formating hard drive

I am trying to install windows xp home on a compaq presario computer. I have installed it twice, it worked fine, I started it from the hard drive and it was fine, then after the computer was off for a while I tried to restart and I got a error message that said a file called hal.pll was corrupted and windows wouldn't start. So I did it all again, and the same thing happened. I would like to format this drive from DOS. I have two versions of format.com, the one I copied from my hard drive will only work from the dos prompt in windows, and you can't format the drive windows is on when your in windows. The other format.com says it is the wrong version, which I don't understand at all. Can anybody tell me where I can get a copy of FORMAT. COM that I can run from the A drive while in dos

Any Help would be greatly appreciated, Rod(wtbarp@sbcglobal.net

 

You can boot from a Windows 98 diskette or equivalent on a cd

http://files.frashii.com/~bootdisk/newjersey/boot98se.exe

boot into dos.
get to the prompt
type the command fdisk
remove the partition
If it is ntsf ( the default file format in windows xp) the windows 98 will not you format.
You can either create a partition and then format as fat32 or let the XP disc format on install.

If you really want to wipe out the hard drive you can go to the drives manufacturer website for a utility. It will take some time . However you are guaranteed to be back to square zero

or http://www.killdisk.com/


Have fun.
Check your install disc of the XP that the disc is not dirty and needs to be gently cleaned.

 

You cannot format a drive for XP from a boot floppy unless you are planning on using the FAT32 file storage system. If that be the case, you will need to use a dos boot floppy with FDISK on it so you can delete any existing NTFS partitions (non-dos partitions) and create a new DOS Primary partition and set it active. Then reboot and you can format that partition.

There are many free bootdisk downloads available that will have fdisk and format plus other tools to do the job. Look on bootdisk.com.

HOWEVER, I doubt that you want to use the FAT32 file storage system and I further doubt that formatting the drive will end your problem. I suspect the corrupt file you are referring to is hal.dll rather than hal.pll as you posted. That error message can have a wide variety of causes but reformatting won't be the answer in your case.



You will need to supply some more information before anyone can guess what your problem may be. We need to know what type of install CD you have - is it a full MS XP retail version or is it perhaps an O.E.M. version that is supplied for a specific computer. It may also be an O.E.M.Restore CD which must be used on the same computer it came with. Did the CD come with this computer?

My point is, the XP install CD has all of the necessary tools to perform a typical XP install, including repartioning and formatting, if that be desired.