I received an old computer that wasn't working from my boss. Apparently, the hard drive had been partitioned & someone had tried to format the C drive. Naturally, it freaks out when you try to start it now. Anyone have any ideas on how I can fix this without having to pay $150 to a comp tech?

tjtucker: I'm not going to be able to help with this, but those that can help will want to know a lot more about what you have there in the way of hardware, operating system, etc. The more info you can provide will speed assistance.

It's a Gateway computer with a Pentium II running Windows XP. If there's anything else that someone would need to know about it, please ask. I'm not a computer guru by any means, so I'm not really sure what anyone needs to know. But thanks for trying! I really appreciate any feedback on this.

Does it boot? What error messages are you getting?

At the very least you need the XP CD that programmed it but I don't think you'll get that from your boss unless its a Gateway restore CD. If it won't boot you'll have to reprogram it. Do you have an operating system you can put on it?

I would have to agree that reinstalling the OS would be the next step. In most cases, it will re-partition the HD for you.

Another route would be simply to purchase another hd. They can be inexpensive, but you would still have to buy Windows full version.

Either way, when you look for the software, you will see an upgraded version of Windows. This is the one that you do not want. The price for it will be around $200.

Well for starters, I think P II is little light for XP so I'd try Win. 98SE.. Pentium II was ment for Win. 95, but it will work fine with 98 (little slower if you don't have sufficient memory)
So first I'd get rid of all partititions, and make new one than format and install 98 on it. If you can get cheap 98SE somewhere do it.. Maybe your boss have one but ain't using it.
If you need walk trough on how to do what I just said, let me/us know..