NEED HELP

[Big D]

my Parents Computer is all ****ed up, they tried to reinstall windows xp but it was in the middle of installing and theres an error saying it cant read the disk. is there a way I can reformat the whole thing ??? because right now when i turn it on it automatically goes to the windows installation then i get that error and it restarts.

[spitfire]

Old disk? Is it the original from when you bought the computer or a copy? If a copy, get your hands on another one. You can also try to plug in a USB disk drive and have it boot up off that. I found that some drives read scratched disks better than others.

[MAJIN VEGETA]

format the entire thing. When you put the xp disc in just go to the selection option that says to format the hard drive dont select quick format, do the longer one, and if there is still an error, get another copy of xp.

MAJIN VEGETA

[Dozer1980]

ya format the whole thing even if you have to boot the ****er off the xp disk format the whore if that doesnt do it get a new hard drive they are dirt cheap nowadays

[Big D]

ya I want to format the whole thing do you guys know a program I can download to reformat the whole thing ? I cant use the windows disk I need something that I can boot up right from the beginning

[MAJIN VEGETA]

Start the computer up, go to your bios could be f12 or f8 or delete to get to your bios, have your computer set to load the dcd/dvd drive xp disk before it goes to start up, it will ask you do you want to run disc or something like that and then it will say to press any key to run the disc. Press any key, then go through the blue screen options that xp gives you, format the hard drive, not a quick format. then just stick around your computer for 8 hours or so and enjoy puttinge everything back on your computer. The xp disc will give you the abilty to format from the disc. If you cant get what I am trying to say here, go google the info and I 100% guarantee there will be step by step instructions with pictures.

MAJIN VEGETA

[RagingRandy]

If there is a single partition on the disk you should remove it and set it up again. During the setup there is an option to delete the partition and create a new one.

[Richter]

If I may chime in here... Suggestion, once computer has been reformatted and back to normal with all the drivers and programs needed, do a back up copy of what's on it. Also, get Partition Magic, very easy program to use, partition the hard drive to 2 partitions. Partition 1 being your primary, set to 20GB, this should cover all programs and stuff. Then let the rest of the hard drive be your "Storage" area. This way, if the computer screws up later on, you just need to format the primary drive and you won't loose anything on your secondary.

Make sense?