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Can't Format C

U

UltimaBoB

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
215
I'm trying to put a fresh Windows XP install on my friend's computer that he is having issues with.

The problem is that no matter what I do, it always boots into windows. Even if I disable HDD as a boot device and put NO DISK in the drive, it will still boot into windows. If I put CDROM as the priority boot device, and put the XP disc in the drive, it will straight boot into windows off the CD and give me no prompts for a reformat.

I reinstalled windows FROM WINDOWS and it gacve me the option to delete the rpevious OS and then reinstall. But I have heard that this is not as good as a true reformat and that is what I want to do.

Any ideas on how I can get the computer to stop going straight into windows?
 
Put that drive in a different pc and format it from with in that computers version of windows. Some pc's have an issue where trying to boot from the Xp cd, and Xp cd only, just takes them to desktop if Xp is already installed. I don't know what causes it. I just have seen it happen more than once. Try ultimate boot cd, if another computer is not an option. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html
 
GORANKAR said:
Put that drive in a different pc and format it from with in that computers version of windows. Some pc's have an issue where trying to boot from the Xp cd, and Xp cd only, just takes them to desktop if Xp is already installed. I don't know what causes it. I just have seen it happen more than once. Try ultimate boot cd, if another computer is not an option. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html
Click to expand...

Yah, I had a PC doing this once..ended up switching out drives on it because I was having so many problems with it..but thats another story..I would suggest this aswell can easily remove HDD and temp setup on another PC to format it and then throw it back into setup PC and try that
 
I have a legit XP CD. It is from Microsoft.

I don't have access to another computer and am not competent enough to be messing with the hardware like removing a HDD.

Will this UBCD work? Is there any way to delete key windows files from windows so it can't reboot into windows? Remember that even if I disable boot from HDD and put NO disk in the DVD it still somehow boots to the desktop.

BTW the ultimate problem I'm trying to fix is that my monitor is flickering, LCD, and I want to make sure it isn't software. COuld a faulty HDD be a cause? My HDD Is getting very loud lately and the flickering seems to happen at similar times to when the HDD starts running and settle down when it gets quiet - though there doesn't seem to be a 100% correspondence to that.
 
flickering can be from different things..can change your refresh rate in your display settings (right click on desktop>properties>settings tab>advanced). Might check to see that you dont have too many things hooked up on the same surge protector or outlet (this can happen often if the circuit is being overloaded to run a lot of appliances thru one outlet)..can also try changing the power cord on the back of your monitor..can also be the monitor going out (had an LCD actually do this for awhile on its way to death), usually you can see it flicker even without the PC on but just having it powered on and watching its activity. Just some things to check before wiping windows for now.
 
I will do all that too. Good advice. But I have already reinstalled via the method where you start the reinstall from within windos (not repair - it asks you if you want to delete the previous OS) but I have heard this is a bad way to do it and there isn't the long format.

So I need to get that actual format happening. Any ideas beside UBCD? I I can sabotage windows then it should force it to recognize the system setup on my XP CD at boot right? Can't skip to desktop if windows is broken?
 
UltimaBoB said:
I will do all that too. Good advice. But I have already reinstalled via the method where you start the reinstall from within windos (not repair - it asks you if you want to delete the previous OS) but I have heard this is a bad way to do it and there isn't the long format.

So I need to get that actual format happening. Any ideas beside UBCD? I I can sabotage windows then it should force it to recognize the system setup on my XP CD at boot right? Can't skip to desktop if windows is broken?
Click to expand...

With NTFS, you don't need the long format. Hell, Vista doesn't even do it anymore (15 seconds to format a 931GB partition?)
 
yeah no floppy, only cd/dvd - do you think reinstalling THROUGH windows like I did is a bad idea? Should I try to find a way to access the setup and format the drive and reinstall properly?

With only a CD drive, is UBCD my best option? I don't understand how it can boot to windows desktop when the HDD is disabled in the BIOS AND There is NO CD in the cd drive. WTF?
 
Make sure your first boot device is the DVD drive. Also keep in mind if there is multiple CD drives in the system, you may have to select which DVD drive to boot from (sometimes name-brand systems have this).

Also make sure it's a DVD drive and not just a CD drive.

When it reads the disc and boots to it, you will see an option that shows the hard drive. Press I believe L to delete the partition and then repartition it and install.

If you have to install from OS that's fine becuase it will copy all the setup files to the HD, then it will reboot the system into command line and start up the install process from there and will overwrite. Thing is, sometimes doing this it doesn't clear out the old stuff from the install and you could end up back in XP with the same crap on it.
 
sorted!

Apparently you have to enable the keyboard in the bios so that it works in the pre-windows/pre-bios situations.

Got a good reinstall. Monitor still flickers. Flickers in the Bios too - but you need light/white screens to make it really go. Seems to be getting worse. Oh well, at least I know it isn't software.
 
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