I want to clean everything out from the laptop and reformat it. I wonder if any tech savvy person/expert could provide step-by-step in doing so. I am not a tech person so if your instruction is detailed, it will be easier for me to understand and execute it. Thanks in advance.
well make sure u back everything up onto an external hdd or something and then to format it, just insert the installation disk for ur operating system and boot the system with the disk in. then u should be able to format the laptop hdd.
I don't need anything from the laptop; just cleaning it out and give it to a friend's son. I have to make sure all the personal stuffs are deleted from the hard drive. All I want left in the computer is the MS applications.
hmm... insert recovery/OS disc... go to boot setup/motherboard setup.. boot from cd.. then format hard drive and reinstall OS
So basically re-installing windows. 1) Make sure laptop is booting from DVD/CD-Rom *you must go into your BIOS to make sure it is(most likely its already booting from CD so you wouldn't have to do this step unless otherwise) 2) Log on to windows, insert your Windows-CD and then restart laptop. 3) During computer start-up, at some point. It'll give you a message something like "press enter or any key to boot from disc". So you hit enter. 4) It'll bring you to the setup menu. You want to navigate to installing windows. Once you've done that. In here, you might want to delete the current partition(s) that you already have and create a new one - or just simply repair it (you do not lose any data, just simply re-installs windows). *Now the size of your partition (how big you want the drive to be, i.e. C drive, D drive etc.) is entirely up to you. Say, your hard drive is 250GB and you want one partition (C drive - main drive) you would input all 250GB but the software will not use up all 250Gb of space. It'll leave some behind for other purposes. You'll know what I mean when you try this. If you want more than one partitions, one for OS and second partition for games, music etc. Simply create another partition after you created your main (you reformat the second drive after windows OS(operating system) is done installing). The setup is pretty straight forward and it should be able to guide you through. If you still have difficulties try Google your question. I'm sure there are many outstanding guides out there. Also you might want to disconnect from the internet before doing this and have anti-virus, spyware, adware programs save on to a disc or flash drive. Hope this helps. Good luck XD
uh .. I tried but now, I can't even start up window .. it always bring me back to the screen that ask if I want to start it safe mode or whatsoever. I pressed normally and the window screen started loading; then back to the same window that ask for safe mode again. I pressed safe mode and subsequently all the other option but it just keeps going back to the same screen that ask safe mode. MS Window won't boot up ... what to do now??
it's a compaq presario .. what's wrong though? it was loading fine before all these ... now, it doesn't start up at all .. sigh...
did the compaq come with a recover DVD? If you put the recovery dvd into the dvd slot it will automatically begin the restore process for you on your system. if you don't have the cd and you have a bootleg copy of windows xp...it will give you an option to format the drive when you are going through the install process of windows. this explanation is very good on how to reformat a drive http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html
Using Darik's Boot and Nuke...it's the best diskwiping utility out there. Here is a link... all you have to do is burn it to a cd or floppy . http://www.dban.org/ I suggest the DOD wipe, it'll take along time but it'll get the job done. Once that's done you can use the recovery disc to install the OS.
just start from beginning again and boot from disc/cd and then format/re-install windows just cos it doesn't work once doesn't mean u should stop trying... =)
yea just boot it with the recovery disc in. only problem is a lot of laptops don't come with a recovery disc these days so u should have created one urself to be on the safe side.
Will this work even if Window doesn't load up? The problem here is that I tried ya'll method and loaded it from the disc; however, it keeps going back to the same screen.
wat i usually do is boot from disk it detects theres old windows there i delete old partition, create new partition, format new partition install it's not too hard... just keep playing aroudn with it i never get to the safe mode screen anyway, not with a fresh install
yep same and also if ur loading it with the bootup disc it shouldn't ask for safe mode, there should be at least an option to select to reinstall windows.
I suggest a complete diskwipe to remove any latent files that might be mucking up the install. A quick format only removes the partition tables from the drive, and some applications can be used to recover them. Formatting a hard drive is different then disk wiping a drive. When you disk wipe a drive it complete removes everything and overwrites the drive with 1 or 0 depending on the algorithm. This ensures a clean drive. If you're having trouble installing Windows from the recovery cd, the best option would be to diskwipe it and then use the recovery cd to reload the OS.
You got to be more specific, are you using the recovery cd that came with the computer or are you using a Windows Installation CD? You can also check HP's website and see if they still offer the Recovery cd, you just need to tell them your serial number and model number.
i don't think he really cares abt doing a proper wipe keep in mind a proper "wipe" for a decent size drive will take over a day if he doesn't have the patience to redo the install a few times... theres no chance of doing a proper wipe =P
