[LazLot]

How can I re-start my harddrive installation; i.e. completely 'wash' (to use an old DOS term) my main drive. I am running XP and have tried to restart using my original installation disk, but it won't boot from this disk. There are programs I want to remove, like Norton PC checkup, which have .dll extensions, that will not delete despite using Calypso (which works similarly to X-tree Gold, but doesn't seem as powerful). I've changed the attributes, but still cant completely remove Norton, so Ive decided to start my installation from scratch, but it's not as easy as the old DOS/Win3 days...

[floppybootstomp]

If you boot from your XP disk then the installation process should start and during that installation process you should have the oppurtunity to format your hard disk.

First, make sure the opitical drive containing the XP disk is set in the BIOS to be the primary boot disk. Disconnect any other hard drives other then the one you want to install XP to, make sure the XP disk is in selected optical drive, then boot.

If that doesn't work you possibly have a hardware problem or a suspect XP disk.

As for Norton's PC check - it's worthless, use free apps such as Speccy and CCleaner which will do pretty much the same thing with much less clutter and more efficiency. If you want to keep your current XP installation and remove Nortons, visit the Symantec web site where there should be detailed instructions on how to remove Nortons products.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[EvanDavis]

You say it won't boot from the disk. are you getting any errors ? Have you changed the boot order in BIOS ??