Hello Formatting in BIOS

[Kyle11202]

Hello, I have been having some problems as of late.
I have a ACER ASPIRE 3680 machine came with Vista Basic. I tried to install XP which I botched up and had two copies of it running somehow
In Multiboot I had only two options for XP and no Vista. When I checked the C:/Drive(VISTA) everything was there but in multiboot I could not load it.

I would like to wipe my D: Drive in the hope that Vista will load as normal

I am quite noobish at this type of stuff so some assistance would be greatly thanked.

Kyle

 

[eyeCpc]

Since you installed XP after Vista the problem you are having there is the need to repair the Vista mbr entries. If the Acer model came with a recovery disk for Vista you can boot up with that and run the startup repair tool to see the Vista mbr restored.

If the system didn't see any recovery disks the next step would be to download the limited version of one available at Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download — The NeoSmart Files

The 120.5mb iso image can be burned onto a cd-r as well as a blank dvd-r disk. The D or second drive doesn't need to be wiped in order to see Vista booting again as long as the original installation is still intact. After seeing the Vista mbr restored you could also see XP added into the Vista boot options later.

 

[EricB]

I haven't seen a bios that could format a hdd in like 8 years. they don't do it anymore and hdd's are to big to do it that way

 

[eyeCpc]

The only thing I recall seeing when adding in a new larger drive for use with 9x-ME were bios bypass overlay programs so the old versions could use one large primary over the maximum size it supported.

For partitioning and formatting hard drives at this time you would either grab a retail program like Partition Magic, Paragon, Acronis has one, or go for the free Linux drive tool GParted live for cd. Your main problem there is a simple need to correct the mbr to see Vista load since installing XP saw new entries placed there.

 

[Kyle11202]

Since you installed XP after Vista the problem you are having there is the need to repair the Vista mbr entries. If the Acer model came with a recovery disk for Vista you can boot up with that and run the startup repair tool to see the Vista mbr restored.

If the system didn't see any recovery disks the next step would be to download the limited version of one available at Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download — The NeoSmart Files

The 120.5mb iso image can be burned onto a cd-r as well as a blank dvd-r disk. The D or second drive doesn't need to be wiped in order to see Vista booting again as long as the original installation is still intact. After seeing the Vista mbr restored you could also see XP added into the Vista boot options later.

Thanks alot man, I am going to download that now. And I will get back to you seeing as I did not get a recovery disk with the laptop

Thanks man

Kyle

I have burned it to disk using Nero - Yes I did it properly and all the files are on disk but it is not booting in Bios.

any help?

Thanks alot,

Kyle

 

[Kharn]

you have to boot from the CD, in your BIOS change the boot order from Hard Drive to CD/DVD drive.

 

[KSoD]

You dont boot in your BIOS. You BIOS allows you to boot.

 

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

On the subject of formatting within the BIOS, while it's not common on computers, some modern day BIOSs do have this functionality. Notably, on HP's range of Business Notebooks (e.g. HP NX7300, HP NX7400, HP 2510p ultraportable etc...). HP call it 'Disk Sanitiser', which destroys the data on the hard drive so it can't be recovered.

 

[eyeCpc]

That's a security feature added into the bios programming not an option you would see as if you were using a drive partitioning tool there. That insures confidential data is totally wiped.

The boot order there is likely set to cd rom = 1st, hard drive = 2nd where you press any key to boot from optical media.

If there's a separate boot device menu by using the F1 or another F key when first turning the laptop on you can simply set the 1st item as hard drive and use the assigned key whenever going to boot from a cd or dvd.

That can be a real time saver then forgetting to change the first there back to hard drive when installing or going to reinstall the OS.