Boot up!

[bl6377]

My friends system will not boot up! It gets to a grey screen and then stops! From what he tells me he was on line and began to get random emails and outlook started by itself! I'd say he has a virus! How do I format the hard drive on his system? It is Windows XP home edition! Is this the best way to go about it? Also he does not have an anti-virus software installed!
Thanks
Bill

 

[folken]

If you don't have anything to save on the machine and want to start clean just boot off the restore disc that came with the comp or a regular windows disc. Follow the fairly simple step by step instructions and you should be good to go.
If you want to try and recover the comp I'd try booting into safe mode with networking and put at least a free antivirus app on there like avast or avg. You "might" be able to rescue it.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[bl6377]

He dont need to save anything! The restore disk wont work it stops at the grey screen and thats it! I can get to the setup (BIOS) menu but how do I format it?
Thanks
Bill

 

[folken]

You can't format a disk from the bios. You need to boot off either a disc or floppy and format from there. You can download a bootfloppy off <A HREF="http://www.bootdisk.com" target="_new">http://www.bootdisk.com</A>. But if you can't boot off the restore cd anyway formatting probably won't help you much.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[bl6377]

Ok I will try that!
Thanks
Bill

 

[diplomat696]

lmao @ trying to format the drive from the bios, sorry, couldnt help but laugh. Hope you get ya friends computer fixed.