Help - can't reformat or reinstall windows

[Imhotep9]

I hope its ok to post about XP Home edition in this forum, as I didn't find another forum that looked more appropriate.

I'm trying to reinstall windows XP on my desktop, and I would like to do a complete reformat of the HD rather than just repair windows.

Here's what I did:
- Popped in the media disc and booted from the CD drive.
- Pressed any key to proceed with Windows setup

Here's what happened:
- The text string at the bottom of the Windows setup screen (blue and empty) flashes what the PC is doing - DLLs, Kernels, etc.
- The text string gets as far as saying "windows is starting" (this is still on the blue screen, not the typical windows startup screen), and then that is as far as it gets.

Multiple attempts produce the same result. I have tried other media discs to see if my CD was just bad and I get the same result with all. My past experiences with reinstalling windows have all been smooth sailing. I just boot from CD and let it take the rest.

Is there another way in which I can reformat my HD to get rid of the problem and then start fresh with the windows CD?

 

[gpalmer711]

Yes there are ways of doing that but it is not likely that setup would progress any further unless you deal with that first. Take a look at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310760

and see if it helps the situation.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[Imhotep9]

Thanks, I followed the link and it looks like there are at least four things that could be causing this. It's hard to know where to start really.