I had to erase my hard drive and re-format it, now when trying to reinstall WINXP PRO, I can't boot from disk. Why is this. Please help

A hard drive is the brain of a computer. However, over time, that brain can become overworked and overly saturated with old software and outdated information. It becomes clogged and needs a fresh start. By erasing a hard drive, you can give your PC that fresh new beginning. With a few steps you can erase your hard drive manually, without the aid of expensive software.

Make sure your data is protected before you proceed. Whatever you do not save will be lost once you erase the drive. Use a CD or jumpdrive to save your information. Boot with a system disk. Before you continue to erase the hard drive, use the system to create a system disk. Use a 3-1/2 inch floppy disk and format it with the command "format a: /s"; this will create a bootable disk that contains system commands. Place it in the drive of your system and turn it off, then back on. Reformat the hard drive. Once you've booted with the system disk, type "format c: /s"; this will reformat the hard disk, virtually destroying the old hard drive you used to know. Depending on the of the drive, the formatting may take a fairly long time. Once the formatting is over, use the command "fdisk" to create partitions (which are logical sections for your hard drive's storage). Given the newer hard drives and operating systems of today, you can fdisk the drive and use all of the space. or if you dont have a floppy drive Download a disk wiping utility, such as Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) or KillDisk. DBAN is an open-source product, while KillDisk is available as a free, closed-source download. http://www.dban.org/ http://www.killdisk.com/ Once you download the file, save it to your computer somewhere easy to remember. Insert a blank CD into your computer and use a CD writing program to burn the hard disk wipe utility to the blank CD. If you are using Windows Vista or 7, there is a built-in utility that will perform this task. Back up the data on your computer that you want to save, if necessary. Insert the CD that you created into the computer that is attached to the hard drive you wish to erase. Power on the computer and choose the setup option to boot from the CD. Once you have booted from the CD, you will enter into the hard disk wipe utility. Depending on which utility you chose to use, this screen will vary, but the choice you want to select is to erase or wipe a disk drive. Choose the hard disk that you wish to wipe and confirm that you wish to permanently erase the data on it. Before confirming this, you may wish to physically double check and ensure that you are erasing the correct drive. Once you start the erasing process, it cannot be halted, paused or reversed. You will have to wait for anywhere from a few hours to even a few days for the process to complete, depending on how large your hard drive is.
or you could just reinstall another operating system this will automatically delete the old wrong one you installed.



Hope this helps.

you have to format your hard drive using a third party disc to erase everything on your hard drive

During the boot process you will see on the screen to press a certain key to enter setup

Press and hold that key during the boot up process to enter BIOS the scroll down to advanced bios features press enter change your first boot device to cd,press escape then press f10 to save to cmos to restart

note this will erase you operating system you will have to have an operating system disk to load it onto you hard drive or create a partition to load another operating system

(note after you have loaded the operating system you should go back and change the first boot device to your hard drive)

hope this helps

Get an install disk for the operating system you wish to install (Make sure your computer is able to handle that operating system first), then put the disk in and boot to the disk. If your computer is not set up to boot to disk first then you will have to go into the BIOS, usually F2 of F12 on boot (whatever says press to enter setup), then change the boot settings from there.

Once you are inside the installer for that Operating System, it will give you an option to erase the hard drive you are wanting to install the operating system on, and restart new. Just so you are aware, this will reformat and ERASE EVERYTHING on that hard drive, so make sure that you have anything you want saved backed up somewhere else.

Once that is done, continue installing the operating system and then your hard drive will be erased, and the operating system will be reinstalled.

If you were just looking to erase a hard drive, then you can go to my computer, then right-click the hard drive you want to erase, then click format. THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING!

Hope this helps!

Greetings I have the same computer which makes this a little easier I hope for understanding this process even on other computers it is all the same just different messages come up for each and everyone of them. Some go smooth and some just simply get complicated.
First you have to make sure that the disk you have of Windows XP Pro is legal and working it may be a bad disk. The install disk must be working properly. Also do to prior Windows installation which brought you to this point you will have to possibly use a formating program that does a complete erase of your hard drive. I use D/Ban Hardisk Eraser. Click Here
Once downloaded insert the disc into the CD or DVD drive on your computer and do a complete format it may take a while, then go ahead once that process is complete do another install making sure that you are booting from the DVD or CD Rom as your first boot device and the hard drive as the second boot option, under boot order options at the BIOS settings. Most likely this setting is probably already set to do this. If those two things are working the good Windows disk and a clean hard drive for a clean install. You should not have a problem installing the Windows Operating System software. Just follow the on screen directions.
Thanks for using FixYa! cast a vote for me if I assisted you! John

format the drive upon reinstall. or replace hard drive.

the only way i know to do that is to format the hard drive. formatting the hard drive erases everything from the computer and reinstalls the operating system. to do this you need the disk for the operating system. put the disk into the cd/dvd ROM and then restart your computer. when the computer is starting up there will be commands that you can press at the bottom of the screen. press the button for booting from disk. this will take you through a bunch of things ask you if you want to do this. say yes to all of these and it will format your hard drive.

I hope this information was helpful, if you have any questions or comments please reply to this post and i will try to help out as much as possible

well you can use a bootable windows xp disk or actually any bootable windows or dos based operation system,go into your bios and make sure it is set to boot from CD.the rest is kinda self explaing..If you use a dos disk you'll have to Fdisk it or partion the hard drive.then format.if you use a XP cd its really self explaing.Just follow the on screen prompts and go like your reinstalling,When it ask you if you want to delete the partion and yes,then it will ask you to create a partion and yes or type C to create, then it will prompt you to format disk either quick or full.. Always choice full never quick.

MAY BE THIS COULD HELP. PUT YOUR LAPTOP IN FRONT OF A FAN, THEN TRY TO FORMAT IT AGAIN, IT SOUND FUNNY BUT I FACE THIS CASE MORE THEN 3 TIMES, THE LAPTOP JUST TOO HOT DURING THE INSTALLATION (PUT THE FAN WITH LEFT SIDE FACING THE FAN)
JUST SHARING=)

Check to make sure that your Inspiron is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive.

It sounds like your laptop is trying to boot from the (now erased) hard drive first, finds that it can't, then stops without ever checking the CD-ROM drive for boot media.

At startup, hit F2 to go into the BIOS settings. Look for the "Boot Order" section. Make sure that your CD drive is listed first, then your hard drive.

Save your changes, and reboot with the WinXP installation CD in your drive. Now your laptop should boot from the CD and begin installation.

Good Luck!

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allow the system to boot and insert winxp disk into your cd drive and followthe setup wizard thats come on