confusing installation

[widgeonjim]

I have an XP-Home upgrade CD. I have 3 hard drives. I
wanted to blow away my OS and reinstall it. I could not
get the system to reformat the C-drive, it kept just
doing an install over the existing OS leaving all the
existing programs and problems. I wanted a fresh format
and brand new OS build.

Last night, it finally started building a fresh OS, but
on the D-drive, not the C-drive. I allowed it to
continue to see what would happen. Now, I have 2 boot
sectors, both XP-home, one on the C-Drive, one on the D-
Drive.

So I tried to reformat the C-drive and blow all that junk
away. It went through a full hour of activity with the
little time bar showing it slowing formating. At the
end, a popup popped up and said "can't format this drive."

Now, everytime I boot, it asked me "do I want boot XP-
Home or XP-Home?"

How do I blow everything away and start over? I no
longer care if it boots from the D-drive or the xyz-
drive. I just want to clear off the disks and start over.

tia,
jim

[Walter Clayton]

Boot the install CD. There's an option to format once you choose the target
partition. If you can't find it, then back out of the install and try a
different path. It's an obvious option once you're there.

Or, boot the CD, get into recovery console and format the drive. That'll
sort of force the issue.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
...
> I have an XP-Home upgrade CD. I have 3 hard drives. I
> wanted to blow away my OS and reinstall it. I could not
> get the system to reformat the C-drive, it kept just
> doing an install over the existing OS leaving all the
> existing programs and problems. I wanted a fresh format
> and brand new OS build.
>
> Last night, it finally started building a fresh OS, but
> on the D-drive, not the C-drive. I allowed it to
> continue to see what would happen. Now, I have 2 boot
> sectors, both XP-home, one on the C-Drive, one on the D-
> Drive.
>
> So I tried to reformat the C-drive and blow all that junk
> away. It went through a full hour of activity with the
> little time bar showing it slowing formating. At the
> end, a popup popped up and said "can't format this drive."
>
> Now, everytime I boot, it asked me "do I want boot XP-
> Home or XP-Home?"
>
> How do I blow everything away and start over? I no
> longer care if it boots from the D-drive or the xyz-
> drive. I just want to clear off the disks and start over.
>
> tia,
> jim

[widgeonjim]

Walter,

Thanks, but that was why I posted. I select FORMAT and
it doesn't. It just reinstalls over the top of the
previous install and leaves all the other software
present. I cannot seem to get it to format and give me a
clean install and cannot figure out why it is so.

thanks
jim

>-----Original Message-----
>Boot the install CD. There's an option to format once
you choose the target
>partition. If you can't find it, then back out of the
install and try a
>different path. It's an obvious option once you're there.
>
>Or, boot the CD, get into recovery console and format
the drive. That'll
>sort of force the issue.
>
>--
>Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Any technology distinguishable from magic is
insufficiently advanced.
>http://www.dts-l.org
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
ault.asp
>
>
>"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
...
>> I have an XP-Home upgrade CD. I have 3 hard drives. I
>> wanted to blow away my OS and reinstall it. I could
not
>> get the system to reformat the C-drive, it kept just
>> doing an install over the existing OS leaving all the
>> existing programs and problems. I wanted a fresh
format
>> and brand new OS build.
>>
>> Last night, it finally started building a fresh OS, but
>> on the D-drive, not the C-drive. I allowed it to
>> continue to see what would happen. Now, I have 2 boot
>> sectors, both XP-home, one on the C-Drive, one on the
D-
>> Drive.
>>
>> So I tried to reformat the C-drive and blow all that
junk
>> away. It went through a full hour of activity with the
>> little time bar showing it slowing formating. At the
>> end, a popup popped up and said "can't format this
drive."
>>
>> Now, everytime I boot, it asked me "do I want boot XP-
>> Home or XP-Home?"
>>
>> How do I blow everything away and start over? I no
>> longer care if it boots from the D-drive or the xyz-
>> drive. I just want to clear off the disks and start
over.
>>
>> tia,
>> jim
>
>
>.
>

[Walter Clayton]

Is the current target partition FAT?

Let's make sure you're following the correct steps.

1) Boot the CD.
2) On the first prompt where you have the option to setup or repair, hit
[enter] to perform setup.
3) [f8] to accept the licensing agreement
4) On the next prompt you have the option to hit [esc] to install or [r] to
repair. Hit [esc].
5) On the next screen, high light the target partition (should be C:) and
hit [enter]. Or you can delete the partition by hitting [d], but that's not
required unless you're repartitioning the drive. For now, simply highlight
and hit [enter]
6) On the next screen you'll get a warning about installing multiple copies
of an OS in the same partition. Hit [c] to continue.
7) This is the page where you specify whether or not you want to format.

If this is exactly what you're doing then you have a screwy distribution.
You can try recovery console however.

1) Boot the CD
2) On the first prompt where you have the option to setup or repair hit [r]
to get into the recovery console.
3) If you have multiple OS instances installed make sure you select the
correct instance to log into. Simply type in the selection number and hit
[enter]
4) Enter the Administrator password. By default on HE this is blank unless
you've corrected that loop hole.

At this point the format command can be used to blow the drive away. The
command line you want to use is
format c: /fs:ntfs

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
...
> Walter,
>
> Thanks, but that was why I posted. I select FORMAT and
> it doesn't. It just reinstalls over the top of the
> previous install and leaves all the other software
> present. I cannot seem to get it to format and give me a
> clean install and cannot figure out why it is so.
>
> thanks
> jim
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Boot the install CD. There's an option to format once
> you choose the target
> >partition. If you can't find it, then back out of the
> install and try a
> >different path. It's an obvious option once you're there.
> >
> >Or, boot the CD, get into recovery console and format
> the drive. That'll
> >sort of force the issue.
> >
> >--
> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >Associate Expert
> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> insufficiently advanced.
> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
> ault.asp
> >
> >
> >"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> I have an XP-Home upgrade CD. I have 3 hard drives. I
> >> wanted to blow away my OS and reinstall it. I could
> not
> >> get the system to reformat the C-drive, it kept just
> >> doing an install over the existing OS leaving all the
> >> existing programs and problems. I wanted a fresh
> format
> >> and brand new OS build.
> >>
> >> Last night, it finally started building a fresh OS, but
> >> on the D-drive, not the C-drive. I allowed it to
> >> continue to see what would happen. Now, I have 2 boot
> >> sectors, both XP-home, one on the C-Drive, one on the
> D-
> >> Drive.
> >>
> >> So I tried to reformat the C-drive and blow all that
> junk
> >> away. It went through a full hour of activity with the
> >> little time bar showing it slowing formating. At the
> >> end, a popup popped up and said "can't format this
> drive."
> >>
> >> Now, everytime I boot, it asked me "do I want boot XP-
> >> Home or XP-Home?"
> >>
> >> How do I blow everything away and start over? I no
> >> longer care if it boots from the D-drive or the xyz-
> >> drive. I just want to clear off the disks and start
> over.
> >>
> >> tia,
> >> jim
> >
> >
> >.
> >

[widgeonjim]

Well, Walter - things have gotten more confusing. I
cannot boot the CD. In the BIOS, CD is selected as the
#1 boot device and floppy as #2. HD is #3. But when I
put the CD in and reboot, it asks if I want to boot off
the XP-Home on C or D, it doesn't give me the option to
boot off the CD.

In the past, it did give me the option to boot the CD and
when I selected New Install (not repair) it would install
but not reformat. It just installed over the existing OS
so all the software was still there.

In the old days, I could build a floppy that had FORMAT
on it and force the system to reformat the boot disk. Is
this possible with XP-Home? HOw?

Can you think of any reason why the system does not boot
the CD when it used to? Is there something in BIOS which
I'm overlooking?

thanks

[Jim Macklin]

The CDROM could be dirty or defective. I'm guessing you
have C: on your hard drive and D: is your CDROM. Try
booting to D:


"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
...
| Well, Walter - things have gotten more confusing. I
| cannot boot the CD. In the BIOS, CD is selected as the
| #1 boot device and floppy as #2. HD is #3. But when I
| put the CD in and reboot, it asks if I want to boot off
| the XP-Home on C or D, it doesn't give me the option to
| boot off the CD.
|
| In the past, it did give me the option to boot the CD and
| when I selected New Install (not repair) it would install
| but not reformat. It just installed over the existing OS
| so all the software was still there.
|
| In the old days, I could build a floppy that had FORMAT
| on it and force the system to reformat the boot disk. Is
| this possible with XP-Home? HOw?
|
| Can you think of any reason why the system does not boot
| the CD when it used to? Is there something in BIOS which
| I'm overlooking?
|
| thanks
|

[widgeonjim]

No, all partitions are NTFS.

I was able to get the CD to boot. It asked all the
questions about repair or fresh install. I chose fresh
install. It never asked if I wanted to FORMAT the disk.
When it was finished installing, ALL the previous
programs were still present and the OS was just installed
over the top of the previous.

I want the darn thing to format the disk. How do I get
it to format the C-drive? Since it won't boot the CD, I
can't get to the Admin account except from the HD. Then
it tells me I can't format the boot disk.

cheers.



>-----Original Message-----
>Is the current target partition FAT?
>
>Let's make sure you're following the correct steps.
>
>1) Boot the CD.
>2) On the first prompt where you have the option to
setup or repair, hit
>[enter] to perform setup.
>3) [f8] to accept the licensing agreement
>4) On the next prompt you have the option to hit [esc]
to install or [r] to
>repair. Hit [esc].
>5) On the next screen, high light the target partition
(should be C:) and
>hit [enter]. Or you can delete the partition by hitting
[d], but that's not
>required unless you're repartitioning the drive. For
now, simply highlight
>and hit [enter]
>6) On the next screen you'll get a warning about
installing multiple copies
>of an OS in the same partition. Hit [c] to continue.
>7) This is the page where you specify whether or not you
want to format.
>
>If this is exactly what you're doing then you have a
screwy distribution.
>You can try recovery console however.
>
>1) Boot the CD
>2) On the first prompt where you have the option to
setup or repair hit [r]
>to get into the recovery console.
>3) If you have multiple OS instances installed make sure
you select the
>correct instance to log into. Simply type in the
selection number and hit
>[enter]
>4) Enter the Administrator password. By default on HE
this is blank unless
>you've corrected that loop hole.
>
>At this point the format command can be used to blow the
drive away. The
>command line you want to use is
>format c: /fs:ntfs
>
>--
>Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Any technology distinguishable from magic is
insufficiently advanced.
>http://www.dts-l.org
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
ault.asp
>
>
>"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
...
>> Walter,
>>
>> Thanks, but that was why I posted. I select FORMAT and
>> it doesn't. It just reinstalls over the top of the
>> previous install and leaves all the other software
>> present. I cannot seem to get it to format and give
me a
>> clean install and cannot figure out why it is so.
>>
>> thanks
>> jim
>>
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >Boot the install CD. There's an option to format once
>> you choose the target
>> >partition. If you can't find it, then back out of the
>> install and try a
>> >different path. It's an obvious option once you're
there.
>> >
>> >Or, boot the CD, get into recovery console and format
>> the drive. That'll
>> >sort of force the issue.
>> >
>> >--
>> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>> >Associate Expert
>> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
>> insufficiently advanced.
>> >http://www.dts-l.org
>>
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
>> ault.asp
>> >
>> >
>> >"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> >> I have an XP-Home upgrade CD. I have 3 hard
drives. I
>> >> wanted to blow away my OS and reinstall it. I could
>> not
>> >> get the system to reformat the C-drive, it kept just
>> >> doing an install over the existing OS leaving all
the
>> >> existing programs and problems. I wanted a fresh
>> format
>> >> and brand new OS build.
>> >>
>> >> Last night, it finally started building a fresh OS,
but
>> >> on the D-drive, not the C-drive. I allowed it to
>> >> continue to see what would happen. Now, I have 2
boot
>> >> sectors, both XP-home, one on the C-Drive, one on
the
>> D-
>> >> Drive.
>> >>
>> >> So I tried to reformat the C-drive and blow all that
>> junk
>> >> away. It went through a full hour of activity with
the
>> >> little time bar showing it slowing formating. At
the
>> >> end, a popup popped up and said "can't format this
>> drive."
>> >>
>> >> Now, everytime I boot, it asked me "do I want boot
XP-
>> >> Home or XP-Home?"
>> >>
>> >> How do I blow everything away and start over? I no
>> >> longer care if it boots from the D-drive or the xyz-
>> >> drive. I just want to clear off the disks and start
>> over.
>> >>
>> >> tia,
>> >> jim
>> >
>> >
>> >.
>> >
>
>
>.
>

[widgeonjim]

No, all partitions are NTFS.

I was able to get the CD to boot. It asked all the
questions about repair or fresh install. I chose fresh
install. It never asked if I wanted to FORMAT the disk.
When it was finished installing, ALL the previous
programs were still present and the OS was just installed
over the top of the previous.

I want the darn thing to format the disk. How do I get
it to format the C-drive? Since it won't boot the CD, I
can't get to the Admin account except from the HD. Then
it tells me I can't format the boot disk.

cheers.



>-----Original Message-----
>Is the current target partition FAT?
>
>Let's make sure you're following the correct steps.
>
>1) Boot the CD.
>2) On the first prompt where you have the option to
setup or repair, hit
>[enter] to perform setup.
>3) [f8] to accept the licensing agreement
>4) On the next prompt you have the option to hit [esc]
to install or [r] to
>repair. Hit [esc].
>5) On the next screen, high light the target partition
(should be C:) and
>hit [enter]. Or you can delete the partition by hitting
[d], but that's not
>required unless you're repartitioning the drive. For
now, simply highlight
>and hit [enter]
>6) On the next screen you'll get a warning about
installing multiple copies
>of an OS in the same partition. Hit [c] to continue.
>7) This is the page where you specify whether or not you
want to format.
>
>If this is exactly what you're doing then you have a
screwy distribution.
>You can try recovery console however.
>
>1) Boot the CD
>2) On the first prompt where you have the option to
setup or repair hit [r]
>to get into the recovery console.
>3) If you have multiple OS instances installed make sure
you select the
>correct instance to log into. Simply type in the
selection number and hit
>[enter]
>4) Enter the Administrator password. By default on HE
this is blank unless
>you've corrected that loop hole.
>
>At this point the format command can be used to blow the
drive away. The
>command line you want to use is
>format c: /fs:ntfs
>
>--
>Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Any technology distinguishable from magic is
insufficiently advanced.
>http://www.dts-l.org
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
ault.asp
>
>
>"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
...
>> Walter,
>>
>> Thanks, but that was why I posted. I select FORMAT and
>> it doesn't. It just reinstalls over the top of the
>> previous install and leaves all the other software
>> present. I cannot seem to get it to format and give
me a
>> clean install and cannot figure out why it is so.
>>
>> thanks
>> jim
>>
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >Boot the install CD. There's an option to format once
>> you choose the target
>> >partition. If you can't find it, then back out of the
>> install and try a
>> >different path. It's an obvious option once you're
there.
>> >
>> >Or, boot the CD, get into recovery console and format
>> the drive. That'll
>> >sort of force the issue.
>> >
>> >--
>> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>> >Associate Expert
>> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
>> insufficiently advanced.
>> >http://www.dts-l.org
>>
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
>> ault.asp
>> >
>> >
>> >"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> >> I have an XP-Home upgrade CD. I have 3 hard
drives. I
>> >> wanted to blow away my OS and reinstall it. I could
>> not
>> >> get the system to reformat the C-drive, it kept just
>> >> doing an install over the existing OS leaving all
the
>> >> existing programs and problems. I wanted a fresh
>> format
>> >> and brand new OS build.
>> >>
>> >> Last night, it finally started building a fresh OS,
but
>> >> on the D-drive, not the C-drive. I allowed it to
>> >> continue to see what would happen. Now, I have 2
boot
>> >> sectors, both XP-home, one on the C-Drive, one on
the
>> D-
>> >> Drive.
>> >>
>> >> So I tried to reformat the C-drive and blow all that
>> junk
>> >> away. It went through a full hour of activity with
the
>> >> little time bar showing it slowing formating. At
the
>> >> end, a popup popped up and said "can't format this
>> drive."
>> >>
>> >> Now, everytime I boot, it asked me "do I want boot
XP-
>> >> Home or XP-Home?"
>> >>
>> >> How do I blow everything away and start over? I no
>> >> longer care if it boots from the D-drive or the xyz-
>> >> drive. I just want to clear off the disks and start
>> over.
>> >>
>> >> tia,
>> >> jim
>> >
>> >
>> >.
>> >
>
>
>.
>

[Fred]

On Sun, 11 May 2003 00:07:21 -0700, "widgeonjim"
> wrote:

>Well, Walter - things have gotten more confusing. I
>cannot boot the CD. In the BIOS, CD is selected as the
>#1 boot device and floppy as #2. HD is #3. But when I
>put the CD in and reboot, it asks if I want to boot off
>the XP-Home on C or D, it doesn't give me the option to
>boot off the CD.
>Can you think of any reason why the system does not boot
>the CD when it used to? Is there something in BIOS which
>I'm overlooking?

If you are correct on the settings in your bios, then it should boot
from CD. It sounds like you CD is the D: drive, which is what it is
asking you - boot from hard drive (C) or CD (D).

If your CD is not D:, then I don't know.

[Walter Clayton]

Use recovery console.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
...
> No, all partitions are NTFS.
>
> I was able to get the CD to boot. It asked all the
> questions about repair or fresh install. I chose fresh
> install. It never asked if I wanted to FORMAT the disk.
> When it was finished installing, ALL the previous
> programs were still present and the OS was just installed
> over the top of the previous.
>
> I want the darn thing to format the disk. How do I get
> it to format the C-drive? Since it won't boot the CD, I
> can't get to the Admin account except from the HD. Then
> it tells me I can't format the boot disk.
>
> cheers.
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Is the current target partition FAT?
> >
> >Let's make sure you're following the correct steps.
> >
> >1) Boot the CD.
> >2) On the first prompt where you have the option to
> setup or repair, hit
> >[enter] to perform setup.
> >3) [f8] to accept the licensing agreement
> >4) On the next prompt you have the option to hit [esc]
> to install or [r] to
> >repair. Hit [esc].
> >5) On the next screen, high light the target partition
> (should be C:) and
> >hit [enter]. Or you can delete the partition by hitting
> [d], but that's not
> >required unless you're repartitioning the drive. For
> now, simply highlight
> >and hit [enter]
> >6) On the next screen you'll get a warning about
> installing multiple copies
> >of an OS in the same partition. Hit [c] to continue.
> >7) This is the page where you specify whether or not you
> want to format.
> >
> >If this is exactly what you're doing then you have a
> screwy distribution.
> >You can try recovery console however.
> >
> >1) Boot the CD
> >2) On the first prompt where you have the option to
> setup or repair hit [r]
> >to get into the recovery console.
> >3) If you have multiple OS instances installed make sure
> you select the
> >correct instance to log into. Simply type in the
> selection number and hit
> >[enter]
> >4) Enter the Administrator password. By default on HE
> this is blank unless
> >you've corrected that loop hole.
> >
> >At this point the format command can be used to blow the
> drive away. The
> >command line you want to use is
> >format c: /fs:ntfs
> >
> >--
> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >Associate Expert
> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> insufficiently advanced.
> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
> ault.asp
> >
> >
> >"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> Walter,
> >>
> >> Thanks, but that was why I posted. I select FORMAT and
> >> it doesn't. It just reinstalls over the top of the
> >> previous install and leaves all the other software
> >> present. I cannot seem to get it to format and give
> me a
> >> clean install and cannot figure out why it is so.
> >>
> >> thanks
> >> jim
> >>
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >Boot the install CD. There's an option to format once
> >> you choose the target
> >> >partition. If you can't find it, then back out of the
> >> install and try a
> >> >different path. It's an obvious option once you're
> there.
> >> >
> >> >Or, boot the CD, get into recovery console and format
> >> the drive. That'll
> >> >sort of force the issue.
> >> >
> >> >--
> >> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >> >Associate Expert
> >> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> >> insufficiently advanced.
> >> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >>
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
> >> ault.asp
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >"widgeonjim" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> >> I have an XP-Home upgrade CD. I have 3 hard
> drives. I
> >> >> wanted to blow away my OS and reinstall it. I could
> >> not
> >> >> get the system to reformat the C-drive, it kept just
> >> >> doing an install over the existing OS leaving all
> the
> >> >> existing programs and problems. I wanted a fresh
> >> format
> >> >> and brand new OS build.
> >> >>
> >> >> Last night, it finally started building a fresh OS,
> but
> >> >> on the D-drive, not the C-drive. I allowed it to
> >> >> continue to see what would happen. Now, I have 2
> boot
> >> >> sectors, both XP-home, one on the C-Drive, one on
> the
> >> D-
> >> >> Drive.
> >> >>
> >> >> So I tried to reformat the C-drive and blow all that
> >> junk
> >> >> away. It went through a full hour of activity with
> the
> >> >> little time bar showing it slowing formating. At
> the
> >> >> end, a popup popped up and said "can't format this
> >> drive."
> >> >>
> >> >> Now, everytime I boot, it asked me "do I want boot
> XP-
> >> >> Home or XP-Home?"
> >> >>
> >> >> How do I blow everything away and start over? I no
> >> >> longer care if it boots from the D-drive or the xyz-
> >> >> drive. I just want to clear off the disks and start
> >> over.
> >> >>
> >> >> tia,
> >> >> jim
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >.
> >> >
> >
> >
> >.
> >