You cannot format your hard drive from within XP because you cannot wipe the
system drive while it is in use.
If you are going to reinstall XP, then the procedure to follow is as I've
already posted in this thread and copied below:
Boot with the XP CD in the drive. When you see the message on the boot
screen to "Press any key in order to boot from the CD," do so.
After loading drivers and files, you should be taken to a screen with
the following:
To Setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To Repair a Windows XP Installation using Recovery Console press R.
To Quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
In your case, press ENTER.
Agree to the License agreement by pressing F8.
You will then be taken to a screen with two options.
To repair the selected Windows XP installation press R.
To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing,
press ESC.
This will bring you to a partition map where you
can delete, create and format partitions.
Select the drive you wish to format, delete the partition, then create a new
partition, format as desired and continue with XP installation.
If there's a problem with following this procedure, please tell us the
problem.
