URGENT HELP NEEDED xp home and drive format

[Mauler]

Ok im kinda new to this side of computing, so i need some real good help.
lots of my programs have started encountering errors lately, which i suspect is due to my hdd bein corrupt.
i want to format my hdd but have never done it before. im guessing i need a boot disk, which would be a floppy. i cannot, however, find a function to make one anywhere in windows. (windows xp home sp2). i downloaded a tool to create a boot disk, but it required the use of 6 disks (which i dont have due to floppy's being the most frustrating invention on the planet), and also the program would not run in windows.
i need advice really bad hey cuz this is causing me a major headache.

thanks to anyone that can shed some light on this subject.

 

[donjo13]

If you have the windows xp home disk, just put it in your machine and reboot and it should ask you to 'press any key to boot from CD'....Then you can format and reinstall windows, or do a disk repair. A disk repair will load back all the drivers but leave your programs and files. Of course you have to have a bootable xp home disk, which it most likely is unless its a pirated version.

 

[DonNagual]

You only have one hard drive now, right? Just to make sure you know this (sorry if this is insulting...)

If you reformat your hard drive, it will completely erase everything on it, including your windows installation. This means you need to have your XP CD ready, as well as all your drivers for all your hardware in your computer.

I often reinstall windows (1 or 2 times per year) just to clean the whole system up. If you don't quite want to go so far as a complete reinstallation, you can do a "repair" on windows that will attempt to repair any crucial files that are missing. Doesn't always fix the problem, but often does.

The main thing you want to do before you try anything, is to see if the reason you are having windows errors is because of some faulty hardware in your computer, otherwise after you repair (or reinstall completely) the hardware will just cause the errors again. Two major culprits for making windows errors are dying memory sticks, and a dying hard drive. Recommended you run some tests on them before you do anything else.

Have a look at this post by Rick: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html