Reinstalation.........

[Mike]

I am going to reinstall windows xp on a firends comp. Its
running really slow and he just wanted a fresh start. I
have xp pro and reinstalled may times with the chkdisk
prob and corrupted files. his version is an OEM home
version from Gateway. I was wondering do i need to format
c first or just boot with windows cd and rinstall from
there with no hard disk format? if I do need to format
will it boot from cd? or do i need a boot floppy?

 

[Guest]

I would recommend formatting the HD for a total clean
start. Then, insert the Gateway Windows CD, it might
say "Press any key to boot from CD..," so do so and follow
the directions to continue, as you did before.

 

[Malke]

I am going to reinstall windows xp on a firends comp. Its
running really slow and he just wanted a fresh start. I
have xp pro and reinstalled may times with the chkdisk
prob and corrupted files. his version is an OEM home
version from Gateway. I was wondering do i need to format
c first or just boot with windows cd and rinstall from
there with no hard disk format? if I do need to format
will it boot from cd? or do i need a boot floppy?

His Gateway will have come with a System Restore disk. That is what you
should use. You will boot with it and follow the directions.

Malke

 

[mike]

ok I have tried that. but i need to find out how to get
to comand promp and format the drive. it just tries to
install windows again if i do what the disk says. in my
experiance with pro it has given me an option to format
then install. no such option on this home oem disk. so i
guess what i need is to find out how to get to command
promp and format.
i tried with the cmd.exe and coould not force it to
dismount in order to format. any help??????

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
I am going to reinstall windows xp on a firends comp. Its
running really slow and he just wanted a fresh start. I
have xp pro and reinstalled may times with the chkdisk
prob and corrupted files. his version is an OEM home
version from Gateway. I was wondering do i need to format
c first or just boot with windows cd and rinstall from
there with no hard disk format? if I do need to format
will it boot from cd? or do i need a boot floppy?
.
It will ask you tp fprmat

 

[Menno Hershberger]

You could use a Windows 98 startup disk and use FDISK. It won't let you
"format" an NTFS partiton, but you can use FDSIK to remove all existing
partitions, then create a NEW partition, and then format it in FAT 32. As
a matter of fact, you may not even have to format it. I imagine the
restore CD will probably format it back to NTFS anyway.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I am going to reinstall windows xp on a firends comp. Its
running really slow and he just wanted a fresh start. I
have xp pro and reinstalled may times with the chkdisk
prob and corrupted files. his version is an OEM home
version from Gateway. I was wondering do i need to format
c first or just boot with windows cd and rinstall from
there with no hard disk format? if I do need to format
will it boot from cd? or do i need a boot floppy?

Just boot from the Windows XP CD and follow the prompts for a
clean installation. It will do the reformat for you.

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html