CD and DVD drive

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I want to format the hard drive on this computer b/c it has so much crap on
it but in order to do so I will have to reinstall windows and neither the CD
drive nor the DVD drive work. If I put a Cd in the drive it sounds like it's
reading it but when I open up my computer it doesn't show that there is even
a CD in there and the same with the DVD drive. I really need help so I ca
start over with this computer. I tried the troubleshooting but I don't know a
lot about computers so some of it I didn't know the answers to and this is a
computer that has been built not just bought with everything on it if that
makes a difference
 
If you know how to get into the BIOS, set the CD to be the first boot
device. Put the CD in the drive and then Reboot the computer.
 
ilgattomatto said:
I want to format the hard drive on this computer b/c it has so much crap on
it but in order to do so I will have to reinstall windows and neither the CD
drive nor the DVD drive work. If I put a Cd in the drive it sounds like it's
reading it but when I open up my computer it doesn't show that there is even
a CD in there and the same with the DVD drive. I really need help so I ca
start over with this computer. I tried the troubleshooting but I don't know a
lot about computers so some of it I didn't know the answers to and this is a
computer that has been built not just bought with everything on it if that
makes a difference
Click to expand...

I understand it is possible to install from a folder on the hard drive. But
ideally, you'd want to use something like Partition Magic, to split your
hard drive into two pieces. One (small) partition would hold the i386
folder off the CD. The second partition would be the existing boot
partition. You'd need a working floppy drive on the computer, as you need
some way to boot the computer and execute WINNT.exe .

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

You still need to copy the contents of the CD, to the spare partition
on the hard drive. The reason you want a spare partition, is so that when
you erase the main partition and start over again, the setup files will still
be available in the spare partition. Since the spare partition is not bootable,
that is where the boot floppies come into play.

This is not very practical. And if something goes wrong, you won't be using
that computer any time soon.

If your computer is a desktop computer, it should be easy to fit a <$50 CD/DVD
drive in there, and do the install or repair install the normal way.

If this is a laptop, get it fixed :-) You're only torturing yourself, if
not all the peripherals work on the laptop. A laptop is a pretty restrictive
computing device, and if anything breaks, it means major productivity loss.
A laptop is a lot like buying a Cadillac, you pay a lot for a simple ride.
Desktops are relatively easy to fix, a lot like owning a Ford (breaks a lot
but parts are cheap).

Paul
 
I want to format the hard drive on this computer b/c it has so much crap on
it but in order to do so I will have to reinstall windows and neither the CD
drive nor the DVD drive work. If I put a Cd in the drive it sounds like it's
reading it but when I open up my computer it doesn't show that there is even
a CD in there and the same with the DVD drive. I really need help so I ca
start over with this computer. I tried the troubleshooting but I don't know a
lot about computers so some of it I didn't know the answers to and this is a
computer that has been built not just bought with everything on it if that
makes a difference
Click to expand...

Buying a new DVD.CD drive and replacing the defective should not be
that expensive. Since the PC was "built" you can replace the CD/DVD
drives.
 
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