I'm trying to reformat my comp but I seems to be having a bit of a prob actually getting the friggin computer to actually reformat. I have the reinstallation cd but i dont know how to get the pc to boot from it. Someone suggested rebooting from a saved system restore point but I have always had that turned off.


So if someone was able to tell me how to actually get the bloody computer to boot from the disk I would appreciate it.

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open command prompt


c:\ format

I think that's it lol

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[In Yarr we trust.]

you have you format the harddrive and when you restart the computer afterwards, it'll ask for the installation disk to boot and install OS and all

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ok then how do you get it to do that then?

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Insert your Operating System CD of choice (let's say WinXP) after you've formatted your HDD.

Boot to the WinXP CD by starting your computer.

If you don't get the blue setup screen with it loading drivers then try going into your BIOS (usually by pressing the DELETE Key or F2 on other vendor machines like Dell) and choose your CD-ROM drive to take precedence over all other boot media.

Restart

Should be able to boot to your CD from there.

Follow the instructions from there.

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Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

If it's a Dell computer you can hit F12 at POST to change the boot sequence without going into the BIOS. It just changes it that one time so you don't have to go back and change it back afterwards.

If it's some other type of motherboard then you have to go into the BIOS and change it. Just as easily imo. DEL is usually the key to getting into BIOS then you go into Advanced BIOS options and find "Boot Sequence" and set it for umm... CDRom > Floppy > HDD or something.

Once you do that you should see:
"Boot from CD...
Press any key to boot from CD. . ."

So hit a key and boot from the install disk to see this...



Go here for more info...

if this computer crap facinates me. does that make me a nerd?

Ok I do have a dell and I have tried to get the comp to boot from the cd-rom from the boot menu (option #4 on the 6 on screen at the time), however, when I do choose that option all it does is just start up windows normally like it always does and loads up what from my computer and not from the reinstallation disk.


How do I get it to delete all of whats on my computer now so I can just insert the disk and just install it from there? Please bear in mind that my knowledge on this stuff is pretty limited.

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What disk are you using and how old is the PC?

Tell me exactly what the CD says on it. lol

(Dell has started this thing where they DO NOT give you a disk of the OS but just drivers. They load a copy of the OS on a seperate partition on the HDD...)

When did they start doing that? That's retarded.

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Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

Ionno, do you think I'm a nerd? haha

And they've been giving you only the drivers for a while now, I wish I could remember when. I think that's stupid if they're going to install it on there for you anyway, why shouldn't you be able to have it to recover incase you accidentally lose your OS somehow? lol

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[In Yarr we trust.]

ok I bought the computer 2 years ago in the summer. And looking at the disk is says:

"Operating System"

"Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Including Service Pack 1a."

"Only use this CD to reinstall the sofrtware."

The cd came wrapped with a little windows home edition insruction book.

maybe a simpler solutuon could be found for the actual problem I am having that has finally caused me to actually decide to erase and restart my computer:

Back in October my Norton subscription was about to run out. I tried to renew it but, even after following the steps and entering the serial number, it said it was not a valid ID and thus my subscription ran out. So I looked around and found a free anti-virus program (AVG) but when I tried to update that, it said it could not connect to the server. I tried to run a newer version of Firefox (1.5) and it said it could not connect to the internet, but my 1.0.6 version works just fine. I have tried to update windows but whenever windows checks to see what version I have I get the "The page cannot be displayed" thing. Every time i try to connect to Gmail, Yahoo email or my old college email it says the connection was refused. After updating Battlefiled 2 and trying to connect to their servers it says the connection was refused. And now finally, after this little update to POL yesterday, after i type my password and it tried to connect to the internet is get POL1160 error that says that either the servers are busy or there's no connection to the internet.

I am on a router with another computer and it does not have any of these problems.

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Can you access the net at all, or only those website?

If not, make sure to check
Tool --> Internet Option --> Connexion Tab --> Network parameter (bottom) .
You need to have the first case checked if you use a router (usually)


If there is only a few applications and e-mail service blocked, you probably have a few ports blocked. There is 2 possibles reasons for that

1) Open your router config menu and try to figure out if there is any port locked on your computer. I really doubt it's the case tho since it's relatively complicate to lock a particular port by mistake

2) Maybe you have a on your computer a software firewall installed that is blocking the port used by those application. I don't know Norton, but I wouldn't be surprised if it installed some sort of protection of the kind.
Not sure if it would work, but try closing many process using ctrl+alt+del to figure if it's a firewall that is blocking those ports.

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Main: War75/Sam63/Blm71/Rng45
Sub: Nin37/Thf37/Whm37/Mnk30
Three nation: Done Zilart: Done CoP: Done

Port 25 and port 110 are the one used by SMTP/POP protocol (for e-mail application). No clue which port are the usually used for gaming, but it probably has a large range.

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Main: War75/Sam63/Blm71/Rng45
Sub: Nin37/Thf37/Whm37/Mnk30
Three nation: Done Zilart: Done CoP: Done

Well after lurking around my Norton Anti-Virus and Internet Sceurity, it turns out it was the problem behind me not being able to update basically everything on my computer. I guess it might have been some sort of fail-safe action after the subscription ran out. Windows is updating now as we speak and so is AVG.

Thanks all for the comments and concerns. Just saved me hours of unneccessary aggrivation and reinstallations.

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Norton Internet Security is a terrible program.

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Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

i totally forgot i even had it on my computer until Kaylia mentioned the Norton thing. I like Norton anvti-virus but now after this, not so sure about internet security program

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I'm not a big fan of computer security. Only thing I use is Trend Micro online antivirus, and a spyware remover. Not worth it to get paranoid with virus, it doesn't happen often, and it's easy to remove manually usually (well, it is after a few times).

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Main: War75/Sam63/Blm71/Rng45
Sub: Nin37/Thf37/Whm37/Mnk30
Three nation: Done Zilart: Done CoP: Done