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How do I reformat my hard drive

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7 replies

by lfitch00

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I just bought a Dell Inspiron 2600 from a friend and I wanted to reload the system disk ( WinXP ),
after it loaded the disk it now tell me " not enough resources to compleat ait" or something like that. I called Dell support and they would only tell me I needed to reformat the hard disk drive. They would not tell me how because I got it from someone else. Now my computer is a paperweight. Someone please tell me how to do the format on my laptop.

7 replies

by vchd_it

To reformat you need a Win98 bootable disk or a bootable disk that allows you access to the CD Drive. You need an installation CD for the Win version you intend to install. You will need to record the various drivers currently being used by your system (display, monitor, modem, network card, printer, scanner, sound, etc.). Make sure you have access to copies of these driver's software before doing the format. Most can probably be downloaded from the internet, are supplied with the Windows OS, or they may be Plug n play.

Check and make sure your system meets the minimum requirements needed to run WinXP. You may need to upgrade memory and your Bios.

To format the harddrive you boot the system with the bootable disk and type "format c:". When the format is complete reboot with bootable disk then install the OS.

You will loose all data when you format the harddrive!

by bohicam1

Just put your dell install disk in the cd drive and start it up. When the screen comes up asking what you would like to do, (reinstall or delete partition) choose delete present partitions. Once all partitions have been deleted it will ask how you want to format using either fat32 or NTFS.
Good luck!

Mike

by rblank1

To elaborate on answer # 2, you may have to go into the setup first & set the boot order so that the CD ROM is first. If you don't have the original Dell software, answer # 1 is the way to go.

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