I think I really screwed myself here...

[Guest]

I let a friend (now ex-friend) of mine use my laptop--I'm such a moron!--and
for whatever reason he started screwing around with it while I was in the
bathroom. By the time I got back into the room he had deleted the default
administrator and taken admin priveledges away from my single user account on
the computer. I have tried several times to reformat, but to no avail, as I
had already lost the drivers for my NIC, optical drive, AND 1394 previous to
his messing with it (all I can use is my wireless card, miraculously enough).
I usually don't let anyone touch it, but as it was in severe need of a
reformat at the time with the severe loss of drivers, I figured what the
heck. This was a very unwise choice on my part, and it certainly won't be a
option to anyone ever again, but to date I have found absolutely no way of
reformatting.

 

[q_q_anonymous]

I let a friend (now ex-friend) of mine use my laptop--I'm such a moron!--and
for whatever reason he started screwing around with it while I was in the
bathroom. By the time I got back into the room he had deleted the default
administrator and taken admin priveledges away from my single user account on
the computer. I have tried several times to reformat, but to no avail, as I
had already lost the drivers for my NIC, optical drive, AND 1394 previous to
his messing with it (all I can use is my wireless card, miraculously enough).
I usually don't let anyone touch it, but as it was in severe need of a
reformat at the time with the severe loss of drivers, I figured what the
heck. This was a very unwise choice on my part, and it certainly won't be a
option to anyone ever again, but to date I have found absolutely no way of
reformatting.

boot off a win xp cd. you can format from there

you'd know that if you ever installed windows. or ever thought about
how to format outside of windows.

you don't need a win xp cd to format either. there were ways before ppl
used win xp

 

[Admiral Q]

message :I let a friend (now ex-friend) of mine use my laptop--I'm such a
moron!--and
: for whatever reason he started screwing around with it while I was
in the
: bathroom. By the time I got back into the room he had deleted the
default
: administrator and taken admin priveledges away from my single user
account on
: the computer. I have tried several times to reformat, but to no
avail, as I
: had already lost the drivers for my NIC, optical drive, AND 1394
previous to
: his messing with it (all I can use is my wireless card,
miraculously enough).
: I usually don't let anyone touch it, but as it was in severe need
of a
: reformat at the time with the severe loss of drivers, I figured
what the
: heck. This was a very unwise choice on my part, and it certainly
won't be a
: option to anyone ever again, but to date I have found absolutely
no way of
: reformatting.


Booting with the XP CD, you'll have the option during the setup
portion of windows (White Text on Blue Background) to
delete/recreate and format the disk partition(s). You can't from
within windows, format the System and/or Boot Drive, NT OS's like XP
will not allow you to perform to do a self-destruct.

--


Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!

Google is your friend!
http://www.google.com

 

[John]

I let a friend (now ex-friend) of mine use my laptop--I'm such a moron!--and
for whatever reason he started screwing around with it while I was in the
bathroom. By the time I got back into the room he had deleted the default
administrator and taken admin priveledges away from my single user account on
the computer. I have tried several times to reformat, but to no avail, as I
had already lost the drivers for my NIC, optical drive, AND 1394 previous to
his messing with it (all I can use is my wireless card, miraculously enough).
I usually don't let anyone touch it, but as it was in severe need of a
reformat at the time with the severe loss of drivers, I figured what the
heck. This was a very unwise choice on my part, and it certainly won't be a
option to anyone ever again, but to date I have found absolutely no way of
reformatting.

I asked Google (for you) 'how to reinstall XP' ...

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

That was just the first hit.

John

 

[DL]

you've got a win cd / recovery cd / recovery partition?
PS what were you doing in the bathroom that took so long?

 

[John]

I let a friend (now ex-friend) of mine use my laptop--I'm such a moron!--and
for whatever reason he started screwing around with it while I was in the
bathroom. By the time I got back into the room he had deleted the default
administrator and taken admin priveledges away from my single user account on
the computer. I have tried several times to reformat, but to no avail, as I
had already lost the drivers for my NIC, optical drive, AND 1394 previous to
his messing with it (all I can use is my wireless card, miraculously enough).
I usually don't let anyone touch it, but as it was in severe need of a
reformat at the time with the severe loss of drivers, I figured what the
heck. This was a very unwise choice on my part, and it certainly won't be a
option to anyone ever again, but to date I have found absolutely no way of
reformatting.

You may want to try this first ...

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

 

[Tom Willett]

Priceless response. I'm still laffing!!!

PS what were you doing in the bathroom that took so long?

 

[Guest]

LOL

Sometimes DiskCleanup can take awhile.

 

[Larry Samuels]

ROTFLMAO!! I think the subject line answers your query <G>

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I let a friend (now ex-friend) of mine use my laptop--I'm such a moron!--and
for whatever reason he started screwing around with it while I was in the
bathroom. By the time I got back into the room he had deleted the default
administrator and taken admin priveledges away from my single user account on
the computer. I have tried several times to reformat, but to no avail, as I
had already lost the drivers for my NIC, optical drive, AND 1394 previous to
his messing with it (all I can use is my wireless card, miraculously enough).
I usually don't let anyone touch it, but as it was in severe need of a
reformat at the time with the severe loss of drivers, I figured what the
heck. This was a very unwise choice on my part, and it certainly won't be a
option to anyone ever again, but to date I have found absolutely no way of
reformatting.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

Had you failed to set a strong password on the built-in Administrator
account? If so, your "ex-friend" probably just took advantage of your
having left this "back door" wide open. By the way, the built-in
Administrator account *cannot* be deleted. The most your ex-friend
could possibly have done was to disable it. You could have fixed this
without resorting to a format and reinstallation. Linux-based password
cracking utilities abound on the Internet, freely available to anyone
who can use Google.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Guest]

I meant disabled, picky picky. It is nonetheless inaccessible--but anyways.

In response to questions and suggestions:

Bathroom: If you all must know, it was a number 2.

Admin "Back Door" Question: I was already logged into my user account which
at the time was an administrator (thus the severity of infection and loss of
drivers prior to his use of the computer, yeah I know, stupid me, at least I
deserve that one completely).
It was one of those, "Hey, let me check my e-mail real quick," kind of
things, and like a moron I didn't want to come off as offensive by turning on
the guest account and logging out long enough for him to do it. (I had guest
disabled as he was the first and only person ever to touch the computer other
than myself--i have a bios password too that is different for the one i use
on windows). Some way to pay back trust and politeness, eh?

I've gotten successfully side-tracked now. Oh yes, I tried to boot from the
optical drive, but that didn't work either. It would seem that the heat of my
system (I could probably cook eggs on my touchpad after an hour, damn
turion!) caused hardware failure to my drive. Haha, I guess it wasn't a
driver issue after all. Just peachy.

I am inches away from just throwing the damn thing out my second story
window, so I'm giving up for the day. I'll try the websites provided tomorrow
when I'm in a better frame of mind.