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how to completely format comp? Help!


alan8187

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I don't have a boot disk. Heres what I did. I poped in the WinXP cd and select "New Installation." When its finish, why do I still have all the programs and files I had from before,  I thought New Installation means deleting all the existing files including windows and reinstall windows, but why do I still have my old files? I have no boot disk so I can't "format c:"

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right enough Alan , did yo get formating you hard drive show up ?,

you dont need a floppy for xp. right enough,

I think you must have done a upgrade install .

But I am not the expert on this, just hang on the mob will come to the rescue,  

Duh I told you so  ;)

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I would use a 3rd party software to wipe the harddrive completley.  That will forsure get rid of all the files on your computer. I have no idea what you may have on hand. Hirens boot cd is a nice option. There are severl others. I personally just dont trust xp to completley wipe the harddrive. http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/  Is a free utility to wipe the hardrive. Personally I have never used it but I do hear good things about it...........Best of luck.  Oh after the wipe then just install xp and it will format your hardrive one more time and reinstall xp..........

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hey i have done this 1000 times i think :D.

www.seagate.com  get a hard drive booting software from there

it will be a floppy disk or a cd image (burn it) . it will be called DISCSTARTER something.

ull be able to boot and format the thing. but yea win xp home version wont be able to install then. get pro version. or install win 98 then upgrade it with win home.

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You are not giving much information. What error message did you get when you tried to re install xp. You should be about to wipe the disk clean. Put xp disk in your cd rom. Reboot the computer and xp should install. Now if it is not booting from the cd then you need to change your boot options. Reboot and hit f8 to change your boot up options. Choose to boot up from your cd rom first. Now If it is booting up from your cd rom ok fine. What error messages are you getting. Trying to help. You need to give more information.....

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I don't have a boot disk. Heres what I did. I poped in the WinXP cd and select "New Installation." When its finish, why do I still have all the programs and files I had from before,  I thought New Installation means deleting all the existing files including windows and reinstall windows, but why do I still have my old files? I have no boot disk so I can't "format c:"

Do you have one or two hard drives..if you have two you have to run new installation on both drives..or you will still have files on you computer.. :D

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Very simple..

When you insert the WinXp CD and boot to it.. a menu will eventually appear that asks you to

Format NTFS Quick

Format NTFS Full

Leave it as is.

Not sure what the exact wording is..

Just select Format NTFS (not quick)and the drive will be erased and a fresh Partition as well.

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when i select new installation, and type in the cdkey and stuff then it saids getting ready to install windows xp, then computer reboots. during reboot blue screen comes out and ask if i want to change fat32 to ntfs i select now, then it ask if i want to partition, then it ask me if i want to delete files on the drive (this takes like 5 secs) it saids deleting files, then it continues installing. when its done i go on to control panel>add/remove program files and i dont see any programs installed, HOWEVER all the programs are still in the programs folder (c:/program files/(all programs are still there)..the only files that are gone are in my documents.

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alan8187 ;I guess you are able to get to DOS.If not you need to get a Windows 98 start up or boot floppy or CD.

Then when you you get the A:>  prompt  type fdisk then delete everything so there are no partitions.Unless you want to keep some of the partitions because the have other versions of windows or something you need.What ever you delete with fdisk will be gone

I think you have to start with deleting the logical drives then the extended drives then the primary drives.

then reboot

This will leave you with NO OS on the HD.It should have only the BIOS of your computer.

If this is what it shows the try to install XP again.

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Ok Lets start over again ok.

1. The copy of xp you have is it legal and the full version of xp not the upgrade version of xp?

2. Did you completley whipe you harddrive clean with a 3rd party software?  If not do that.

3. When you put the xp disk in you see a blue screen that says its installing the drivers and such at the bottom of the screen. Then xp asks you which drive to install on and offers the option to format the harddrive. You want to let xp format it for you. Use the quick version.

Once it installs for awhile then it will ask you for your key. There will be 5 boxes and you type in the activation key. Should be letters and numbers.  I have never seen or herd of xp rebooting after the key is installed So this is a first for me. Give this a shot and let me know.

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http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Free... and once you run this there is no hope of ANYONE getting info off your hard drive.

Shug7272;I don't need this myself right now .I looks like what to use .does it wipe out the partitions where is a blank HD? It does leave the computers BIOS doesn't it?I thought you had probably used it.

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Shug7272;I don't need this myself right now .I looks like what to use .does it wipe out the partitions where is a blank HD? It does leave the computers BIOS doesn't it?I thought you had probably used it.

I believe there is an option for both of your questions. The bios and partitions. I know you can leave them if you want. When I use it I wipe the whole thing.
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Shug7272;Thanks I saved the URL if I need this sometime.It doesn't sound like one to DL & play with unless you're ready to do a complete format.

alan8187;I don't know if you can run the XP setup from dos.I'm putting in a .txt file for 98.it shows how to do it with 98.it might or might not help.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi folks,

first of all if windows gives you a option of NEW INSTALL that means you are inserting your Win XP disk with windows running. you should first configure youre bios to boot from CD as your first option, to enter bios press de delete key while booting, look for boot options and select boot from CD as your first option.

After that turn off your PC with the CD in your CD drive, boot up your PC , it should boot from the CD drive, there you have the option to erase existing partitions and format your HD, format your HD following instructions, if you have an UPGRADE WIN CD it will eventually ask for a WIN 98, Millenium or win 200 CD to confirm that you are actually upgrading, insert it and it will ask you again for the win XP CD (in the event you have an upgrade cd.

XP installation will follow and computer will reboot from your HD. (when it reboots dont press any key cause that will cause to start process again)

when it reboot it will ask you for your CD key, write it in and finish install.

That shoud make it, i have assembled more boxes than days in a calendar....

Have fun

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi folks,

first of all if windows gives you a option of NEW INSTALL that means you are inserting your Win XP disk with windows running. you should first configure youre bios to boot from CD as your first option, to enter bios press de delete key while booting, look for boot options and select boot from CD as your first option.

After that turn off your PC with the CD in your CD drive, boot up your PC , it should boot from the CD drive, there you have the option to erase existing partitions and format your HD, format your HD following instructions, if you have an UPGRADE WIN CD it will eventually ask for a WIN 98, Millenium or win 200 CD to confirm that you are actually upgrading, insert it and it will ask you again for the win XP CD (in the event you have an upgrade cd.

XP installation will follow and computer will reboot from your HD. (when it reboots dont press any key cause that will cause to start process again)

when it reboot it will ask you for your CD key, write it in and finish install.

That shoud make it, i have assembled more boxes than days in a calendar....

Have fun

thanks it worked, I tried using boot disk and typed /setup it saids cannot run setup in dos mode, then try booting cd it worked.

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