Format C Drive and Reinstall XP

[JANapoli135]

I am having numerous problems with my current setup of xp and want to
reformat the C Drive and reinstall XP from scratch.
When I place the xp disc in the D drive and restart, it asked me to
reboot from the CD but it does not give me the option to re-format.
If I insert the disc while windows is running it wants to reinstall xp
over the current version.

How can I get the system to reboot from the disc and then reformat the
C drive?
If I need to enter the BIOS, how do I do that and when?

I have a secondary drive with all my data so loss of data is not a
problem.

Thanks to all for the quick response.

 

[Vanguard]

I am having numerous problems with my current setup of xp and want
to
reformat the C Drive and reinstall XP from scratch.
When I place the xp disc in the D drive and restart, it asked me to
reboot from the CD but it does not give me the option to re-format.
If I insert the disc while windows is running it wants to reinstall
xp
over the current version.

How can I get the system to reboot from the disc and then reformat
the
C drive?
If I need to enter the BIOS, how do I do that and when?

I have a secondary drive with all my data so loss of data is not a
problem.

The retail version of Windows lets you delete, create, and format
partitions. The OEM version that I got does the same (it is a
non-branded generic OEM version). Maybe your OEM version is modified,
or maybe it isn't an install CD at all and instead restores an image
(which wipes the partition with a new image). If you bought a
prebuilt computer with a preinstalled version of Windows then you
probably have a bastardized OEM version from whomever built the
prebuilt computer, so you'll need to read their manual or call them.
OEMs can mangle Windows however they want.

You will need to configure the boot drive order in the BIOS so the CD
drive is listed before the hard drive. I have mine set to FDD-CD-HDD
(floppy-cdrom-harddrive). Otherwise, it sounds like the hard drive is
listed first so it is used as the boot device, Windows loads, and then
it autoruns the install CD (which is too late).

 

[Ricky]

Have a look here..
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

[Guest]

Hi JANapoli135,

Since I am not at the computer location where all my notes are stored, so I
hope I am recalling the sequence correctly......
Before the formatting option, you need to delete the partition where the
current XP installation resides. After booting from the install CD, hitting
ENTER at the initial Welcome to Setup screen, then agreeing to the EULA,
setup scans for previous installations of Windows. When you are at the screen
that displays the previous installation of Windows and are asked if you want
to repair that installation, hit the Esc key......this should bring you to
the screen which displays existing partitions on the detected hard drives.
Cursor to highlight the partition that you want to format and then hit D to
delete that partition (might also receive an "are you sure?" message or
screen at which you hit L). Once the partition has been deleted, highlight
the now unpartitioned space where the XP partition previously resided and hit
ENTER. After that, you should be seeing the screen that displays formatting
options (eg., FAT32 or NTFS, Quick Format or Full Format).



Regards,

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I am having numerous problems with my current setup of xp and want to
reformat the C Drive and reinstall XP from scratch.
When I place the xp disc in the D drive and restart, it asked me to
reboot from the CD but it does not give me the option to re-format.
If I insert the disc while windows is running it wants to reinstall xp
over the current version.

How can I get the system to reboot from the disc and then reformat the
C drive?
If I need to enter the BIOS, how do I do that and when?

I have a secondary drive with all my data so loss of data is not a
problem.

Thanks to all for the quick response.

How you enter the BIOS depends on your system. You press a key, often DEL,
F2 or F10. You do this from power-off/power-on; a "warm" restart generally
bypasses this option.

There will be some text on the screen when the system powers up - not
warm-boots - that tells you the key to press to enter setup.

It will read something like "Press DEL to enter Setup". Setup *is* the
BIOS, and that's where you change the boot sequence.

When you boot from an XP CD, XP Setup should start, unless your CD is a
manufacturer's restore disk. Watch for the options to choose where to
install Windows, choose the partition, and then you will see the option to
format it. You may wish to delete and recreate the partition, so that you
know you started fresh.

HTH
-pk