Formatting problem

Cynical

Fledgling Freddie
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Jan 10, 2005
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My pc has become full of crap and its in need of a format. When i bought my PC it came with a format recovery disc. Its a floppy disc. To format my pc i need to shut it down then put the floppy disc in then start the machine up. It starts to read the floppy and i then get the message "General failure reading drive A" abort/rety/fail? etc. Anyone know what i can do as my pc is in need of a format.

I bought the pc from PC World
 

Cynical

Fledgling Freddie
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to give me for information: i dont have a XP cd as i didnt get one with the pc
 

JBP|

Part of the furniture
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Dec 19, 2003
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Take your pc back to PC World and ask them to format it for you ?
 

smurkin

Can't get enough of FH
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abort/retry/fail...maybe to power to the floppy isnt connected.*edit* sorry, ignore that
 

Tom

I am a FH squatter
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1) get new floppy disc
2) format it
3) go into dos
4) type sys c: a:
5) copy format.exe and fdisk.com to the disc
6) format away.
 

Jonty

Fledgling Freddie
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Dec 22, 2003
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Hi Cynical

I'm not sure about the problem you're experiencing (perhaps make sure the floppy drive is configured correctly in the BIOS? (longshot)), but just a word of caution, if you format your hard-drive without a backup copy of Windows, you'll be in trouble :)

Does the disk you have contain any special utilities, such as the ability to restore an 'image' of Windows stored on a (perhaps hidden) partition on your hard drive? If in doubt, as JBP| says, contact PC World and see what's what. Just do not perform a normal hard-drive format without a) backing any important files b) having a copy of Windows to restore.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Kind Regards
 

Rubber Bullets

FH is my second home
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TBH the first thing to think is, do you really need to format?

I have done a total format a few times, it is always a major pain in the ass, and only ever solves the problem in a sledgehammer/nut kind of a way.

If your PC is full of crap, then delete the crap!

Just recently I started having miscellaneous problems with my PC, not opening files correctly, not saving jpegs, PowerPoint not working with images, lots of small irritating problems. I tried deleting and reinstalling software to no avail. In the past I may have done a format here, but older and wiser I looked for a different answer.

In the end I discovered that if I created a different user on the PC then those same programs ran fine under the new user, but still wrong under the old one. There must have been changes that I had made that cumulatively had stopped stuff working properly.

So I just went with the new user, made sure that it was set up as I liked, connections etc. and deleted the old one.

By the way Windows has a little app that allows you to export a set of user prefernces and settings, don't use it as you may well be exporting the cause of the trouble :)

I don't know exactly what it is that has led you to decide on a format, but do think again. Even with a disc it is a pain, without one it could be a disaster.

Hope that helps

RB
 

Cynical

Fledgling Freddie
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Jan 10, 2005
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thanks for your responses. I've borrowed a friends external floppy disc drive to see if its my floppy disc drive. if not ill send off for a new recovery disc
 

Escape

Can't get enough of FH
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Does your floppy disk work in windows?

If you want to re-install windows, the best way is to do a fresh install which will need a WindowsXP CD.
 

Lazarus

Part of the furniture
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Escape said:
If you want to re-install windows, the best way is to do a fresh install which will need a WindowsXP CD.

Cynical said:
to give me for information: i dont have a XP cd as i didnt get one with the pc

kinda screws up that option ;) :D
 

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