Formatting HD with XP Home

[dloreski]

Hi all.
I have a problem with my Pavilion desktop computer.
I ran the HP system recovery program where it does a quick format of the data portion of my HD and the computer still has bugs.
Basically as soon as it boots, it reports a major error and then shuts down and reboots again and again.
Being that HP doesn't give you a windows CD because they have the OS on a partitioned section of the HD, what do you think is the best solution.
Seems to me it would be best to format the whole drive and then install windows fresh. I suppose this would mean I need to purchase a new copy though?
- Dave

[pip22]

I would hate having to rely only on a recovery disc or recovery partition to restore a broken XP. I deliberately bought a nearly-new machine with no OS installed, then bought myself a 'proper' Windows XP CD with the money I saved. Never regretted it. Any problems, or I simply want to clear out all those junk files and start afresh, I just boot from the XP CD and get on with it. If your hard disk failed completely (and it's not as rare as you might think) you would lose everything including the recovery partition. I would bite the bullet and get yourself a proper XP CD. And if you have problems installing that on the same hard disk you've got now, I would budget for a new disk as well.