Need help with reformating my pc

Ok, so I was gonna reformat my pc.
I went to controll panel and uninstalled some programs like anti-viruses, games, and other programs which needs a cd-key
But I were so smart that I deleted my cd-rom driver too.
Yes, I know, Im stupid. :(

So now I cant even put in the windows cd's.
When I put in a cd, the pc just freezes or shut down.

I've searched around on google to find some tutorials, and they all basicly says that I need to boot my pc with my
"Windows Recovery CD" or my "Windows Recovery Floopy Discs".

The problem is that I dont only got one windows cd, I got 3.
And the tutorials says when its many discs, I need to put em in my floopy drive.
But you cant really put cd's in the floopy drive, can you? :rolleyes:

So the tutorials says that I need to boot my pc with my windows cd in, go to the bios settings and format the whole pc:
"format c:"

...And then start up my pc with the windows cd.
But Im too scared to do it because because, as I said, I deleted my cd-room driver.
So Im not sure if I will be able to start my pc with the cd's when I've formated.
Then I'll never get it on again and have to send it to reparation.

So I dont even know if the windows cd's work at all because I cant test them!

Hope someone can help!
Thanks

You can try and download the driver from the site of your cdrom drive maker.

I got SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-248F
Found the driver on samsung's website.
I downloaded a zip file with 2 files:
sfdwin.exe and R605EXP.bin

When I run the exe file, it tells me to open a bin file, which has to be the R605EXP.bin I downloaded.
I press ok, then it says I have to restart my pc.
I did that, but the cd room still freezes when I put in a cd, or even shut down the pc.
Yes, Ive tryed many diffrent cds so its not one cd thats messed.

Why not just set your BIOS to boot from CD and restart with the windows CD inserted?

When I put in a cd, the pc just freezes and sometimes shuts down.
If I restart the pc after it freezes, without taking out the cd, it wont start.
It just freezes at the "black system information window" when I turn on my pc.
So I have to take out the cd, and restart again.

So the problem is that Im afraid that If I format my pc, start it with my windows cd, I might not get my pc on again ever because the cd-room isnt working.

Anyways, as I said the pc freezes with a cd inserted when I turn on the pc, so I dont even get in to the bios settings when I got the cd inserted.

hmm your BIOS should be able to boot from CD long before your windows CD driver loads.
Are you sure the BIOS is set with the CD drive as the first Boot device?

By defualt floopy is first boot device, but I tryed to change it to cd-room without luck.
The cd-room still freezes.
I can always try again just to be sure though.

Ok I restarted my pc, went to bios settings and turned cd-room as first boot device.
Then I started the pc, putted in "Recovery CD 1" (of 3), then as explained before, my pc turned off.
When I started it again, at the "black system information screen" it said:
"Booting from CD:"
Or something like that.
Right after that, my screen went completely black and the pc freezed.
So I had to take out the cd and restart to start my pc again.

Your BIOS does not use the Windows driver, consider, before you installed your OS there WAS no Windows driver and yet you could still boot from your CD. If you could then, and can't now, then there is more to the story then you are telling. Simply deleting the driver will not cause the fault you are describing.

Ill try to explain as best as I can.

My first boot device: CD-ROOM
My second boot device: DVD-ROOM (dont know exact name)
My third boot device: Floopy

I got a "Recovery CD" set with 3 cd's when I got my pc.

It stands on it:
"This CD package can regenerate all the original programs and settings, which your PC was installed with."

So that must be my Windows CD's.

I had a lot of crap on my computer, so I wanted to reformat it.
I went to my controll panel, uninstalled a lot of programs.
But I must have deleted something I really shouldnt.
Now my CD-Room driver isnt working.
It did before I uninstalled a lot of programs.

When I put in a cd in my CD-ROOM the pc starts loading, a "timeglass" gets next to my mouse. Then it completely freezes and stops working.
So I have to restart my pc.
Sometimes the pc even shut down when I put in a cd.

If the pc shuts down, and I turn on my pc again, while the cd is still inside the CD-ROOM, the computer freezes at the black screen where you can access the bios settings.
So then I need to take out the cd, turn my pc off and on again to start it.

This means when I got "Recovery CD 1" in my CD-ROOM when I start my pc, I dont even get in to the bios settings. Because it freezes at the black screen where I can access it.

At defualt my first boot device was "floopy".
After changing it to "CD-ROOM", I came a little longer.
Now when I put the cd in the CD-ROOM, the pc shuts down as usual.
But, when I turn it on now, the black screen where I can access the bios settings doesnt come up.

Instead it comes a other black screen with some text which disapears so fast that I cant read it, but at the end it says:
"Booting from disc:"
Or something like that.

Right after it says that, the screen goes completely black and freezes.
So I get further, but doesnt help me anything to reformat my pc.

Thats everything I know and can tell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by XunTric

My first boot device: CD-ROOM
My second boot device: DVD-ROOM (dont know exact name)
My third boot device: Floopy

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Your DVD_ROM can probably read CDs too. Try setting it as the first boot device and putting your recovery CD in that drive then restarting. If it boots then your other drive is likely damaged.

As adrian has already pointed out, deleting a driver in the Windows environment has nothing to do with the fact that your BIOS should be able to boot from a CD. The driver for your CD/DVD has nothing to do with the BIOS code. Often companies will place a generic driver on the chips of the DVD/CD ROM so the BIOS can use that code to use the device and/or they conform to a generic BIOS standard so that BIOS's can run the CD/DVD reasonably well.

You could totally wipe both drives and it should still boot from CD. My guess is one of the following:

1. You do not have the full version of Windows XP.
- Note that in the past Microsoft had a bad practice of making the upgrade versions of their operating system install CD's NON-BOOTABLE. This meant that you had to have a floppy disk with at least a rudimentary portion of the boot code in order to access the install CD. You had to get the system up and running with the floppy. But it has been my experience with XP that this practice has been discontinued. Windows XP does not come on 3 CDs. It comes on 1 CD and that CD IS BOOTABLE for all versions (upgrade and full).
2. Something is wrong with the CD ROM drive.
- This could be cables inside of your system and/or BIOS settings that detect the CD-ROM. If the BIOS sees the CD-ROM on an IDE then it should theoretically work. Make sure you are not using the incorrect cable on your CD-ROM. CD-ROMs only work on Standard IDE cables - they will not work the hard drive cables. Newer hard drives have different cables to support ULTRA-DMA and faster throughput. Do not use these for the CD ROM. Note that the pinout is the same, but the hard drive IDE cable has more wires and thinner wires. The pin outs will plug into a standard IDE interface, but they are not standard IDE cables.
Use the right cable. This will cause the CD-ROM to be unresponsive, but it also will not show up in the BIOS.

More information is needed. Windows has nothing to do with your problem. I just wiped both drives and my system booted with the Windows XP Upgrade CD in the drive. As has been said, there must be more to this story.

Another thing struck me. He keeps on talking about a "Recovery" CD. I'm wondering if he had the OS pre-installed and the recovery disk is simply one of these things issued by Dell or Compaq which is pretty useless?

I have never had a "named brand" computer so cannot offer more insight then that, but I have heard others talk about these things.

As far as I know, you cannot do a reformat and a from scratch OS install from these things.

Yes, recovery CD's are a nightmare created by our proprietary 'friends' which are more like our arch enemies.

So XunTric, what brand computer do you have? You said you have three recovery cd's? is one like the operating system cd, driver cd, and applications cd?

>>As far as I know, you cannot do a reformat and a from scratch OS install from these things.

lol. which reminds me. my friend wanted me to "wipe everythign out" and reinstall windows and her software. She had a gateway computer. Prior to this, i never had experience with the recovery cd's, so out with the gateway manual it was! read a bit, didnt' look too different from regualar.
So basically, this is what the manual said:
to recover your computer back to when you first baught it, insert #1 cd, choose delete all files, then insert #2 cd and follow the instruction to re-install windows.
this is the funny part. 20 gig hd, 10 used. 5 sec later, "all files on your computer have been deleted." what a joke! I actually started getting mad.

Oh, and your right andrian, no option or step to format the drive. I don't even know what it did when it "deleted" the files. ':|

Quote:

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Oh, and your right andrian, no option or step to format the drive. I don't even know what it did when it "deleted" the files. ':|

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Rofl :p
I've actually formatted all 4 of my computers in the last week, and that kept on happening on the Media Center edition one. My suggestion: use linux to format for you :)

The recovery CD I got is basically just a copy of Norton Ghost and a disk image of the OS installed. It actually worked pretty well.

The 'recovery CD' is a big synonym for:

1. You don't actually own a copy of Windows XP - you own an installed image of it.
2. Everything you added to the computer since you bought it will be erased.
3. Since the driver's provided are proprietary if you have a driver problem you CANNOT go to the manufacturer of the device and get the drivers. You must go to HP or Compaq, Gateway or whatever messed up company you bought it from.
4. You cannot alter Windows in any way shape or form without using their stupid HP 'Hi I'm Bob and I'm going to help you....' wizards. Yeah Bob is a big help. He walked through the door for me, and crashed about 10 seconds later. Thanks Bob.

In a word - proprietary sucks like a big pile of poo. It's the worst invention of the century and the worst part of modern computers. Build your own or have one of the mom and pop shops in your town do it for you. It might be more costly but at least you get the CDs to all your components, your motherboard, etc,. and if you want to upgrade....just take out the old device and stick the new one in. So much simpler and you don't have to talk to someone from Tanzania or TimBuck2 to get the job done.

Be warned. Those proprietary companies integrate stuff into Windows so that it is not supported directly by Microsoft and so that your copy of Windows does not behave in the same fashion as a standard copy does. There are several lawsuits pending against these companies for these practices. I wouldn't have their crap if they paid me to take it home.

I doubt this is relevent at all, but when I read...

>>>
Moreover, attempts to uninstall the program proved difficult, as either his CD-Rom drive was no longer recognised or his computer crashed.
<<<

... in this BBC item my mind did wander back to this thread.