Stuck On "search For An Existing Version Of Windows"

Welcome to Bleeping Computer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.
Click here to Register a free account now! or read our Welcome Guide to learn how to use this site.

Important Announcement: The winners of the BC Million Post contest have been announced. You can read who the winners are at this post.

- BleepingComputer Management

BleepingComputer.com > Hardware > Internal Hardware

Stuck On "search For An Existing Version Of Windows", can not format hard drive

Options

westislandbrewer View Member Profile	Mar 29 2007, 11:40 AM Post #1
Member Group: Members Posts: 28 Joined: 28-March 07 Member No.: 120,525	Hello, I am having trouble formatting my hard drive. I am using xp pro on a hp d330 2.4ghz. I believe some essential windows files got deleted using a spyware program. Now o/s is nonfunctional. I try to boot from cd (win xp) to format hd and reinstall fresh copy of o/s but it gets stuck on the "searching for an existing copy of windows" step. I know the problem is related to the hard drive because I tried formatting this hd in another computer and got the same error message. Unfortunately I don't have the recovery cd to help me. I also tried booting with the A: drive and using format c: but that didn't work either. Anybody out there have any hints or suggestions? Kind Regards, Philip Moogk

oldf@rt View Member Profile	Mar 29 2007, 02:12 PM Post #2
Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 2,609 Joined: 6-November 05 From: Avondale, Arizona USA Member No.: 39,726	Most HPs and Compaqs come with a recovery partition. This can be accessed by using the F10 key when the HP bios splash screen is shown on the monitor. hope this helps. -------------------- The name says it all -- 59 and holding permanently WARNING _{Links I provide might cause brain damage}

westislandbrewer View Member Profile	Mar 30 2007, 09:58 AM Post #3
Member Group: Members Posts: 28 Joined: 28-March 07 Member No.: 120,525	Hello, Could you guide me through this a bit. I pressed f10..got to the hp setup utility page. Where do I go from here to do the recovery partition? I have four headings file...storage....security....advanced....which one do I use? Kind Regards, Philip

oldf@rt View Member Profile	Mar 30 2007, 11:21 AM Post #4
Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 2,609 Joined: 6-November 05 From: Avondale, Arizona USA Member No.: 39,726	Is this a laptop? The F10 key has taken you into the bios, try the F11 key. -------------------- The name says it all -- 59 and holding permanently WARNING _{Links I provide might cause brain damage}

westislandbrewer View Member Profile	Mar 31 2007, 01:20 PM Post #5
Member Group: Members Posts: 28 Joined: 28-March 07 Member No.: 120,525	This computer is a desktop...F11 doesn't do anything....I called hp and ordered the restore cd and the o/s cd....I hope that will work....thanks for your suggestions.

« Next Oldest · Internal Hardware · Next Newest »

1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)

0 Members:

Display Mode: Standard · Switch to: Linear+ · Switch to: Outline

Track this topic · Email this topic · Print this topic · Subscribe to this forum

Lo-Fi Version

Time is now: 22nd November 2008 - 12:57 PM

Advertise \| About Us \| Terms of Use \| Privacy Policy \| Contact Us \| Site Map \| Chat \| Tutorials \| Uninstall List
Discussion Forums \| The Computer Glossary \| Resources \| RSS Feeds \| Startups \| The File Database \| Malware Removal Guides