Why partition, to reformat? 1

[vladzie]

I've not come across having to partition just to reformat hard drive in books or other forums.
Do you need to?
I need to reformat [i have win xp pro, 256 ram amd athlon 1800+] and have tried via win 98 disk but it doesnt allow me to and terminates.
I've tried just reinstalling xp from cd (i did change bios to cd) but it doesn't seem to read the cd.
It stays at 'hit any key to boot from cd' and thats it, i have to restart for it to do anything.
the cd is fine I can open and access it in windows (though it does nothing when i hit install whilst in windows)
I know i've probably missed something very obvious, but i can't figure out what.... I just want a clean format and re install xp, is partitioning necessary? I've been at it all night... 9 hrs infact....Please help...many thanks...

 

[wolluf]

If you have NTFS filestore a win 98 boot floppy will not be able to reformat it (only FAT/FAT32). But in any case you need a method of starting XP install (which has its own partitioning tools - I'd suggest using them to delete existing and create new partition before (quick)formatting to filestore of choice - ntfs or fat32). If the CD won't boot, you have 2 choices:-

1. Download the 6 boot floppy set to start XP install - choose vesrion you need from

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

2. Boot from win9x boot floppy or similar, and start install from there -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307848

 

[vladzie]

Thanks for your help, I know its a year late!!
I didn't attempt to reformat again until a month ago, the boot disks helped an enormous amount, and my system worked wonderfully fast as a result! Which was why I wanted to reformat in the first place. But that was until I re-installed all the programmes that I needed. Im using 3d CAD and graphics software and only just worked out I need more RAM to help its speed and fatal errors.
I've tweaked a few startup things, and turned off the xp aestheetics and its helped. But I'm still upgrading to 1GB RAM this week and then will work towards the 3GB max my motherboard will allow at some point in the future.... Thanks again!