Re-format for new mobo question.

[sandmtrailboss]

Ok here goes.. I bought my new motherboard , ram , video card ,and power supply. I install all the hardware and when I try to boot up windows xp says it has an error becuase of new hardware installed (well its the mobo is cuasing this problem) , Then I learn that the compaq saves thier mobo bios onto the hard drive. So I'm assuming that it cant reconize my new mobo with the older bios running. So I put my old mobo in and come here to ask for help. I want to do this : reformat my hard drive and just wipe it clean, then install my hardware and then use a win2k disk a freind let me borrow to boot up and install. Now the problem is is that I'm running winxp and I cant figure out how to reformat the hardrive. I made a dos boot disk but when I tried to use "format c:" it gives the bad command error. I'm wondering If i also need to reformat the system_sav D drive , which is a partition of the hard drive I assume for critical files. I'm so stuck what do I do? Thank you very much for any help ;)

Albatron KM18G Pro
Hyper X 256x2 Dual channel setup
Ati Radeon 9700 non pro
600w Pwoer supply
40gig comapq Hard drive

Currenty using a;
Compaq motherboard
2 sticks of sdram (512)
rest of the hardware is the same as the top.

[Rbstr]

You need to get into the bios and put the CDrom as the bootable. ou the disk in and start it upyou should be able to use format from it. but i can't remember. mabee you need a bootable floppy to run it from. you can probaly do a google for a tutorial

[sandmtrailboss]

What cd do you mean? windows xp wont install win2k becuase its an older version.

[MastaYoda]

You might want to get a diagnostics disk from the hard drive manufacturer (ie Maxtor, Western Digital) and do a low level format. That will make the install think it is a new HD. Warning: This will erase all data and all partitions of the HD. Then you should be able to boot from the windows cd-rom and format the hard drive accordingly. This is why i hate trying to customize retail computers - they try to prevent it. If you need more help post back.

[sandmtrailboss]

Thanx for all the help guys , I ended up booting into Windows 2000 Professional setup , reformatted and then did a fresh install. Now I need to find a cd of windows xp pro since my compaq restore doesnt reconize my pc as a compaq anymore =/

[MastaYoda]

Stick to win2k... I have tried XP home...XP professional... and win2k. Win2k is my favorite by far....XP is still a tad unstable on my system where as 2k hardly ever gives the blues screen of death (or the reboot from hell if you dont disable it). My win2k has only crashed once in a month and my XP would crash 2 or 3 times a day. Could just be my system though, often the OS depends on your system setup as well.