• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Format Notebook

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
How did you try formatting it?

Windows would have had to have been able to see it to attempt formatting. Or did you try it with a boot disk or something? If so, just boot from the Windows CD. You can create/modify partitions there and format and then install.
 
might have somehow messed with the MBR (master boot record). I dont know how WinXP runs things but last time I had that issue (win98 days) i had to find an old dos boot disk with fdisk and give it a good ol' "format MBR" or was it "fdisk MBR" either case, a quick google should set ya on track if thats the issue your having.
 
Is that hd a sata hd? If it is that might be the problem as windows xp by default doesnt see sata drives.
 
jivetrky said:
yeah it does, just depends on your SATA controller.

Exactly my thinking, being a laptop it's very possible its not a popular sata controller that Xp would have the drivers for, so you might have to hit F6 during boot up and insert a floppy with the controller drivers on it. Might be a prob if the laptop doesn't have a floppy drive. I think theres a way to put the sata drivers onto a custom made XP install disk but I'm not too sure how thats done.
 
Yeah its a sata drive and I don't have a floppy drive. So will a usb thumb drive work? Or if anyone has a good idea.... cause i have no idea how to make a custom boot disk.
 
What service pack is that windows with? Are you using windows that came with the notebook?
 
Velocity said:
Yeah its a sata drive and I don't have a floppy drive. So will a usb thumb drive work? Or if anyone has a good idea.... cause i have no idea how to make a custom boot disk.


The windows XP CD's are bootable. Just go into your BIOS and set your CDROM as the first boot device. Then it will boot from the CD.
 
If you dont have a floppy drive you could always slipstream the drivers on your install cd.

jivetrky said:
yeah it does, just depends on your SATA controller.

Yea the chipset has to have a native sata support for windows xp to automaticaly detect your hdd, and most notebooks mobos have an additional chip to provide sata support :)
 
jivetrky said:
Boot into the BIOS and make sure it's seeing the harddrive

That won't matter if it sees it if XP doesn't have native support for the sata controller, he'll need the drivers either via floppy or slipstreamed cd, I don't think the XP install supports USB.
 
Back