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**Mark R** · 27-01-2014, 05:36 PM

One for the boffins.
The laptop I am using, or not at the moment! needs to be reformatted in dos. The bios utility will not let me in as it asks for a password, I do not have it, nor does it have a floppy drive to create a dos boot disk.
I have tried the dos shell from the run command to follow instructions found on the web, to no avail.
I really do not want to take it appart to remove the cmos battery.
The machine is running XP and is a Fujitsu lifebook.

Any thoughts?

Cheers Mark

**Mark Hennessy** · 27-01-2014, 06:23 PM

Have you got a CD ROM drive? Then you can boot from a Windows CD, which should give you the option to get to a command line. But you might need to get to the BIOS to change the boot order before you can boot from the CD.

Another option might be a DOS 6.22 setup disc and a USB floppy drive...

Or, you can boot from a memory stick these days.

But again, you might need to change the boot order in the BIOS.

But why "dos"? Presumably you mean FAT16 or FAT32? Are you making a retro-PC, or clearing the way to reinstall Windows? If the latter, then you don't need to worry about it as the Windows setup CDs will let you reformat as required.

The BIOS utility won't let you reformat anyway - not unless it's sponsored by Microsoft Wink

. For that, you need one of the operating system setup discs mentioned above.

**Mark R** · 27-01-2014, 06:57 PM

Just tried to boot from the Windows CD, There was no option to format the C drive, though I can change the boot sequence during start up with the F12 key.

**Steve_P** · 27-01-2014, 07:06 PM

Try this...

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsxp/...ive-xp.htm

This is a very drastic step to take. You need the XP software and the Key, and anything else you need, such as drivers, to hand for this.

Good luck.

Steve P.

**Mark R** · 27-01-2014, 07:13 PM

Got the XP Disc, but still unable to do a format for a clean install. I have everything backed up on an external hard drive.

**Steve_P** · 27-01-2014, 07:32 PM

Try this...

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Install-Windows-XP

Cheers,

Steve P.

**Mark R** · 27-01-2014, 09:53 PM

fixed it, had remove some files from the windows directory to make it think the windows set up was corrupt. It then let me into the format part of the set up.
So one clean install, just need to get the software on gain and find the modem set up disk!

Cheers Mark

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