Windows XP forum: reformatting hard drive problems

when you get to the screen that asks where you want to install. Delete that partition "L I believe". Then when you get back to that screen install to unallocated space. It will mpartititon and format by itself after you continue windows install.

Do you insert the XP CD when Windows is already running, then reboot?

That is what you should do. With Windows up and running, insert the XP CD. The operating system will try and open the CD and/or run from the CD automatically. Whatever appears when you insert the CD cancel out of it until you get back to the windows desktop. Then follow the instructions below;

1. With the XP CD inserted in the drive, restart your computer.

2. Your computer should automatically boot from the CD to the Windows Setup Main Menu.

3. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.

4. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.

5. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.

6. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition.

7. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.

8. Select the format option that you want to use for the partition (Recommended: NTFS), and then press ENTER.

9. You have now successfully reformatted the hard drive with Windows XP.

Note - This method does not re-install XP

If what you do is failing, please state at what stage it is failing.

Mark

You may have downloaded sp2 with the updates from microsoft and they are not on the orignal cd you can load them again after reloading windows at there website.