VERY URGENT need to format

**MorseLady** · August 11th, 2006, 05:14 AM

Due to a house move last year and a near nervous breakdown I have not worked on a computer for over a year and I have forgotten much of the stuff I learned and of course failed my MCP exams.

I need to format my husband's C drive to do a clean install of XP Home as I messed it up last night and the so called recovery disk put another very flawed copy of XP on the same drive alongside the original copy with a dual boot function on startup. I want to format, my husband's instructions are to format as he has let all sorts of nasty trojans and things on his computer only format will erase as NAV will not clean it up and yes he does has a Firewall as I put Norton on for him.

I have tried using floppies and setting the BIOS to boot from floppy but I cannot seem to get the A prompt and when I do get it the command "format c:" does not work but I have used this procedure with XP and 2000 in the past with Advent and HP machines. This one is Evesham and wonder if that is the problem?

H E L P PLEASE! I'm going ballistic! Please explain things clearly as I cannot grasp complicated explanations at the moment.

**street1** · August 11th, 2006, 05:58 AM

Golly,Sorry about all your personal problems.Hope all goes well.
EDIT:
http://www.evesham.com/info/article....8-15F6FA723952

Above site would still have your computer hard drive prepared for a boot with the Windows XP CD and a fresh install.

http://www.evesham.com/info/article....4-93B16D855898

Active killdisk formats your drive back as to new.It will make a floppy disk to format your drive.It's a hard drive and partition eraser utility.

http://www.killdisk.com/

The file you download from killdisk is-Download Bootable Disk Creator for Free Version of killdisk(USB Flash and Floppy}.

**MorseLady** · August 11th, 2006, 06:37 AM

Thanks but your link pointed to Windows 98 and I cannot find a link to XP on that site.

I do not want to use stuff like Killdisk, I merely asked how I format the c partition using the DOS command format c: which for some reason does not work although I can access other DOS commands using the floppy from A drive.

**John_K** · August 11th, 2006, 06:43 AM

MorseLady, your WindowsXP disk or recovery disk should give you the option to format or even delete partitions. Have you tried to boot from the CD?

**MorseLady** · August 11th, 2006, 06:47 AM

John I booted from the so called recovery CD which gave me no options unlike previous computers it just went straight into a windows install and put a very poor copy of XP on c drive alongside the old one so now qwhen you boot you get asked which OS you want.

I was hoping to have the option to reformat the c partition. I have tried the cmd prompt from Windows but of course you cannot delate a partition or OS in use.

The only other partition on this PC is a data partition.

My husband is getting angry at me as he seems to think because I have done MCP courses I know it all but I failed my exams and have memory problems due to stress.

I should be able to put any boot floppy in and type format c: at the A pronpt, this worked on previous compouters. I can get FDISK but irt gives me no format options.

Angie

**John_K** · August 11th, 2006, 07:03 AM

If you can get into fdisk, you can delete the partition. That would force your recovery CD into recreating and formatting a new one. I would much prefer having XP create and format its own partition than having XP use a FAT32 or FAT partition created by a DOS disk. One small bit of warning. Lots of OEMs have a diagnostic partition alongside the main partition containing utilities, drivers, even the WindowsXP setup. I usually see no adverse effects in killing this but I am not familiar with Evesham and how they do things.

**Ferrit** · August 11th, 2006, 08:10 AM

Restore cd's are set to do just that.
Restore the computer back to what it was originally when you first got it.
The fact that it has put a second install on the harddrive suyggests it may be a flawed restore cd.
I would try another matching XP cd and boot to it and then do a format from there.
Just be sure it matches as in home or pro

**MorseLady** · August 11th, 2006, 11:16 AM

Hello Ferrit,

The XP CD for my machine is XP Pro but I might have an old pre SP1 copy of Home knocking about.

On the HP and EI/Advent computers the restore CD did the lot for you, especially the HP, from format to configuration. The CDs that Evesham provide seem to be bog standard Windows OS discs and nothing else and all the drivers come on separate discs and that in bcludes video and m/bd drivers

I seem to be stuffing up everything I do because as well as not being able to fix his computer I have messed up his mobile phone because I took it to the shop (the Link) to be put on the same network, Virgin, as I am to save cross network charges and now he has lost all his contacts and the clock and blames me.

I will never do anything again for him, he can pay in future. I am no good anymore,

**MorseLady** · August 11th, 2006, 01:43 PM

I cannot get anywhere. The machine will not let me format anyway and I have tried 3 XP discs all the same go straight into instal no options. I can get lots of DOS commands to work at the A prompt from a floppy but CD and FORMAT C: do not work get bad filename or similar. Have driven down to town and borrowed a DOS book from the library but I am typing the right commands.

I will just have to take it to the shop but I am so ashamed because they know I was doing MCP/MCSA and I will have to admit to them that I cannot even format a drive and do a clean instal of windows on this machine and yet I have done it many times on other machines with XP home and pro, Server 2000 and Server 2003. I am desperate please advise further thanks and just wonder as this machine is very noisy and sometimes keeps shutting down and coming on again whilst trying to boot it's not me at all? But I am not going to pay one pound a minute to talk to Evesham! The on-site warranty is up and cannot use return to base because we lost the boxes when the moving men who unpacked because we moved under a council scheme for elderly and disabled took all the rubbish away and took our own boxes with theirs. Evesham specify must have box for return to base and anyway I cannot make out their so called support website. My mind is goingf over this and the more I try the more hard it gets, it was the same with my MCP exams, the more I tried the lower my score on test preps and actual exams. I am burnt out!

ADDED LATER

I have told my husband that I need a break from this problem whilst I think it out and seek advice and would he mind carrying on using my spare XP computer for a week or so and I will put thius in the cupboard for now and go back to my own clean and very well run XP Pro computer and carry on watching this forum for any advice. My husband has agreed to wait.

**Ferrit** · August 11th, 2006, 02:39 PM

Morse Lady you just need to step back and take 5 thats all.
Sometimes we get in a loop with the machines we are trying to fix and cannot seem to get out of it
Put in a pre SP XP cd and boot to the cd .
The first screen is allways
Do you want to setup windows now or do a repair from the consul
Chose Setup windows now.
Second screen is Read the agreement and press F8 to agree
Third screen after it searches for harddrives finding harddrive and displaying some options.
1 option is do a repair install.
2 option is Delete the partition
That is the one you want. Kill the partitions completely to start and then make a new parttion.
Now I think i have it all right but you can view this poage and print it and it is correct
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

1 note sometimes we use reset instead of shutoff and we get stuck in a loop so be aware of turning it off cold and starting from scratch which may help

**CCT** · August 11th, 2006, 02:52 PM

Failing that last working (assume maybe some terrible virus stopping you from getting a decent reinstall from cd/dvd):

Put a floppy in your GOOD comp a: drive

Format a: /s

Download the Kill Disk zip file you were advised from here:

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

to the formatted a: drive and

download and read the instructions (pretty basic anyway but why not)

On the OLD comp, set boot priority to 1st = a:

insert the floppy, and boot

Kill that HD

Then start fresh with the XP install

Might work-

Be well - everything has a time and reason; the thing is, try to use reason every time!

**MorseLady** · August 11th, 2006, 03:26 PM

Before we go any further I did a Norton scan and a trojan called entry.dll has been detected and Norton cannot repair it, is this the problem? I accepted Norton advice to quarantine the virus.

**geeksRus** · August 11th, 2006, 05:58 PM

try the link below ML:
Clicky

**mduren** · August 11th, 2006, 06:51 PM

ok ..... first the reason your floppy may have not worked is because it may not have the format command on it...not all boot disks do....try going to www.bootdisk.com and get a new bootdisk...another thought..can you identify the hard drive, who makes it? you may be able to go to the manufactors web site and download software that will format the drive i.e http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...mondMax+Family

**xpuser357** · August 11th, 2006, 08:12 PM

You also can download the utility of the harddrive Manufacturer and write zero`s to your harddrive for a fresh like new harddrive. then place your windows cd and boot from CDrom.