ever reformatted a hard drive?

[poker]

Well if you have the original XP disc that came with your PC as you say, you're golden. The Genuine Advantage Tool from MS looks at your hardware configuration to distinguish it from other PC's (which is why it will only load on your PC). If you made no major hardware changes, you should be able to use your disk to not only reformat, but to also reload a fresh OS.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by poker

Well if you have the original XP disc that came with your PC as you say, you're golden. The Genuine Advantage Tool from MS looks at your hardware configuration to distinguish it from other PC's (which is why it will only load on your PC). If you made no major hardware changes, you should be able to use your disk to not only reformat, but to also reload a fresh OS.

yeah, sorry I started talking about 2 different computers. confusing. The one in the original post I do have a disk for but for my Dell I do not have the XP cd.

If the above suggestions don't result in the desired manner, you may want to consider a new hard disk drive. There are some things you just can't get rid of any other way.

Originally Posted by nozero

If the above suggestions don't result in the desired manner, you may want to consider a new hard disk drive. There are some things you just can't get rid of any other way.

Or you could use disk kill to wipe the drive.

Originally Posted by JJG

yeah, sorry I started talking about 2 different computers. confusing. The one in the original post I do have a disk for but for my Dell I do not have the XP cd.

If you lost your original CD then order another one from the company,,,it's only about $13 plus S/H,,,it's worth getting it because it will bring your computer back to the original specs,,,I had to do that with my Compaq because I lost the start up CD,,,,you load and walk thru the whole thing as it will prompt you with what to do next,,almost idiot proof.