Reaching DOS and removing previous installation?

Question

I have a old computer (3 yrs. old) sitting in my house that caught a virus, so I decided to fix it. Messing around i tried to install the emachines winXP cd in it- which does not work on anything else but an emachine, and the old pc, of course, is not one- and now I cannot remove it to install the regular windows xp cd.
Does anyone have any ideas how should I remove it?
And how can I reach DOS when i reboot my computer?
How can I format my C: drive?

Answer 1

Every CD drive should have a little hole in it that allows you to open it with a sharp object (pen tip, needle).

How to reach DOS: depending on what you need, a Win98 bootdisk will get you there.
www.bootdisk.com

Formatting C: drive is best done during a reinstallation of the operating system.

Answer 2

While the machine is booting up, press F8 continually until you see a screen that asks you how to boot the machine up. You can say safe mode or regular mode or command prompt. Select that and it drops you right into DOS without windows. There you can proceed to format the drive using format c: /s
That'll format the drive and the /s means system so it'll get rid of a few extra things. The best way to format and to make certain that it's 100% clear is go to the hard drive manufacturer's website and download their low level format or writing 0s utility. This will put a 0 in every writable bit of the drive and fully fully make it like it's new. A regular format can still leave things around whereas low level format destroys everything. Good luck.

Answer 3

To reach DOS you need to hit F8 right before you enter the Windows Login Screen and it will take you to safe mode. Set it so that it boots to MS COMMAND and then try reformatting your computer before you partition your hard drive using the XP CD.

To format just use the format c: command on your DOS command prompt. Make sure you make any backups because it will erase all data.

To format your harddrive you will need to get a recovery disc or a Windows CD.
No boot disc is necessary unless you are trying to install Windows 95.
The recovery disc will usually come with your computer, if you dont have one, you will need to call your computer manufacturing company and order one.
The recovery disc and the windows CD will partition your harddrive and it will wipe out your memory and start from fresh.

Answer 4

to reach dos
reboot
after the post
start tapping the space bar youll end up getting about 7 or 8 options
choose safe mode with command prmpt
that will get you into dos
when in dos you can type
format /?
to see how to format
have you tried putting in the correct xp cd and start the process
cause it should delete the whole partition for you and reformat

Answer 5

Bootdisk and fdisk utility.
Usually though if you are booting with the XP disk you can chose to have your drive formatted in the setup.

Answer 6

It relies upon on what operating equipment you're at the moment utilising. In living house windows ninety 8, you ought as well up your pc and shipment living house windows. once loaded, click start up>Shutdown. Then pick the bullet categorized "Restart pc in MS-DOS Mode." In living house windows 2000 and XP, i imagine you should bypass to start up>Run and beauty in "cmd.exe" (with out the charges). After following those steps for all living house windows operating structures, the subsequent area is an similar: in command, style in "format c:" (with out the charges). even as brought on with the "are you positive" message, style in 'y' and press enter. once it truly is done, insert your living house windows cd (of whichever operating equipment you want to position in) and restart your pc. you should then load the setup off the cd and set up living house windows. good success! once you've any issues, look in my profile and click the "contact justgenius12" link.