ok...

im trying to format my laptop the dos way (with windows 98 boot-disk with cd rom support) .... when i type format c: its says

'Format not supported on C: Format Terminated'

what do i do? I really want too format my c drive and load XP back on.

ALSO, if i do it the Windows Xp CD was and choose new installation it just does nothing...

ANYONE PLEASE!!!!!????? ;) ;) ;) ;)

do this
fdisk /mbr
then do
fdisk and delete all partitions
then boot to cd and install

Sounds a little tricky...

quote:
"ALSO, if i do it the Windows Xp CD was and choose new installation it just does nothing..."

Did you boot from the floppy or from the CD?

i booted with the floppy

Ah, wouldn't it be a more natural thing to boot with the CD, then it would handle the filesystem allready built up?!

just in reference too harrytoole:

do this
fdisk /mbr
then do
fdisk and delete all partitions
then boot to cd and install

ok i start dos by putting in the wiondows 98 bootdisk (cd rom support) then i type fdisk /mbr in the command....

then what ;) ??? im not a pro at pcs lol (firgures)

also my drive is NFTS !!!

how do i boot from the CD?

Probably like this:

o Check the manual for correct procedure. You need to boot the machine and during the bootprocess force the machine to go into the BIOS' setup rather than continue and boot into the operative system. There in BIOS you have to tell the machine about in which order it should look for bootable mediums. Most probably for the moment it checks the floppydrive to see if there is any floppy in it. That is the reason you can boot from the floppy if a bootable floppy is inserted. If no floppy is found it looks for a harddrive. This can be altered to a sequence like CD-floppy-hardrive or something similar, the CD first in the chain.
o Then reboot with the CD inserted and... you are booting from your XP-CD.

ok i did that but it doesn't have an order, you can only put an '!' next to the drive or hdd. so what do i do now?? is there a way i can put the NTFS into A FAT sothat i can format it normally?

Check the manual... The exclamation mark means something I guess, like take me first or do not boot from.

To boot from the CD is the most proper way to do the install.

Other ways would also work though. Boot from your floppy. Insert the CD. Navigate to the dir named /i386. In there run the file winnt.exe and the install procedure will run. (I hope I recall the dir name correctly here, I'm at work and don't have any XP-cd here.)

Before trying this try to get the little file smrtdrv.exe and put it on your bootfloppy. Then run smartdrive before entering the xp-setup. This will increase the speed of the file-copy process (yes, it's worthwile). And of course check that you have any special drivers at hand.