Do you guys happen to know which key to press to start dos instead of starting Windows when you boot your computer? Cause i'm trying to reformat my hard drive with win XP installed in it, i've tried pressing F8 and also holding ctrl but it still wouldn't work...

The only way I know of, is if you're running Windows, shut down in MS-DOS mode.

how do should down in ms mode? did i accidentally disabled that function? cause i can't find it...

you will need a DOS boot disk for that. Also, DOS was finally removed from Windows in v 2000. The command prompt terminal is an emulator. Do a search for Free DOS - it is free for download. Make sure you have a full version of Windows to boot from. Upgrade versions don't take kindly to other versions of DOS, and require a valid MS OS disk besides.

Well, I have Win98, and when I go to shut down I have the options of:

Stand by
Shut down
Restart
Restart in MS-DOS mode

i meant the one where you can choose the safe mode and stuffs like that...cause before i have entered the safe mode by pressing some key that i have forgotten(win XP)...

Is there a better way to format your hard drive without going into dos mode?

Also i have win XP UPGRADE, i don't have the full version.

Safe mode is usually when you computer has the possibility of being instable. I wouldn't recommend this, but try restarting your computer manually. Like I said, I do not recommend this.

still requiring assistance...

Holy avenger i'm not really sure if you *can* anymore. Unless you're computer has some sort of serious error. Than you'll have the normal, safe, and start in MS dos mode. Not to clear on this. Why again do you need to *start* in Ms dos mode?

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/johnny/david.gif
http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/john...d2.2173152.gif

<font color="lightblue">You don`t need to start at the DOS Prompt to format...
Start -> Run -> CMD
Put a boot disk in.
Type:
</font>CD (driveletter): <font color="lightblue">Press enter.
Where (driveletter) is the letter corresponding to the drive the boot disk is in (A if it`s a floppy, usually D if it`s a CD ROM)
Type: </font>
Format C:
<font color="lightblue">Your computer will now reformat. [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>