XP wont let me fucking format!

L

littlecuitie

New member
i put in the vista cd and my laptop (with xp on it) wont let me format it. ive tried everything, ive tried recovery discs, ive even tried puttin in my windoes 98 and 95 discs, nothing. it wont let me fucking format! ive tried booting from restard and EVERYTHING. the laptops just like, you cant format because you have a newer version of xp. and when i try to just go into the c drive icon and do format it says that it cant format it becase another window is open displaying the discs content even when its NOT. god this is so fucking gay, please help me!
 
Are you booting from the Vista CD or running the setup from within XP? If you boot from the Vista CD, you should be able to format any partition.
 
i tried that, didnt work, windows said that i coudnt delete that partition. ive even tried the same with the windows xp cd, and the windows 98 and 95 cds.

is there anyway to get into dos so i can d the /format c thing?
 
You can't format the boot partition from within the OS running.

Look in the BIOS - you should be able to set the boot priority to CDRom first, then HD. Then when you boot there should be a screen which says "to boot from CD, hit a key." If you have certain Dell models - you're screwed because the CDrom will detect an OS already installed on your HD and will circumvent the format process.

I suggest downloading a Linux distro like Slackware 9. Boot from CD, log into root, cfdisk, and blow away the partition.

Likewise, you can buy a $9 2.5" HD adapter, disconnect the CDRom from a desktop, connect the laptop HD in its place, then blow it away under XP.

BACKUP ALL DATA, especially bookmarks, email, game saves, music, pictures, socuments, etc. before blowing away your old drive. If you have the disk space, run the system utility 'backup' and make an image, then burn it onto DVD - just in case you decide to roll it back.

Personally, the easiest way is to just buy a new disk drive. Chances are that you can get a bigger laptop disk drive for less $. Remove the old one, install the new one, safeguard the old one - just in case.
http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=380&name=Notebook-Laptop-Hard-Drives
 
i dont want any of the info on my comp, its not my primary one, i jsut want everything on it to die and explode so i can start fresh with a new os. is there any way i can just kill EVERYTHING on it?
 
insert vista cd

reboot computer

press any key to boot from cd..... *press any key

which partition would you like to install vista on? Delete partition? Yes
Create Partition, NTFS quick format

Next Next Next, 7:01, eastern time
next next next

log into windows

open up internet explorer

http://forums.rabroad.com/

click the new hotness

click this link

post "my new install of vista was incredibly easy"
 
i've had that happen before where it would look like it was formatting it, then it would error and say it couldnt be formatted

try using fdisk to delete the partitions first, then pop in the winxp cd and format in ntfs

if that doesn't work, the best way to correct it is to goto your hard drive manufactuer's website and download the drive utility and erase it from there or have it zero out the drive

if that doesnt work, rip out the drive, put it in another computer as slave and format it
 
if you can't get your laptop to boot from cd, follow the onscreen insructions, and format/install windows - you REALLY shouldn't be touching that kind of thing

oh yeah
no av, no sub, evenmoreworthlessthanan:06:, no care
 
go into your bios and change the boot options to make cd before hard drive

try clicking f2, f10, or f12 during bootup if it doesn't say what it is

if this doesn't work, turn your computer off, give it to some 12 year old kid, and let him do it for you since you're retarded
 
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