Wipe HD?

[aaronjbc123]

So I can't boot my comp, it cycles back to start of startup after passing the windows screen. Safe mode does the same, as does every other setting. So I guess now I should wipe my harddrive and get a clean slate? I have nothing important on there, so I don't care if it erases every single thing. Could anyone put me in the direction of a good program for this and some steps? I have no floppy drive, just a cd rom drive. Thank you.

 

[benzylic]

Reinstalling Windows (not a repair install) will wipe the hard drive. But speaking of repair install did you try that?

 

[aaronjbc123]

Well, I bought it from newegg, acer aspire, and it came preloaded with everything, never had to activate anything. I also never made backup copies...although I was frequently prompted to. I can just buy a new copy of Vista or w/e OS. If I just did that would it auto wipe the hard drive?

 

[benzylic]

Yeah, that would work fine. Just make sure its not an Upgrade only install disk though.

 

[aaronjbc123]

So buying http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...dpNo=2552182&CatId=672

would do the trick?

 

[benzylic]

Yeah, that should work fine. After you install, you'll have to go to Acer's site and download the drivers for all your hardware.

 

[TheStu]

I would actually advise getting the drivers first and putting them onto a jump drive. I have known a couple of people that did not have networking after a clean install of Vista (though it does seem to usually work to some degree) so putting them onto a jump drive is the safest bet. Also toss an antivirus onto there just so Vista doesnt pester you.

 

[aaronjbc123]

Well I wont be getting vista, either windows home or windows media center.

 

[travisray2004]

Originally posted by: aaronjbc123
Well I wont be getting vista, either windows home or windows media center.

why not windows xp pro ? hehe..

 

[aaronjbc123]

New step to problem. I was able to load xp pro fine and wiped the old HD, but now my internet is gone. http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2070546&enterthread=y is the topic I created in networking, but tried every step was recommended and still cannot create a LAN connection or anything like that. Any suggestions? Basically, I downloaded LAN, chipset drivers for t180 which is me, and still nothing.

 

[WildHorse]

Well that sure does sound like a driver problem.

Look in Device Manager to see if there's a yellow flag next to the network adapters. If "yes" then those drivers need to be reinstalled.

Also, it could be as simple as just power-cycling your modem (& your router if you use one) - switch them fully off, trun off the computer, then power on the DSL modem 1st, wait maybe 30 sec, then power on the router (if you have one), wait a few moments longer, then boot up your computer. Just try that as an experiment.