Shoutbox

So.. I messed up my computer (C:\) due to CA Internet Security, because apparently I forgot the admin password for the child protection. So I had to forcefully remove it, but it left behind processes which were still restricting me and after trying to remove them, I was left with no internet at all. So I decided to repair Windows XP.

I got a BSoD during install. I then tried reinstalling XP and also got a BSoD. So now I cannot access my C drive because it tries reinstalling XP every time.

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Originally posted by BSoD
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

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I've had no hardware changes, so I can't see how it is that.

So.. I installed Windows XP on my other hard drive (D:\) which I am now on. I have backed up everything I need which was on C:\ to my D:\ drive.

So I thought I would format my C:\ drive (delete everything) then install a fresh copy of XP on it. Did that work? No. I can't format C drive from My Computer, it says it is unable to format it. I then try using my Windows XP CD to format it and I get a BSoD.

So.. basically my only option right now is to delete everything from the C:\ drive .. which I can't do.

Any ideas as to how I can format it, or other options?

You probably can't format your C: drive because the bootsector/bootloader is located in there.

Anyway, have you tried GParted to format the HDD?
Download the LiveCD, burn it to a disk, and boot from it.

You can use a LiveCD with Gparted to format or partition your harddrive.
Download the 'gparted-livecd-0.3.4-11.iso' from http://download.tuxfamily.org/gpartedlive/ and burn it to a cd. Then boot from the cd.

Thanks! I formatted it successfully, however that has lead me to another problem. I'm posting from my PSP because now that I no longer have a primary drive in use it says there is nothing to boot on startup. My D drive doesn't appear in the bios boot order so I can't boot windows from it.

edit: oh nevermind, I'm meant to be installing XP on C:\ aren't I.

Like I said, the bootsector and the bootloader were probably stored in your C: partition, and they got deleted when you formatted.
You could probably enter the following commands in the Windows XP recovery console to make your computer boot again:

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fixmbr
fixboot C:
bootcfg /rebuild

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But I'm not sure if that would work...

I installed XP fine, thanks anyway .

I have a 300GB hard drive (which I wasn't actually aware of, as the partition only allows 127GB when I set it to max) so when I went in the partitions I was suprised to see so much unused space. Apparenly XP finds it hard to recognise a bigger hard drive, is that correct? I've now set up the 170GB of unused space as another partition, so it's F: drive.

Mike: you don't think windows does that automatically during an installation? users obviously aren't expected to know how to install a bootloader themselves. also, he couldn't format c:\ from within windows because... you know, windows is still running?

Chris4: you couldn't format C:\ because everything you see on your screen, including the format utility itself, is rendered by software running off of c:\. if you formatted it, how would the software be able to delete itself?

also, no. you can easily make a partition as large as 17179869184 GB if you had the space available.

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Originally posted by ShawnZ
Mike: you don't think windows does that during an installation? also, he couldn't format c:\ from within windows because... you know, windows is still running?

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I was talking about the time that he had finished formatting and hadn't reinstalled Windows

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Originally posted by Mike

quote:

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Originally posted by ShawnZ
Mike: you don't think windows does that during an installation? also, he couldn't format c:\ from within windows because... you know, windows is still running?

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I was talking about the time that he had finished formatting and hadn't reinstalled Windows

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well in that case, each hard drive has its own bootloader.

quote:

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Originally posted by ShawnZ
Chris4: you couldn't format C:\ because everything you see on your screen, including the format utility itself, is rendered by software running off of c:\. if you formatted it, how would the software be able to delete itself?

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I was on my D:\ drive.. like I said.. because my C:\ drive wasn't working, so I wanted to format it.