i reallllly need help and a little walkthrough on formatting my hard drive...i have a dell inspiron 1100 and a disk that came with it but
i need help choosing which options to pick and sush
thanks very much
2007-01-02 01:47:27 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
A dell huh? You you have your Windows XP disc only or do you have the drivers and utilities also?
If you only have the XP disc, download the drivers you need from http://support.dell.com.
Anyway, since it's a Dell and I happen to have a Dell, I can get you started off =D
Put the Windows XP (or Operating System as it may be called).
Turn the computer off completely. Then turn it back on and start tapping f12 as soon as you see the screen with the big Dell on it. You probably only have to tap it a few times. Do it too fast and you may lock your keyboard, too slow and it will try to boot windows.
You know you are successful when you see the boot device menu.
Select anything to do with CD or DVD with the arrow keys on the keyboard.
Brace yourself. As soon as you do the next step you have to react quickly when the "Press any key to boot from CD shows up".
Press Enter. Press enter again when said prompt shows.
Windows will now load files from the CD.
I'm guessing your computer has Service Pack 1.
There is a complete guide on how to reinstall your windows from this point on here:
http://www.windowsxphome.windowsreinstall.com/installxpcdoldhdd/indexfullpage.htm
Hope this helps!
2007-01-02 02:03:00 · answer #1 · answered by Heh? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all save all your important files on cds or another disk.
I wouldnt recommend u 2 format it yourself, you dont know what might happen after that.
Because ur using a laptop, it would be much easier to take it to a computer store and let the guys format it themselves
2007-01-02 02:13:04 · answer #2 · answered by FEK 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you only have 1 hard drive the only way to format the drive is by reinstalling Windows, seeing how windows will not kill itself.. Boot up with the OS cd in your drive and it will ask you which partition to format, format with NTFS. If you are using 2 hard drives and want to format the other hard drive go into disk management (in computer management, right click my computer> manage) and right click the hard drive you want to format and select format. Format with NTFS and let windows do the rest..
2007-01-02 01:50:33 · answer #3 · answered by keith s 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You probably have a recovery disk. Every recovery is different and there's no common method. Try the vendor's website for a user guide on System Recovery.
2007-01-02 01:49:38 · answer #4 · answered by Shawn H 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Select MS-DOS and type Format C: This should do the trick
2007-01-02 01:50:35 · answer #5 · answered by Mauro C 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
backup your important files such as music pictures and so on, choose destructive recovery
2007-01-02 01:49:26 · answer #6 · answered by INOA 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/windows/geek-to-live-how-to-format-your-hard-drive-and-install-windows-xp-from-scratch-157578.php
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2007-01-02 01:50:25 · answer #7 · answered by jan 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋