dgg9879 Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 I recently purchased a new computer when the old computer's mainboard failed.I transferred both disk drives to the new computer and installed Windows XP in the usual manner.But at least one of these drives has some "nasties" such as Trojans etc. I get regular messages from my BitDefender anti-virus program that it has blocked them. I got the same messages before on my old PC but don't want these hassles with the new PC, even though it seems to run ok in spite of all the messages.I want to reformat both drives and reinstall windows. But I'm having problems with this.If I put the Windows disk in, XP just boots up as usual, even though the drive I put it in is set as the boot drive. I could delete one of the drives by selecting START and then run and typing in "format d:" or whatever but of course I can't format the drive windows is on this way.The basic problem seems to be that windows always boots up, no matter what. Even disabling the disk drives in the bios so only the CD drive is operational does not seem to make any difference.Please someone tell me how I can reformat both drives and reinstall windows.I have my most important data backed up on DVD and can scan the DVD to see what parts have viruses/spyware etc so I know what I can bring across once I've done this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukus Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Formatting a drive won't stop the bios looking at the drive and trying to boot from it. Even if it doesn't find any boot records. You need to log into the BIOS and find the boot priority screen (normally under advanced), dependant on your motherboard. Set the CDROM to the first boot device and the first hard drive to the second and so forth. This should then boot you up into windows XP install that'll enable you to delete/format both partitions. Format and install onto the one that you wish to install onto, then once in to windows once its re-installed, format any other drives that need doing so using the Disk Management.Good Luck :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted April 27, 2006 Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 You need to log into the BIOS and find the boot priority screen ...In some manufacturers' BOIS it's called boot sequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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