k...I'm gonna sound like a total n00b...but oh well
 

now, I know this should prolly be posted elsewhere....but no one reads 'elsewhere' so I'm posting it here.

here comes the n00bish in me.......

I have Windows XP....how do I format?

Don't laugh...be helpful, thanks

*sigh*

1) make bootdisk
2) boot from bootdisk
3) in DOS type: "format <drive letter (C: for example)>"
4) wait for it to finish
5) repeat steps 3 and 4 untill all drives have been formatted
6) Profit

Thank you sir...now, I shall spend the next few hours backing up files and then format...with any luck I'll be back tonight sometime :)

get hold of a win98 bootdisk to boot into dos

winxp boot disks just boot the operating system and not into dos
(that's what i found anyway)

nod doesn't a magnet just erase all the data?

or do these new-fangled magnets come with the ability to set hard drives to FAT32 or whatever? ;p

We will destroy it all, and on the ruins we will build our temple.

HO HO HO!!!!
:D

My body is a temple.

you can just insert the cd of the os and delete the partitions..

HO HO HO!!!!!

after a few hours of good clean fun...I am back in business with fresh new copy of XP

still gotta reinstall just about everything tho (ICQ, mIRC, etc, etc, etc..) but hey...it's sunday night, what else is there to do right?

Sleep.

ya...but not at 7pm :\

www.bootdisk.com is your effendi, comrade

easier way:

1.) Set cmos to boot from cd
2.) boot from win xp cd
3.) follow directions to format and install on that partition

a lot easier to make a xp boot cd with nero, it's not only faster but i've found a boot disk is more easily susceptible to becomign corrupt

once again this will only work if it is a boot cd and not if it is just a upgrade xp cd or anyother version

What other versions are there? There's standard XP Home/Pro which will boot from cd, and then upgrade cds (with which personally i have no experience) which won't boot. Also, if you are upgrading from 98SE or ME the CDs should also be bootable.

Win XP Upgrade CD is bootable

it asks for a 98/2000/me CD before installation

Drink

hmm dunno bout that but then again i suppose i got the "non-retail" version :) so i could be wrong but as said if u have no os at all and u've formated ure hd u can't boot from the xp cd alone unless it is bootable.....or maybe i dunno what the feck i'm talking about


/me sits in the corner and plays with a fork

A Win98 bootdisk is a useful piece of kit to keep around, for those days when it all goes FUBAR :)

M.

no good if u have a hd that is over 40 GB both 98 and ME can't recognise 40gb and over due to a bug in fdisk. Only 2000 and XP will recognise hd's over 40gb

heh heh.... is Fdisk a product from microsoft?
I remember a quote from Bill Gates:
"640 Kilobytes of computer memory ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981

I wonder if he had the same thoughts about harddisks when he told people to make fdisk :p

I often experience the delights of playing 'where da fook did I put that damn bootdisk now?'

Vaio

The bootdisk is the only decent bit of Win98