Problems Fomatting

[RoomK101]

Ok, so I'm at my wits end here. Maybe one of you can help me. I decided that it was time to format my hardrive (simply too much junk on there) So, I popped in the windowsXP CD and installed it over the old one. No suprise, this didn't really delete anything, just got rid of all my settings and whatnot. I did try to delete the partition, but it tells me that it cannot be deleted because it has temp files needed for the install of windows.
So, I've given up on that end next I tried to start it up in DOS, and see if i can format it from there, all to no avail.

I'm going crazy trying to fix this thing. All I want is to wipe the whole thing clean and start over fresh. Any help is much appreciated.

-Kyle

 

[icadea]

have you tried deleting the temp files while in winxp? These temp files are located in the windows directory. If you can't delete them in normal winxp try going to the safe mode and delete them from there.

and also pls ensure your important data are backup before this is done.

 

[ekÆsine]

to delete your partition during winXP setup read the instructions during setup. it will clearly tell you to press "D" to delete a partition. when you install windows it will ask you to create a new partition. goto the middle of this webpage to see what it looks like:

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpwindowsinstall/indexfullpage.htm

 

[RoomK101]

I went to the link, but there's a difference, mine does not list an unpatitioned space, it only lists the partitioned space. It won't let me create anything, nor delete that partition, beacuse of those temp files.

As to deleting them, I could be wrong, but I think they are created during the install, so....

Thanks again for help any of you might provide.

 

[ekÆsine]

well you can do it the oldschool way and use a winME startup disk. run FDISK and select to delete "non-DOS partition" if it is formatted with NTFS. if it's FAT32 than just delete the primary DOS partition. re-create the partition again and go back to winXP setup. it will than allow you to format and install a fresh winXP. to learn how to use FDISK goto www.computerhope.com and read about the fdisk simulator. the winME startup disk can be downloaded from bootdisk.com