Im going to wipe out a laptop computer using a startup floppy disk...(format c:....partition.....install OS) and i was wondering if you do the same to a laptop as you do to a desktop while you wipe out a computer.
203259
Ya you do everything the same.
208476
(regarding a Windows PC not MAC)\n\nA boot disk gives your computer the files necessary to start up and run the programs.  \n\nUsually this should not bother you turning on your computer, it should just go through it's little process then open your Windows programs and go about your business.  If you press certain F keys it will bring you into the boot process screen, where you can tell it to boot from floppy, cd, C:drive in what order.  I wouldn't mess with that much unless you know what you are doing.\n\nWhen you need to reinstal your operating system from scratch, and you reformat your hard drive, this is where the boot disk is very important.  This is the actual physical floppy disk for your operating system.  When you clean your computer out, you need to load this into the computer so your computer will know what to load.  You would then put in your CD (or if older, other floppies) to run the new Windows environment.  \n\nYour boot records are necessary for your computer to load it's operating system.
232000
Nah, just format D:, assuming you don't have anything there you want. If you do, you'll either need to move what you want to keep off of it first, or you can just go through and delete it manually. As long as you're booting from C: it shouldn't be using any of the windows files on D:, so you wont have any problem deleting them.
191268
sure would, just make sure that u keep a few things in mind:\n\n(1)if ur doing a complete format, be sure to have ur driver's on a disk (if ur computer needs drivers). drivers are pretty much files that tells ur computer how certain devices work. if ur computer came with a disk with drivers, ur gonna need to have it when formatting. \n\n(2)also, there are many formatting options for windows XP. u can\n\nquick format w/NTFS file system\nquick format wFAT32 file system\nformat w/NTFS\nformat w/FAT32\n\nif u boot from a windows xp disk, and decide to completely wipe out ur entire hard drive, u will see these options sooner or later. juss remember to format w/NTFS. quick formats sometimes leave the drive with random small errors. a normal format will take a while longer, but its worth it.
199485
Well it didn't exactly "rescue" me from troubles, but... I'll tell you my story.\nI have a Dell Inspiron notebook. All of a sudden, my hard disk purred and crashed! (I had WinXP Pro in the hard disk)\nOh great! what am I gonna do? I dont have any money to buy a new hard disk, and my dad is gonna kill me if he gets to know about this.\nI got an idea! I whipped out all the free DVDs I got with magazines and found one that had a GamesKnoppix ISO file. Took that DVD to a studio, and got the ISO burned to a CD-R.\nCame home, put in the CD, set the BIOS to boot from it, and voila! Linux-on-CD!\nI have a 64MB flash drive, so I made that a "mini-hard-disk" for my Live CD, so that I can store the settings and retrieve them the next time I boot Linux. I just need to enter a small instruction, and the OS automatically retrieves the settings stored there and applies them.\nLife's good with the Linux. I'm able to browse with Mozilla Firefox, chat with Gaim, edit HTML stuff with KWrite (it's so much better than Windows Notepad) and have fun checking out Linux and playing with Terminal. It's cool!\n\nBut I still miss Windows XP :((\n_______\nViva La Dvorak! - www.dvzine.org
496615
You can create your own boot floppy by following instructions at http://www.computerhope.com/boot.htm or download one from http://www.bootdisk.com/ and then copy it to CD or floppy.  \n\nKeep in mind that if you format your C: drive you are wiping out everything on your computer and will need to reinstall all of your applications and your operating system.  If you're having problems and think this will solve them, it might be worth paying someone to look at the computer or do this for you.
478312
Yes, you can go back into it and re-check things if you want, it won't delete anything.\n\nAnd it will help at startup and should also help while the computer is running because all those things you uncheck usually run at startup and continue to run while using the computer.\n\nWhen you restart the computer the first time a message will pop up saying you've changed the startup options, just click on the box to not show it anymore and you're set.
375004
if you don't have a boot disk, you can format it using the CD containing your OS installer (Win XP, 2000, etc.) just set up your laptop's CMOS to boot from CD first before booting to harddisk.
296986
I would format the hard drive and install Windows XP Pro since it partitions your rams and drives.\n\nThen I would make sure I never call tech support when that computer breaks down =)\n\nThey cant track the computer if its stolen if you use your own Windows install and you put in all your own programs that you got legally. Just completely wipe out the memory and start fresh.
314567
Yuck, that means the disc is bad. I hate it when that happens, thats why I use CDs now and I double backup.\n\nI'm sorry, but there is a chance your floppy has gone bad and it wont be use-able until you format it again, which will erase all data.\n\nTo make sure, I would try to open the floppy on a different computer. If it opens , then that means you might need to clean your floppy drive a bit.
628642
If you have wiped your hard drive, the computer should stop booting after the BIOS, the black screen before windows. You will have to reinstall windows. All data is ofcourse gone. However, if windows starts up at all then the disk hasnt been wiped.
205914
The first thing you should do is make sure you have ALL the drivers your computer needs to work!!  i.e. network card, sound card, video card etc...(they may not all be on your windows disk) then when your sure you have everything (very sure),Pop in a windows start up disk (Floppy A type) restart your comp. After a min. or so you will have some options appear, Select..[Start computer without CD-rom support.]After some time you will see a command prompt like this..\n\n A:/\n\nmake it look like this..A:/format c:\n\nthen hit enter and follow the prompts, it should take about an hour or so. After its done start your computer with the Floppy disk again and select [Start computer with CD-rom support] it will tell you the letter of your CD rom. If your CD-rom is "E" than make your prompt look likt this...\nA:/E:/setup.\n\n     Good luck\n       -Mark
248522
Place a Windows 98 startup disk into the floppy drive-start the pc-let the floppy take you to "a" prompt-type in format/s c: There is a space between the s and c. Once you have formatted and restarted the computer,and it is back to "A" prompt, type in the drive your disk is on- usually E:then once it is on E:, type in dir -then type in cd me-or cd 98-or cd xp(your Windows 98-or me-or xp)-then type in - setup. this should take your to the disk's program and start install.\n\n       Good luck!!!
654575
Try using your mother floppy...LOL only joking.  go to www.bootdisk.com then download the bootdisk maker and create bootable floppy's.  NOTE: This is only a boot disk and not the actual windows installation cd.
326109
No.  If there is data on it it is still formatted.  Your best bet is to try it in some other computers.  You might also try some disk recovery utilities to see if they can get what you need.\n\nBottom line though, stop using floppy disks -- they are horribly unreliable and flash drives are really cheap now.
572642
If you have a floopy drive you can format it for a bootable disk. Go to your "my computer" and right click on the floppy drive and click on format. After that you can choose how to format it. Hope this helps. Thanks. Rock.
357885
Go to www.bootdisk.com They have downloads to various bootdisk.  You can also go to the computer you are using right now.  Click on my computer put in a empty floppy right click the floppy drive click format and click make system disk.