Due to numerous problems on my son's pc, I decided to format the hard drive and re load everything back in. Unfortunately, it doesn't accept my commands.

I've loaded the boot disk and drive a:\ comes up, I type in format c: and all I get is bad command or file name. I have tried several other variations but none work.

Any ideas?

What system do you whant to install?
Well, first you should boot from floppy.
Before installing new OS, it asks "would you like to format"
so you chose first format than install.
It shouldn't be any hardship.

Originally Posted by Megadeath

What system do you whant to install?
Well, first you should boot from floppy.
Before installing new OS, it asks "would you like to format"
so you chose first format than install.
It shouldn't be any hardship.

If only it was that simple.

XP is on the system at the moment but has gone completely wrong so I want to wipe the whole drive clean and start again. I cannot get windows to load at all.

I am using floppy boot disk, but where the a:\ comes up, I type in format c: and I've tried other commands as well. All I get is "bad commant or file name".

The best thing to do would be to boot from the Windows XP installation CD if your computer's BIOS supports booting from CD. If not, you'll want explore the CD to find the utility to create boot floppies (you'll need 3 or 4.) It sounds like you are using a DOS (or previous version of Windows boot disk) boot disk. You don't really want to format using that anyway. You'll want the installation program on the XP cd to do the formatting for you.

is your BIOS set to boot from CD? if it is it's pretty simple just put your XP disc in and follow instructions.

is the PC so badly messed up it need reformatting?

For some reason it wouldn't install XP, so I've now formatted using my old 98 disk and have loaded that for the time being.

What exactly happens when you try to install XP?

Have you ever install XP from this floppy?
Probably you have invalid copy.

Windows XP normally doesn't come with a floppy. Usually you have to create one from the utility on the CD, or download and create one from bootdisk.com. Normally, the BIOS is set to boot directly from the CD, which most PC's now have the ability to do depending on its age.

When I try to load XP, I keep getting the error message "Problem in extracting process: File .......

I have been able to format the hard drive using the xp disk.