XP reformat problems 1

[Pal26]

I've tried repeatedly to reformat my harddrive using the command prompt >FORMAT c: after i hit enter it say's something like do you want to erase i click 'Y' and it does nothing and puts my comand line back. The harddrive content remains intact. can someone tell me what is happening here? i use XP as an OS.

THank YOU

 

[Tezzie]

get a windows 98 bootdisk or CD and fdisk to delete the partitions and then format.

I wasnt aware that XP had format as a dos command now. XP's formatting is done as an option during the installation. Tez

Backups are great but checking if you can restore is more fun.

 

[wolluf]

Is your XP installed on C:? (because, pretty obviously you can't format the partition the operating system is on from within the operating system).

Why are you reformatting? If you want to reinstall XP, the install process has its own partitioning/formatting tools.

If its not the operating system drive, does it contain any elements of XP (eg, paging file).

PS. I'd use disk management to partition/format in XP - run diskmgmt.msc.

 

[Pal26]

I've tried to re-format my hard drive with no success. I want to wipe my computer clean and start again. Can someone tell me how to go about doing this? I've tried at the command prompt with setup from the XP cd. I use <FORMAT C: it then prompts me Y/N? I hit Y and the comand line comes up again. My XP OS is on C:, how can I do this?

THank YOU

 

[scottew]

You can't. If your OS is on c: you can't format it while it is running. Just boot from the XP CD and follow the set up.

Scott

 

[Pal26]

are you sure? i boot from the XP cd and it does the INSTALL screen shot. I was reading the help files on reformating and what it said to do was use the command line at boot up with the setup.exe off the CD. Use <FORMAT [drive:] /fsntfs,Fat,Fat32) and after that I use Y/N? hit Y and continue. SHould'nt it re-format my drive? IF not could you tell me how to do such a thing, if you could please list the steps (1 through 10 ) it would be greatly appreciated. The reason i'm re-formatting is to try to get rid of the problem that my computer re-starts out of no-where while in XP..

Thank YOU

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

If it is a restart problem then it is more than likely a driver issue and you will more than likely have the same problem again anyway. Turn off automatically restart in My Computer properties/advance/startup and shutdown/settings untick automatically restart and see what error message you might be getting

 

[scottew]

Here is what you need to do.

1) Power on PC
2) Go into the BIOS and make sure you CDROM is the first boot device.
3) When PC restarts, it will ask you to &quot;Press Any Key to Boot from CD&quot;. Press Any key.
4) The setup will start and you will come to the WinXP Set up menu.
5) Choose the first option - Set up Windows XP
6) F8 to accept license agreement

You will now come to a screen that will list all the current partitions.

7) Delete all the current partitions.
8) Set up new partitions.
9) Then press ENTER to set up WinXP
10) Format with NTFS.

It is all down hill from here.

Scott

 

[Pal26]

using XP, under device manager my video card is showing 2 cards. I only have the one radeon 9000, how do i go about getting rid of this? I think this may be the problem that my computer is restarting all the time.

Thanks

 

[scottew]

Right click on the one you don't want. Then you can either disable it or uninstall it. I would start by disabling it.

Scott

 

[Pal26]

I've tried diabling it and uninstalling it. Both of the video cards are unable to come off the system. Can someone please tell me what i should do? SHould i physically remove the video card then put it back in? This XP is being stuborn in not allowing the card to be remove.

Thank You

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

what two cards are installed? does it show the same info for both or both different?

 

[linney]

Try using Device Manager from Safe Mode.

 

[Pal26]

Under device manager there is showing 2 video cards. One is R9000, the other is R9000/R9000PRO. Now I have a Radeon 9000 not a 9000PRO. I've tried to disable both cards with no success. For some reason XP will not disable and uninstall either of the cards when I try to. I only have one video card there to begin with a Radeon 9000 128mb card. I've downloaded the latest drivers with no success. Other than re-formating the drive what other options do i have?

Thank You

 

[scottew]

Save yourself the headache, start over and reformat your hard drive. Isn't that what you wanted to do anyway?

Scott