WinXP Installing and Dos Booting

[fangs2000]

Hey all,

Trying to fix my DirectX problem (earlier post) I tried to reinstall windows xp. Only it freezes at about 32mins "installing network". Does anyone know a way about this problem? I have tried four times.

My other question, is if that fails then I need to format. So how do I boot in command prompt to do this and prefably backup my files onto another hard drive.

I have tried pressing F8 while windows is loading and selecting "Safe mode with command prompt", but it tries to load winXP which fails as it is not installed.

Any Help?

 

[TheMajor]

Do you have multiple partitions or HD's?

 

[fangs2000]

Single IDE 80gb hard drive with a single partition. The idea did occure to me to set up a second partition and backup my files off that, but I need to access dos first.

Just want to note the hard disk is NTFS.

I am also about to try The Ultimate Boot CD, hopfully that will work, I will a reply if it does/

 

[TheMajor]

Yes, try UBCD, and see if it has a utility to burn files to a CD, copy them to another comp on a network, or split the partition and copy all data to the second partition.