Reformatting Hard Drive on Dell PC

[Jim Morrison]

I need help trying to reformat hard drive on my dell, and im using xp home.
When i get to the part where it ask me if i want to delete partition, or repair, i hit delete and i get this error that states. Setup is unable to complete the requested operation on the selected partition. This partition contains temp setup files that are required. I dont understand this shit at all. Never had a problem on any of my systems till i bought a dell.
Everytime i try to reformat with a boot disk, it wont even change from the A: to the C:

[the great one]

Start over, and use the XP CD to boot your computer:
Go into the System Bios, and make sure that yur first boot device is
the CD drive, then put the XP CD in the drive and turn your machine
off, then back on (don't forget to save your changes in the BIOS
before you leave the BIOS setup program).

If you have correctly set the Boot sequence in the BIOS, you should
get a message telling you to press a key to boot from CD. QUICKLY
press a key (within 5 seconds or so. If you don't press a key in
time, any other installation of Windows will start. If this is the
case, just reboot your machine (press the "Reset" button if you have
one, other wise, turn it off, wait 30 seconds, then turn it back on),
and at the message, immediately press a key. Repeat this until you
get it right and the XP CD boots).

The XP installer will start. Once in the installer, you will be given
the option to delete current partitions, create new ones, format the
new partitions, and install XP. Read the setup instructions
carefully, and follow their directions.

[-0-BACKLASH-0-]

did u try just formatting the partition and not deleting it entirely?

[Jim Morrison]

The great one. Thats what i was doing, and it was telling me that i couldnt delete partition, anyhow what i did was make a win98 boot disk, and i was able to delete the partition using Fdisk. Thanx anyhow

[the great one]

You shouldn't have had to make a 98 boot disc to reformat,I never had to,but at least it worked!
Darn XP!!