Re: Can't format C:

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It's possible I got that message, but it went by so quickly that I was busy
looking at something else when it did. Meanwhile, though, I've solved my
problem. Please refer to my response to Bullwinkle below, and thanks for
your help.


"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

pcrowley203 wrote:

That doesn't work.

The BIOS is set to look to the CD first on boot-up, so I put the XP
disk in the drive and restart. The CD seems to be reading the disk,
and boot-up takes a very long time,


You usually get a message to "press any key to boot from the CD." Did you?


but in the end, it seems like the
machine just boots from the hard drive.


If that's the case, you've got a hardware issue. Your CD drive would seem to
have a problem.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup



I get to the usual XP log-in
screen, and log in as usual. Eventually, the CD stops spinning.

So I eject the CD, and reinsert it. It asks me what to do, and I
select "Install Windows XP". It tells me that it cannot install over
the existing build, because the existing build is newer than what's
on the disk. This must be because I have installed all the updates,
including Service Pack 2. Paradoxically, it also says that if I
choose to remove the existing XP build, certain files will be lost.
There is a "Continue" button, which is apparently meant to lead the
user to remove the existing build, but the button is grayed out. So
there does not seem to be a way to actually continue and delete the
existing build. I'm at a dead-end.

"peter" wrote:

dont boot from the ME disk...boot from the XP disk and start a new
installation.
This should let you format and when it asks for verification of
previous OS insert the ME disk.
peter
"pcrowley203" <paul.crowley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote in message
news:F3A6D3F5-B179-426A-9AA0-231F3F59A347@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This machine actually came with Windows ME installed. I only
subsequently updated to XP. So I try to boot from the Windows ME
disk. I am never offered what appears to be an option to reformat
the disk, or kill the old partition, or create a new partition. At
one point, it says something about
existing files NOT being lost. But eventually I am told, "Memory
allocation
error. Cannot load COMMAND, system halted." At this point my only
choice is
to exit the system. The existing build seems unaffected.

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

pcrowley203 wrote:

I have apparently screwed up my registry, and am trying to do a
complete rebuild of my machine. I've tried to start by formatting
the hard drive. I've tried to call for the reformat in several
ways, but each time I'm told that the disk cannot be reformatted
because several processes are using it. If I call "format c:"
from a command prompt, I'm eventually offered the opportunity to
"dismount" the drive, so the drive CAN be formatted, but when I
say yes, I am told that, in fact, this cannot be done. Can
anyone help?


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if
necessary to
accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation
(delete the
existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a
new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup



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