Formatting hard drive with boot disc

[Magem]

Hi. I recently bought a computer from an internet café, and therefore there weren't any operating system on it. So I started installing with a windows 7 disc, but after about 5% of installing windows, it freezed and wouldn't continue... So I cancelled the install and thought I could just try again. The problem is that when I tried to restart it just said: "BOOTMGR is missing. Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart". So I think what happened the little bit that was installed from windows was "corrupted" and thereby stopping the computer from booting at all. The only thing I can access is the BIOS. So my thought is that I could format the HDD with a boot disc, and retry installing windows from scratch?

I would be most thankful if you could post a good program for formatting the HDD from a boot disc, or suggest another solution for my problem.

Thanks in beforehand.

 

[slh28]

If you have a Windows disc then set the boot priority to CD/DVD in the BIOS. When it gets to the partition manager just delete the existing one on the hard drive, create a new one and install Windows on that.

 

[Magem]

Is the partition manager in BIOS or a part of windows? Because when trying to start with windows disc it won't give me any options, just display the BOOTMGR-message, and if you mean BIOS I unfortunately can't access the Boot Sequence tab because it's locked...

 

[DelJo63]

So my thought is that I could format the HDD with a boot disc, and retry installing windows from scratch?

right. you need a retail install CD - - boot from it and perform a NEW install which
should take you to options for partitioning and/or total reformatting.

 

[Magem]

Sorry for the stupid question - but what do you mean by retail install CD?

 

[DelJo63]

retail:- an original purchase of the MS Software OS, not a recovery CD.

You might use one from a friend to just get the formatting fixed and then be able to use
a recovery CD.

 

[Magem]

Okay sounds so good, and just to make sure I've understood - I borrow an original CD for example Windows Vista from a friend and use it just to format my HDD, and then use my Windows 7 disc again to install it?

And just to make sure - there aren't any free programs that can be used for the same purpose? Because I have a working computer and some empty discs so I could burn a program to a disc and by using that I can format the HDD... Just tell me if I'm wrong

 

[DelJo63]

that might be an approach, but I was trying to keep it simple and fool proof
[ you are not a fool, but it's just a fact; it's easier to make a mistake than to get it right (imo) ]

 

[Magem]

Simple and fool proof sound suitable for me still...

Okay sounds so good, and just to make sure I've understood - I borrow an original CD for example Windows Vista from a friend and use it just to format my HDD, and then use my Windows 7 disc again to install it?

 

[DelJo63]

that's what I would do

 

[Justgivemeaname]

Is the partition manager in BIOS or a part of windows? Because when trying to start with windows disc it won't give me any options, just display the BOOTMGR-message, and if you mean BIOS I unfortunately can't access the Boot Sequence tab because it's locked...

If the tab is password protected, you should try contacting the internet cafe that you bought the computer from and try to get the password from them. That seems to me to be the easiest way to fix your problem. If you can get the password, just go into BIOS, change the boot priority to CD/DVD, then just install normally over the corrupt install.

 

[DelJo63]

the 'partition manager' is a windows program (actually it's the disk manager) in
Admin Tools.

There is no 'partition manager' in BIOS.

 

[oliverpowell]

Re:

You are getting the BOOTMGR message just because of previous installation is not successful. You are trying to install Windows 7 over Vista, in this case this error message is obvious due to Windows Upgrades error/

You don't need to do anything with your BIOS settings except to completely format the system and install a fresh copy of Windows over there.

I'm sure this could helps you.


Thanks
Oliver