formatting hard drive/

[Bruce]

Friend has a computer trying to format the HD
Windows xp prof
not offering the format hd, it scans the system when I put the cd in, then
it starts loading the program? He had already put 2 versions on the hd,

is there another way? thanks

 

[John John]

What exactly is he trying to do, does he want to reinstall Windows XP?
You cannot format the system or boot drive while Windows is running.
Boot the computer with the XP CD and select to install Windows. After
you press F8 to accept the EULA you will be presented with a list of
available disks and partitions and at that screen you will be able to
format the partitions.

John

 

[Bruce]

Hi,
It boots from the CD, now.
Puts the CD in, scans the system, I don't recall it asking to accept the
eula though, seems there was a glitch or problem, and was trying to work
around it.
Seems it was a driver probelm with something.

 

[John John]

If it is a driver problem during the Text Mode portion of the
installation then it would be a SATA/RAID/Mass Storage Device driver
issue. Does the setup detect any hard disks at all? If not you will
need to press F6 when prompted (very early on during the setup) and
supply the drivers on a floppy diskette.

John

 

[Bruce]

I can not quite remember, if I recall run, it runs through everything during
that part of the phase alright. I will see if I can get him to run it again.
I should of written it down, but I didn't feel like waiting around for the
other scan.
Is there an easy way around it, to wipe the hd?
thanks

 

[John John]

Sure, boot the computer with a disk/partition utility (like BootItNG)
and delete/recreate the partitions. You can also boot with with a
Windows 98 setup disk and use fdisk (and if needed delpart.exe
http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm ). These are ways of doing it
but it is usually quite unnecessary to resort to these methods when
installing XP, when installing XP the easiest way is to simply do it at
the disk/partition selection screen.

John