[SouthernPoet]

I have a serious problem and need to format my hard drive. Using a start up disk doesnt work and it wont let me do it in dos....what is the procedure...someone help me please

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Place the Windows XP CD in the CDROM drive and restart the computer. Make sure that the BIOS is setup to boot from the CDROM before the Harddrive. Press a key to boot from the Windows XP CD. Enter the Setup and agree to the ELUA. Press Enter, then press Esc, then press D, on the partition(s). When you have only one item (Unpartition Space) in the box in the bottom, press F3 and quit and restart the computer. When it reboost it will automatical boot from the CD. Enter the setup, agree to the ELUA, and format the unpartition space in NTFS. From now on when the computer restarts DONT press a key what so ever. It will skip the CD and finish the install from the harddrive, and dont remove the CD since the install needs files from it. When you finally get through it all and get to the Windows Desktop, you then can remove the CD from the drive. Hope that this helps.

[DHooper]

Place the Windows XP CD in the CDROM drive and restart the computer. Make sure that the BIOS is setup to boot from the CDROM before the Harddrive. Press a key to boot from the Windows XP CD. Enter the Setup and agree to the ELUA. Press Enter, then press Esc, then press D, on the partition(s). When you have only one item (Unpartition Space) in the box in the bottom, press F3 and quit and restart the computer. When it reboost it will automatical boot from the CD. Enter the setup, agree to the ELUA, and format the unpartition space in NTFS. From now on when the computer restarts DONT press a key what so ever. It will skip the CD and finish the install from the harddrive, and dont remove the CD since the install needs files from it. When you finally get through it all and get to the Windows Desktop, you then can remove the CD from the drive. Hope that this helps.