Reformatting hard drive...

[quickdodge®]

Isn't there a way to format (erase an entire HD) the hard drive without a disk? Later, QD.

[joecoolfreak]

Is it the only hard drive in the computer or does it have the Operating System on it or are you trying to format an external or extra hard drive?

[quickdodge®]

Is it the only hard drive in the computer or does it have the Operating System on it or are you trying to format an external or extra hard drive?

It's the only HD on there. I'm trying to remove Vista Business. Later, QD.

[joecoolfreak]

What are you going to replace it with?

[quickdodge®]

XP Pro.

The problem is that I put XP Pro in the drive, but the drive won't read it. It keeps taking me log in to Vista. So I was going to just erase the HD and then put the XP Pro in and install. Later, QD.

[joecoolfreak]

ok...couple of things.

1. if the computer takes you to windows instead of booting to the xp cd...it's likely that you just need to change your boot order in the bios (usually holding down f2 when starting will give you this option) and then change cdrom to be higher in the priority list than the hd. If this method doesn't work, then it's likely the cd has gone bad and you won't be able to use it after the reformat.

2. You can't really format the hd while you are using the OS that it's running on. You have to boot from something else (cd, floppy disk, usb drive) with an application that can format the hd ( the xp cd should do this) but there are other free options as well:
http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

[quickdodge®]

and then change cdrom to be higher in the priority list than the hd.

Will this be an obvious task? As in is this screen self-explanatory? Later, QD.

[Benefit]

press f12 or w/e when ur computer first boots up, then go to the bios screen and find the "primary drive" or something like that and set it to CD-ROM then exit & save changes, reboot and it should say "press any key to boot from cd"

[topsecret2JZ]

push f12 at the little loading screen at the beginning of the start up then see if you can boot from disk. I hope that works. im not too sure though. anyway good luck!

[quickdodge®]

push f12 at the little loading screen at the beginning of the start up then see if you can boot from disk. I hope that works. im not too sure though. anyway good luck!

That's the way I've been doing it. Booting up with the XP disk in and hitting F12 and then selecting 5 and hitting ANY KEY within 3 seconds. It just goes straight to wanting me to log into Vista. Later, QD.

[joecoolfreak]

That's the way I've been doing it. Booting up with the XP disk in and hitting F12 and then selecting 5 and hitting ANY KEY within 3 seconds. It just goes straight to wanting me to log into Vista. Later, QD.

Your xp cd might have gone bad? Does it blink with a green light like it's trying to read it first?

[quickdodge®]

Does it blink with a green light like it's trying to read it first?

It doesn't even get that far. When it gets to the point where it says, "PRESS ANY KEY TO BOOT FROM DISK," and you're supposed to hit that key within a few seconds, before I can even hit a key, it's already running and taking me to Vista. Later, QD.

[Mk3Jesse]

It doesn't even get that far. When it gets to the point where it says, "PRESS ANY KEY TO BOOT FROM DISK," and you're supposed to hit that key within a few seconds, before I can even hit a key, it's already running and taking me to Vista. Later, QD.

do you have access to another computer you can put the Hard drive in?

If you have access to another computer (with vista or w7, not sure about xp), you should be able to right click on computer, go to "manage", then window will open there will be there a "Disk management" under "storage" you can find the correct disk drive and hit "format"

just another way of doing it if its not working for ya.
-Jesse

[mmmmpsi]

It doesn't even get that far. When it gets to the point where it says, "PRESS ANY KEY TO BOOT FROM DISK," and you're supposed to hit that key within a few seconds, before I can even hit a key, it's already running and taking me to Vista. Later, QD.

if you're pressing any key at that time to boot from disk and it's going to Windows Vista anyway then there are issues with your XP CD.. is it a "REAL" copy of XP, cause it sounds like it's not a bootable CD and that's why it's skipping..

if you put the CD in when you are in vista and double click on it, what happens? Does it try and load XP?

[Benefit]

That's the way I've been doing it. Booting up with the XP disk in and hitting F12 and then selecting 5 and hitting ANY KEY within 3 seconds. It just goes straight to wanting me to log into Vista. Later, QD.

i had that problem once too but it worked after a while

[Benefit]

joecool beat me, DRATS

[Benefit]

i beat topsecret2jz tho

[Scotsman]

Isn't there a way to format (erase an entire HD) the hard drive without a disk? Later, QD.

[civicturbo10]

I say change the boot order in the BIOS. It's has always been the "delete" or or "F2" everytime i rebuild a new pc. On a rare occasion F12 i suppose. Everytime i try the other method doesn't seem to work... the BIOS always works for me.

Are you able to get into a BIOS screen like below? - F2 or delete button and soon as you see black screen when PC is starting up (basically after you touch power button always works for me) -


When you get to the BIOS look for a boot order screen like below - you'll have to do some digging but you'll just poke around but don't change settings you don't understand - Move CD to first boot device.


Move the CD-ROM to the top of the order and have XP in drive. Escape and save and if the drive works should boot to CD. If you've done this method already then something is not right.... use this method all the time and it just flat out works.....

[jorgen]

download a formatting program and burn to a cd.
that'll kill anything giving you trouble.
friend told me of a good one, but i forgot.

[mmmmpsi]

and no there is no way to do it without booting from something else.. USB key etc.. it has to have something to boot from in order to format it..

http://www.bootdisk.com/ is a good site for boot disks obviously.

[quickdodge®]

^^^ Yessir, thanks. Every computer I have is Dell. This particular one I am giving to my 7 year old so she can have one to play her school games on. Later, QD.