Re: Can't get XP to go away


gsulliv4 wrote:
> I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
> (C:) and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
> know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
> the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.
>
> I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
> enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
> from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
>
> So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
> It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
> install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
> still there.
>
> My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> external drive (G:), boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
> apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
> see it, even though it is listed as an option.
>

Have a look at
:http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8300/sm/syssetup.htm

This gives implicit instructions on how to remove the BIOS password on
a Dimension 8300.
> I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
> might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?

.

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