Having reformatting troubles.

[Darkstar]

Alright well when im trying to reformat my computer it doesnt seem to work. The problem im getting is when I put in my Windows XP CD and go to reboot my computer it doesnt seem to finish. After im done reformatting and it is on the screen that says rebooting in 15 seconds, well after the computer reboots it just goes back into the reformatting stages. Ive tried about 4 times and I get the same results, Ive even tried ejecting the CD after the final stage of reformatting when the computer reboots, but it just says something about "Please put the disk back in" and when I do it goes back into the reformatting process again.

If anyone has any information that could possibly help me it would be greatly appreciated, if not I guess ill just have to bring my computer in and get it reformatted by a "professional"

By the way I have sucessfully reformatted my computer before and this is the first time Ive had this problem. Also Im not very smart at computers so I may be missing something, thanks.

 

[Arcanum]

How about trying to boot off a floppy disk (e.g. Win98 boot floppy) on which you have placed format.com , when it boots just write
'format x:\' , where x is the letter of the partition you want to format.

If you don't have it, or have troubles finding it, I can send you a copy of my disk that has format.com - I only use it to format, I don't know why I still use it, but it works every time with no exceptions - so I guess it has it's uses

 

[Spike]

The above advice is sound. Just replying to add that if the selected format was NTFS, you may need to FDISK it first.

Windows 98SE boot floppy is available here (link taken from www.bootdisk.com)

 

[Arcanum]

Oops, forgot to mention that, thanks Spike!

Yes, that won't work if you try to do it on an NTFS partition.
However, in most cases there's no need to format an NTFS partition - a simple deleting of all files/directories should produce the same results.

 

[Spike]

Indeed, but it sounds like it's already been formatted, or rather, part formatted.

 

[Arcanum]

Partly completed format on an NTFS partition can be a very big problem, but if it happens, I usually fix it with FDISK or Partition Magic if there's an OS installed.

I hope thats not the case...

 

[Spike]

Nah. Worst case - download DBAN and boot the computer with it to reset all bits on the disk to 0. Takes a couple of hours though.

To be honest though, even a part formatted NTFS partition shouldn't be a problem. I've always founfd FDISK more than adequate for the job - or perhaps I've just been lucky.

 

[Arcanum]

Yeah FDISK is adequate, but if you're a newbie I guess it doesnt look so easy, and you're more likely to screw up.
And DOS can look very scary if you're new to all this formatting, flashing, etc.

Just a reminder: If you dont have the Win98 boot disk or cant find it, just ask and I'll mail it to you.