
we have gone to my comp c drive format only it comes with message (formatt failed).can anyone please tell us how to wipe everything and reinstall?
many thanks

Discussion is locked

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Re:reformatting hard drive
Feb 29, 2004 7:54PM PST

Assuming everything of value to you on the drive is already backed up, stick the XP CD in the CD-ROM drive, reboot the computer, and as you follow the instructions on the screen there will come a point where you are given the option to format the drive before installing the OS. Simply do so, and it will then carry on with installing the OS when it's done, thus saving you some time.

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Re:Re:reformatting hard drive
Feb 29, 2004 11:45PM PST

thanks for reply we have already tried that but the option to format doesnt come up it just reinstalls windows

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Re:Re:Re:reformatting hard drive...try this
Mar 1, 2004 3:01AM PST

go to www.bootdisk.de and download the version XP bootdisk that you need (Home or Pro)...put a clean floppy disk into the drive (have three or four of them handy), and run the .exe file you downloaded. It will create the XP bootdisks. Boot up with the bootdisk and use the Format C: command...once it's done, reboot with or without the floppy disk, but with the cdrom in the drive and it should let you then install XP again.

TONI

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Re:Re:Re:Re:reformatting hard drive...try this
Mar 3, 2004 3:57AM PST

Many thanks Toni