Reinstalling XP

[Guest]

Hi all,

I just tried to format my hard drive before installing WinXP Pro and it
would not format. I don't remeber the exact message but it was something
along the lines of beeing used or busy and therefore unable to format. Has
anyone experienced such a problem, or does anyone know how to deal with it?

Any help will be much appreciated

 

[John Doe]

> Hi all,

I just tried to format my hard drive before installing WinXP Pro
and it would not format. I don't remeber the exact message

Can't you reproduce it? Write it down or record it this time.

>
but it was something along the lines of beeing used or busy and
therefore unable to format. Has anyone experienced such a problem,
or does anyone know how to deal with it?

How were you trying to format your hard disk?

Try using the Windows XP installation disk. Insert the disk, restart
your computer, and press a key when prompted. Then format your hard
disk using the included utility.

 

[David Maynard]

> Hi all,

I just tried to format my hard drive before installing WinXP Pro and it
would not format. I don't remeber the exact message but it was something
along the lines of beeing used or busy and therefore unable to format. Has
anyone experienced such a problem, or does anyone know how to deal with it?

Any help will be much appreciated,

Since you don't say how, or by what method, you were trying to format it
anything would be a guess but the only way I know you could get that
message is if you were trying to format it while XP was running off it and
of course it won't format the drive it's running on.

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

> Hi all,

I just tried to format my hard drive before installing WinXP Pro and it
would not format. I don't remeber the exact message but it was something
along the lines of beeing used or busy and therefore unable to format. Has
anyone experienced such a problem, or does anyone know how to deal with
it?

Any help will be much appreciated,

You need to boot your computer from your XP install disk, not your hard
drive, and then you will be able to reformat your drive.

 

[Peter A. Stavrakoglou]

> Hi all,

I just tried to format my hard drive before installing WinXP Pro and it
would not format. I don't remeber the exact message but it was something
along the lines of beeing used or busy and therefore unable to format. Has
anyone experienced such a problem, or does anyone know how to deal with
it?

Any help will be much appreciated,

Sounds as though you are trying to format the drive while running Windows.
You can't format the partition of your computer that contains Windows while
you are using Windows. Set your BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM, put in your
Windows XP CD, boot up, then follow the install prompts. You'll be able to
format your drive during the install process using the Windows XP CD.

 

[Guest]

Hi Peter,

I did what you said and it worked.Now though, it's saying that there is a
boot disk error and I should insert the CD and press Enter. Even when I do
that it still doesn't work. do you have any idea why is it doing this?



***********************************************8


> Hi all,
>
> I just tried to format my hard drive before installing WinXP Pro and it
> would not format. I don't remeber the exact message but it was something
> along the lines of beeing used or busy and therefore unable to format. Has
> anyone experienced such a problem, or does anyone know how to deal with
> it?
>
> Any help will be much appreciated,

>

 

[John Doe]

Do you even know what formatting your hard drive will do?

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

> Hi Peter,

I did what you said and it worked.Now though, it's saying that there is a
boot disk error and I should insert the CD and press Enter. Even when I do
that it still doesn't work. do you have any idea why is it doing this?



* Thank you all for your responses!

***********************************************8

>> Hi all, >> >> I just tried to format my hard drive before installing WinXP Pro and it >> would not format. I don't remeber the exact message but it was something >> along the lines of beeing used or busy and therefore unable to format. >> Has anyone experienced such a problem, or does anyone know how to deal >> with it? >> >> Any help will be much appreciated, >> >>

[/QUOTE]

>

Check your BIOS setting and see if you now have your computer now set to
boot in the following order:

1 - CDROM
2 - Hard drive or HD-0 or some such indicating your first or possibly only
hard drive.

Try the boot with no CD in the drive and see if your new windows install
comes up.
If it does you should be working now.

If not boot with the windows install disk in the CD drive and see if it will
now let you install windows.
Depending on what you actually did before you may need to format your drive
from this step (again) before it will let you install windows. On occasion
I have had to delete all partitions and create a new one and format that if
some real old OS was on the drive, especially if it was NT.

Also is this computer using a SATA hard drive or IDE? If SATA you may need
to load some SATA drivers (usually from a floppy disk) as first as part of
the Windows install. Usually when a "splash" screen pops up during the boot
asking you to do so.

Hope this gets you working but if not I'm sure others will speak up and give
you another push.

 

[Peter A. Stavrakoglou]

> Hi Peter,

I did what you said and it worked.Now though, it's saying that there is a
boot disk error and I should insert the CD and press Enter. Even when I do
that it still doesn't work. do you have any idea why is it doing this?

Did you actually reinstall Windows? If not, you've got an empty disk that
can't boot. Boot again from the CD-ROM and install Windows. If you have a
SATA drive you'll have to load the drivers for it during the Windows
installation process. As the install process first executes, you'll see
prompts on the bottom of the screen to press F6 to load additional drivers.