Complete Reformat

Hi can anyone help me on this:
I have a hp but recently I got a new mother board Not made by hp the computer tech put it in and reinstalled windows aswell.
Now my question is how can I tell if he only reinstalled windows over top of what I already had the reason I am asking is that I did a restore for a month back (needed to)and when I restarted my computer it asked me this
"Please select the operating system to start.
Windows Whistler Personal or Microsoft xp home edition.

Now my HP had a F10 key to completly reformat of course now it dont since the mother board isnt a HP one anymore and I know that it did say whistler before so can anyone help on this because if he did just do it over top of windows I want to completly reformat and Yes I have the Windows xp home Edition and would need some help how to reformat.

Thanks

 

Whom to ask.

Helia,

It's best to ask the person who worked on your computer. Assuming that you paid for the work, you're entitled to a description and explanation.

You should be told why the new motherboard was necessary.

Also ask why windows needed to be reinstalled (because of the new motherboard?), and how was it done (reformat or not?).

A system restore done a few mos. ago is gone now after windows is reinstalled.

Why do you wish to reformat now?

 

Ok he put in a new mother board I knew why it needed one LOL so said he had to reinstall windows Again due to the new mother board.
Now this was like 3 months ago he cant remember if he did it over top of it or not and the receipt doesnt say.

Why do I want to reformat if its over top it only adds conflicts etcc and i have a issue with my web cam and posted on here aswell under generla I thikn LOL

 

Delete partition to clean HDD.

Helia,

The simplest way to clean your hard disk and reinstall xP is to perform DOS fdisk from a win98 startup floppy disk, and delete the/all non-dos partitions. Then reboot with the XP CD.

If you can't access a startup disk, you can use your XP CD to boot (you may have to set up your BIOS to boot from the cd as first choice). When the cd is booting, choose restore (R) and when that starts type DISKPART and delete all partitions as above.

Then reboot with the XP CD and reinstall XP in the ordinary way (it will automatically format completely.

 

ok thanks I dont have windows 98cd
so now how do I make my XP cd as first startup think I go to f8 then change it there but not sure.

 

Take care with the BIOS.

First, put the XP CD in the drive and boot. If the cd boots and you can tell right away if it does, just proceed as above. Otherwise:

The computer manual should tell you how to open the BIOS setup program, which must be done while booting; sometimes the screen will say "Press DEL to enter setup" or F1, or some other key or combination.

Read the directions carefully. You can do serious damage if you do the wrong thing, but you won't if you're careful. If you're not sure of what you're doing, just exit (ESC key) without saving, or just turn off the computer, or restart if you have that button on the case. CTRL-ALT-DEL also works.

In the setup program, you have to look for the boot order, and make sure that cd is ahead of hdd (has a lower number, e.g. "1 ", or appears first in a list..
Then quit, choose to save, and it will reboot automatically to the cd if you have the disk in the drive. Then follow the directions in my previous post.