Can't get XP to go away

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Guest

I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
(C:) and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.

I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.

So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
still there.

My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
external drive (G:), boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
see it, even though it is listed as an option.

I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?
 
gsulliv4 said:
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard
drive (C:) and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got
set, I don't know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from
CD. I tried removing the battery for a day and a few other things to
reset the BIOS. No go.

I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable.
When I enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the
choice of "Boot from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.

So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from
there. It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I
tried a clean install, and all my XP files went away, but all the
other garbage on C: is still there.

My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
external drive (G:), boot from that, and format C: from there. Well,
it will apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says
startup cannot see it, even though it is listed as an option.

I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of
how I might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean
install of XP?
Click to expand...

Tried this?

1.. Restart your computer.

2.. At the first text on the screen, or when the Dell logo appears, press
the <F2> key every three seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.

3.. When the System Setup screen appears, press the <Alt> + <F> keys at
the same time to load the factory defaults.
A beep sounds to indicate the defaults have been loaded.

4.. Check and, if necessary, reset the time, date, and year.

5.. Change the Secondary Drive 0 setting to Auto.

6.. Change USB Legacy Support to Enabled.

7.. Press the <Alt> + <B> keys at the same time to save changes and
reboot.

8.. Proceed with the installation or troubleshooting that you were
attempting.
 
gsulliv4 said:
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
(C:) and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.

I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.

So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
still there.

My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
external drive (G:), boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
see it, even though it is listed as an option.

I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?
Click to expand...

try tapping f12 (or f8-f11) while at the dell screen to open the boot menu.
If it allows you to get there, you may choose to boot from the windows CD and
format C
 
PetardF said:
try tapping f12 (or f8-f11) while at the dell screen to open the boot menu.
If it allows you to get there, you may choose to boot from the windows CD and
format C
Click to expand...

I've tried that. It doesn't give me the option to boot from CD. I've tried
it with several different operating systems. It only allows me to boot from
my C: drive.
 
Shenan Stanley said:
Tried this?

1.. Restart your computer.

2.. At the first text on the screen, or when the Dell logo appears, press
the <F2> key every three seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.

3.. When the System Setup screen appears, press the <Alt> + <F> keys at
the same time to load the factory defaults.
A beep sounds to indicate the defaults have been loaded.

4.. Check and, if necessary, reset the time, date, and year.

5.. Change the Secondary Drive 0 setting to Auto.

6.. Change USB Legacy Support to Enabled.

7.. Press the <Alt> + <B> keys at the same time to save changes and
reboot.

8.. Proceed with the installation or troubleshooting that you were
attempting.
Click to expand...

Hitting <ALT> + <F> does nothing. When I hit <F2> during startup it puts me
in the main BIOS screen with a prompt for the System Password. Without that,
I can't change any of the settings. Hitting <ALT> + <F> on this screen is not
doing anything. No beep, and the password prompt is still there.
 
gsulliv4 said:
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
(C:) and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.

I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.

So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
still there.

My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
external drive (G:), boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
see it, even though it is listed as an option.
Click to expand...

Have a look at
:http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8300/sm/syssetup.htm

This gives implicit instructions on how to remove the BIOS password on
a Dimension 8300.
 
Hello,
After removing the bios, cmos battery, you must use a jumper to rest
the bios to default. See the motherboard manual for location of bios jumper
pins. Remove battery, Apply jumper for min of 5 secs and then remove,
Reinsert battery. Start puter and hit delete. If the password is gone you'll
get in. If you get in tell it to boot ftom cd rom only.
This is what my machine would require! Maybe work for you?
 
GreenieLeBrun said:
That should be explicit not implicit.

It's been a looooong week :-}
Click to expand...

I hear you on that. TGIF.

Thanks for the link. I will give this a try tonight.
 
Norman Frith said:
Hello,
After removing the bios, cmos battery, you must use a jumper to rest
the bios to default. See the motherboard manual for location of bios jumper
pins. Remove battery, Apply jumper for min of 5 secs and then remove,
Reinsert battery. Start puter and hit delete. If the password is gone you'll
get in. If you get in tell it to boot ftom cd rom only.
This is what my machine would require! Maybe work for you?
Click to expand...

I'm gonna try to mess with the jumpers tonight. Thanks for the advice.

I guess I was hoping that there was a way to remove the OS without messing
with the BIOS.
 
I went home on my lunch break and tried messing with the jumpers, and lo &
behold, it worked!

Thanks to everyone for your advice. It was very helpful.
 
Seeing as how your Dell is not working as it should (remove the cmos battery
WILL clear the bios), why don't you call Dell?

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
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