command prompt when safe mode is not an option? help....
 

got a machine that i want to reformat. prob is, damn thing wont boot into safe mode at all. all it will do is start the boot up sequence and goes to the windows password prompt. i enter the password and it acts like it wants to start, but it then goes right back to that password box. i tried already re-ordering the boot sequence to do it from the cmos settings etc, etc, nothing is working to get the cd to start. i want to just reformat the drive and start over.

i think one of the things may be that some files for startup were damaged by this virus that it has. when the recovery starts it just stops and gets all hoooky koooky and goes to the windows log in box. not the one where you choose a user to start, but the actual admin password box that pops up.

oh well, any ideas?

boot from a setup cd


edit: just saw you tried...

hmmm....

put the harddrive in another pc and format it first - then put the empty hd back in and try again

plug in the pc

Did you double-check you have a bootable OS CD? You should be getting a 'Boot from CD.....' line coming up. Double-check the CD is still connected and powered properly. Try just having the CD plugged in and the HDD unplugged. You should still get the 'Boot from CD....' line before it says HDD not found error.

If you just can't get anything to work on it, try popping in a second HDD MaDalton has suggested.

Lolololol...

You're quite a tech, huh?

Sounds ... just sounds like maybe its not a windows password screen your hitting but a Bios admin password screen... in which case you'd have to pull the bios battery, and all electrical to get it to reset, then continue on your merry way...

Other would be find some boot mounting software, like MaxBlast that can unmount the installed hd, format, remount, and reboot to your WinXP, Vista, or (hopefully) Linux reinstall CD...

partition magic is your friend.

lol idk it always works for me. i just make a PM boot disk on a working comp throw the floppy or cd in the non working one and format through partition magic. but i see that you already changed the boot sequence and it still didn't work i don't knwo what to do.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Buy a hammer.

clean semen off the Motherboard