[Tru Techie]

k here is the deal. the computer is completely clean, no OS, not partition, no nothing. so i put in my xp cd, and i t takes me to the A:/> prompt, i type in fdisk. then i pick '1' to creat a primary dos partiton, i say yes to use full. its done. it restarts. then i type in Format C:, ok so i need to put in /x for fixed disks. so i go format c: /x. it formats successfully. but the xp cd still wont boot, it takes me to the A:/> prompt again. so i reformat.....Format C: /s/v/x....Insufficient memory......even though i have 256MB ( not sure what is minimum, but thats just some info there). what do i do?

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Can you tell me more about the computer?? What is it? P3? P4? AMD? What kind of motherboard is in it? Processor size?

Maybe you need a boot disk on a floppy to set the hard drive to FAT-32 first.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Then have Win XP disk convert it to NTFS.

[coffeedrinker]

Can you tell me more about the computer?? What is it? P3? P4? AMD? What kind of motherboard is in it? Processor size?

Maybe you need a boot disk on a floppy to set the hard drive to FAT-32 first.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Then have Win XP disk convert it to NTFS.

[Tru Techie]

well, its p3. its a dell. its 733Mhz. which boot disk should i use?

[Tru Techie]

ill try option 3, and do a fat32 format.

[coffeedrinker]

Win 98 is what I use to check hard drives

You also might check on DELL website, they might list a boot disk for that computer.

[coffeedrinker]

Let me know if that works, k?

When you start to install Win XP you can convert it to NTFS

[Tru Techie]

i dont have windows 98, so i guess ill check dells site if ths fat32 format doesnt work.

[Tru Techie]

k it finished the FAT32 Partition. now when i type in Format C:/x, it says invalid drive, or format not supported or something. then i ty Format C:, Format C: /s/v/x, Format C: /x, Format C:/s/v/x, all say the same thing

[coffeedrinker]

are you at the command prompt?

type in c:\ and then dir

what do you see??

[Tru Techie]

entire partition is free space. formatte FAT32. you know wat ill do. ill take out the hard drive, put it in this computer, format it as NTFS. and then put it back. that should work.

Edited by Tru Techie, 31 July 2006 - 05:42 PM.

[coffeedrinker]

that's was my next suggestion.

[Tru Techie]

What the...!!!! it didnt work. now that its NTFS format. when i put in the windows xp cd. i get No FAT32 Format found, exiting. then goes to A:/> What the...! and when it was FAT32, it said No NTFS format found, exiting.....

Edited by Tru Techie, 31 July 2006 - 06:14 PM.

[Retired Tech]

It is set to boot from the CD ROM Drive first?

[Tru Techie]

yep.

[Retired Tech]

So when you boot the PC with the XP CD (only) in the drive, do you see press any key to load from CD