I am trying to format my pc it wont let me format by right clicking on the C: drive so i tried to format by booting from CD Boot i change the boot sequence. it started to load the settings then it restarts the computer when loading the keyboard layout. Any ideas why please help

what do you mean by format, are you trying to remove the partition then completely reinstall?

How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP

yer i am thats the only way it will let me do it. have tried to use computer managment to do it but it still wont let me. i would rather just format the computer it looks like i will have to just reinstall.

im not sure what you mean by loading keyboard layout.

If you have inserted your Windows CD into your CD rom/DVD drive.

You have changed your boot order to boot from this drive.

You should first come to the Welcome to Setup page

Does this happen?

no a blue screen comes up and says windows setup in the top left corner and at the bottome is a grey banner and it loads things.

What CD are you trying to boot from (XP, Vista, etc)

i ma trying to load from XP

ok, try rebooting the computer and entering BIOS at setup this can be different depending on what computer you have but typically its F1,F2 or DEL most commonly. Once there use the arrow keys to go over to Boot Sequence or Boot Order and hit ENTER. Use the down arrow key to select the drive that the CD is in and press enter. Then hit F10 to save and exit the computer will automatically reboot and hopefully take you to the Welcome to setup screen.

This is different then just changing the boot order using a key like F8 before the boot screen

i have already changed the boot sequence to oad the CD first n then the HDD n then the floppy drive

You may need a PS/2 keyboard instead of USB or wireless. What type of keyboard are you using?



They also make adapters to convert your keyboard to PS/2

are you sure it could be this bcoz it has been sent to pl to get it fixed and they have been able to do it.
ut also are XP disk is a copy bcoz we copied it just incase it broke n it did this has been used b4 could this have anything to do with it.

What happens if you let it reboot and try again without any input from you?


lets go back to the beginning, without the CD or changing any settings. Were you able to boot into your XP normally.

There are 2 reasons I can think of for this to happen.

#1. There used to be a problem with duplicate drivers
#2. The driver is not present or is corrupt on the disk

It's hard to say with you having a copied version of your OS there are a number of issues that could arise depending how it was done.

i am able to boot into xp but its slow n crashes every 5 mins or so i have tried to format by right clickin on c: drive but wont let me says applications are being used but they arn't

Ok, go into BIOS and change the boot order back, I want you to boot off the hard drive, but right before windows starts to load tap f8 repeatedly. If it asks where to boot from select your hard drive then continue tapping f8 until a menu pops up.

In the menu select Safe Mode and hit enter

let me know if it speeds up in safe mode

i have again done this and no change in speed

ok, well I don't think you want to format without having a bootable disk.

Hit Ctrl+alt+del together and go to the performance tab.

Is your CPU usage really high? Memory?

cpu usage is between 0%-4% and the PF usage is 291MB

ok, this may take a while, but it will repair any errors on your hard disk and check for bad sectors. After this is complete see if your computer is preforming better and we should also consider checking for malware, unfortunately I don't think that your XP CD is bootable. If you have tried to let it restart a few times and still cant get it to load welcome screen.

Chkdsk at the command prompt

• Click Start and then Run or hold the windows key & R
• In Open, type cmd, and then press ENTER
• To repair errors, locate bad sectors, and recover readable information, at the command prompt, type chkdsk C: /r, and then press ENTER.

[*]You should be prompted to restart, if not restart your computer.

dosnt work it says :

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process

It should say

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you
like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system
restarts? (Y/N)

you should hit Y, then hit Enter