Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows XP > Windows XP General Discussion > Boot up!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
bl6377   12-08-2004 at 12:05:18 AM

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

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
folken   12-08-2004 at 05:30:59 AM
- 0 +

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>

Reply to folken
bl6377   12-09-2004 at 05:17:01 AM
- 0 +

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

Reply to bl6377
folken   12-09-2004 at 05:28:02 AM
- 0 +

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>

Reply to folken
bl6377   12-09-2004 at 05:38:05 AM
- 0 +

Ok I will try that!
Thanks
Bill

Reply to bl6377
diplomat696   12-09-2004 at 04:24:35 PM
- 0 +

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

Reply to diplomat696
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows XP > Windows XP General Discussion > Boot up!
Go to:

There are 969 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.215 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
  • 01:00 skythra won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Ckaz won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 james59 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 snarl won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 patlabor44 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 Kiren won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 WookinPaNub won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 kwadams won the Uniformed badge
  • 21:57 brockh won the Sophmore badge
  • 01:00 xpax won the Freshman badge