Most laptops have some factory restoration CD or restore from hidden
partition to original factory XP installation.
Again the mind meld thing with another MVP to another OP. Must be something
in the soup.

--
Jonny
"Dave Patrick" <DSPatrick@nospam.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23g7zrV$DGHA.2036@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Boot the Windows XP install CD-Rom.
>
> Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
> install the Setup and driver files. When the Microsoft Windows XP
> Professional screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows XP
Professional.
>
> Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms
of
> the license agreement and continue the installation.
>
> When the Windows XP Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
> partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
> disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
> existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you
must
> then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
> partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
> step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are
deleted
> press F3 to exit setup, restart the pc then when you get to this point in
> setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a
new
> partition and specify the size. Windows will by default use all available
> space.
>
>
> --
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "Nathan Sokalski" wrote:
> |I have a laptop on which I want to completely reset the hard drive, and
> then
> | put Windows XP back on. Although this sounds simple, I cannot remember
the
> | steps to completely reset the drive (I seem to remember something about
> | pressing some key combination during bootup, or something like that).
Can
> | someone please tell me how to reset the hard drive without leaving
> anything
> | behind, or possibly direct me to a site that gives instructions on how
to
> do
> | this? Thanks.
> | --
> | Nathan Sokalski
> | njsokalski@hotmail.com
> | http://www.nathansokalski.com/
> |
> |
>
>