Windows XP/System Disk Help Please

[flashheart]

Hello folks, for some unknown reason XP has become totally corrupted and the hard drive needs formatting to reinstall XP (according to a computer repairing expert).

I have been led to believe I need to make a system disk on my wife's computer then use it to boot mine and use the format programme to wipe my hard drive. I can then put XP back on. I cannot do this on mine because it will not boot even in safe mode.

The snag is I cannot find any info on making a system disk using XP. Can anybody help please?

Regards

Flashheart

[flashheart]

Have already tried that folks but the real snag is even the chap who repairs computers for a living says that the system is so corrupt that reinstalling it from the disk will not work (confirmed by me trying). He suggests a complete disk format followed by an install is the only way forward hence the need for a system disk. Whenever I put the XP disk in it just tries to install or repair, neither of which have solved the problem. The reason I ask is that I remember making a system disk back in Win98 and it was a fairly easy affair done through File Manager I believe. Formatting the disk was easily done by going to the DOS prompt but I cannot do that at the moment.

>> Edited by flashheart on Monday 21st March 21:25

[flashheart]

Thanks for that Slinky, it is a bit late now to start this so I shall have a try tomorrow.

Cheers

[flashheart]

Oh dear. Have put the disk in and pressed any key to boot from CD. Didn't need to load SCSI or automated system recovery (tried it and it didn't work) so XP goes through the setup routine. It then asks do I want to repair, setup or quit. If I select repair it immediately comes up with a blue screen saying either PFN_LIST_CORRUPT or IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL depending on how it is feeling. Endex.

If I select setup it does exactly the same, goes straight to the blue screen with either one of the above messages. Endex.

I never get any option to format/partition or do anything slightly technical.

Any ideas? Cheers

[flashheart]

After doing some serious paperwork hunting last night I have some good news and some bad:

Bad news, just spent 2 hrs on phone with helpline formatting partitions, reinstalling etc - to no avail.

Good news, have discovered the £200 I spent on a guarantee might just have been worth it - they collect the laptop next week to fix it. If they cannot fix it, I get a new one.

The bloke at the help centre suggested there may well be a hardware fault just like you folks suggested. Many thanks for taking the time to reply and for your advice.

TTFN