sony vaio hard drive

If you mean you have nowhere to save existing data to then I suggest you burn important data to some optical discs, prior to the re-install.

If you mean you don't have ANY hard drive - then what are you going to reformat ?

If you only have the internal hard drive, put your OS install disc into the optical drive and reboot. The laptop will boot from the install disc, reformat your hard drive, then do a clean install of your OS.

Obviously you need an optical drive to reinstall Windows. You do not need to reformat the HD.

To perform a [i]clean[/i] install of Windows, insert the installation CD into the optical drive, and restart. You will see a prompt to boot from the CD - hit any key to do so.

You have the option to [i]repair[/i] the Windows installation, or to perform a complete reinstallation. The complete reinstallation overwrites code already on the HD and is the preferred means of restoring the operating system.

Yes, you can format the HD, which will totally wipe out the operating system and all your data. If your HD has only 1 partition, this is probably the [b]C[/b] drive. To accomplish this totally destructive operation, open Explorer, right click the [b]C[/b] drive, select [i]Properties[/i], then click [i]Format[/i].

I strongly recommend that you have a complete image of your operating system archived to an external hard drive before you attempt a formatting operation. Back up all your data files, and use [i]imaging[/i] software such as Norton Ghost to write a complete [i]image[/i] to an external hard drive:

http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost14

If you really wish to [i]repartition[/i] the HD, you don't need to reformat it. Repartitioning can be done with an intact operating system installed. I recommend Partition Magic:

http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=sp&pvid=pm80

If you have queestions, please post back in this thread.

Rick/Portland, OR

And I'm having a difficult job trying to track down a cure for the problem of installing.

Bear with me... ;)

We could perhaps come up with an alternative solution to your existing problem.

If I am reading the correct details your laptop is powered by an Intel Mobile Pentium II running at 400 MHz, 128MB RAM, 8.1GB Hard Drive, 2.5MB NeoMagic video chipset, 12.1" LCD.

Can you confirm that this is the same as your laptop model, so that I know I am on the right track?