i am wanting to reformat my friends laptop, it is a hp pavillion zv5000, I went to the command propmt in windows and it says that it can't do it, it says that it can't lock the drive because the "volume" is being used somewhere. never had this problem before. can anyone help thnx.

5/17/2006 1:51:37 PM

lol

5/17/2006 1:56:43 PM

ohhh shit... I'm getting outta here before this gets ugly.

5/17/2006 1:57:24 PM

yeah thnx guy sorry i am not as smart as you, just need some help thats all

5/17/2006 1:57:44 PM

god, i will help.

you can not format in windows, because you would tear the space/time continum and divide by 0.

you must boot to the windows cd or use a boot disk to install windows.

5/17/2006 1:57:57 PM

is this some sort of revenge tactic?

5/17/2006 1:58:02 PM

you can easily google instructions - which i don't advise you doing anyways - you should get help because you obviously have no idea what you are doing

5/17/2006 1:58:17 PM

yeah if i had an idea i wouldn't be asking now would i

5/17/2006 1:59:27 PM

do you know what you want to do once the pc is reformated? are you going to just install windows again - b/c it will reformat your drive for you during the installation process if you want

google

5/17/2006 2:02:22 PM

yes i want to put windows back on the computer

5/17/2006 2:04:34 PM

just put the windows cd in and reboot, it'll go into windows set up, tell it you want to reinstall windows and it'll reformat the hard drive for you.

5/17/2006 2:20:10 PM

yeah i tried that but the only thing it does is give me the option to start normally, safe mode, safe mode w/ networking, safe mode w/ command prompt

5/17/2006 2:21:48 PM

did it actually boot from the CD, that just sounds like the options you get when you press F8 or whatever on boot up.

do you normally get those options or only now that you've put the CD in?

5/17/2006 2:23:40 PM

need to go into BIOS and change the boot sequence so that the CD-ROM boots before the HDD.

5/17/2006 2:26:21 PM

this one's a lost cause people

only crichets will be heard past this point

5/17/2006 2:37:31 PM

Lunchbox ... a post on what exactly you need to do will take quite a bit of time type up ... at least an hour. Use Google on "format and reinstall windows xp" ... as there are much more comprehensive web sites out there with more information than this thread could ever give you.

Also, I'll throw out a wild estimate and say it will take you 15-30 hours to truly read up on the information you need to find out before going any further. Somebody experienced could jump in and do it in 1-2 hours. Your call whether it's worth your time, or if its easier to pay somebody $20/hour.

And in a 5 minute post, here's what you do:
1) Download and run Darik's Boot and Nuke. (Anything on the hard drive will be wiped)
2) Change the boot order in your BIOS to be cdrom before hard drive ... when you reboot the machine, a prompt will say "press any key to boot from the cd...", hit the space bar
3) Install Windows.

(I seriously need a "tips appreciated" Paypal account for my Tech Talk / Study Hall posts.)

[Edited on May 17, 2006 at 5:46 PM. Reason : .]

5/17/2006 5:43:12 PM

Quote :

"you can not format in windows, because you would tear the space/time continum and divide by 0."

5/17/2006 6:00:31 PM

Quote :

"ohhh shit... I'm getting outta here before this gets ugly."

Best response ever.

5/17/2006 7:09:31 PM

put cd in drive

boot computarmachine

as its displaying the hp logo, start hitting f12. (atleast i think its f12 on hp's may be f9)

This should pop a boot device selector.

select your cd drive.

follow the easy to read on screen prompts.

5/17/2006 7:14:16 PM