I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
(C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.

I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.

So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
still there.

My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
see it, even though it is listed as an option.

I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?

gsulliv4 wrote:
> I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard
> drive (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got
> set, I don't know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from
> CD. I tried removing the battery for a day and a few other things to
> reset the BIOS. No go.
>
> I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable.
> When I enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the
> choice of "Boot from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
>
> So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from
> there. It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I
> tried a clean install, and all my XP files went away, but all the
> other garbage on C: is still there.
>
> My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well,
> it will apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says
> startup cannot see it, even though it is listed as an option.
>
> I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of
> how I might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean
> install of XP?

Tried this?

1.. Restart your computer.

2.. At the first text on the screen, or when the Dell logo appears, press
the <F2> key every three seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.

3.. When the System Setup screen appears, press the <Alt> + <F> keys at
the same time to load the factory defaults.
A beep sounds to indicate the defaults have been loaded.

4.. Check and, if necessary, reset the time, date, and year.

5.. Change the Secondary Drive 0 setting to Auto.

6.. Change USB Legacy Support to Enabled.

7.. Press the <Alt> + <B> keys at the same time to save changes and
reboot.

8.. Proceed with the installation or troubleshooting that you were
attempting.


--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"gsulliv4" wrote:

> I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
> (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
> know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
> the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.
>
> I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
> enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
> from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
>
> So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
> It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
> install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
> still there.
>
> My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
> apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
> see it, even though it is listed as an option.
>
> I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
> might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?

try tapping f12 (or f8-f11) while at the dell screen to open the boot menu.
If it allows you to get there, you may choose to boot from the windows CD and
format C

"PetardF" wrote:

> "gsulliv4" wrote:
>
> > I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
> > (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
> > know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
> > the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.
> >
> > I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
> > enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
> > from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
> >
> > So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
> > It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
> > install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
> > still there.
> >
> > My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> > external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
> > apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
> > see it, even though it is listed as an option.
> >
> > I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
> > might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?
>
> try tapping f12 (or f8-f11) while at the dell screen to open the boot menu.
> If it allows you to get there, you may choose to boot from the windows CD and
> format C

I've tried that. It doesn't give me the option to boot from CD. I've tried
it with several different operating systems. It only allows me to boot from
my C: drive.

"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

> gsulliv4 wrote:
> > I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard
> > drive (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got
> > set, I don't know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from
> > CD. I tried removing the battery for a day and a few other things to
> > reset the BIOS. No go.
> >
> > I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable.
> > When I enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the
> > choice of "Boot from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
> >
> > So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from
> > there. It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I
> > tried a clean install, and all my XP files went away, but all the
> > other garbage on C: is still there.
> >
> > My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> > external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well,
> > it will apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says
> > startup cannot see it, even though it is listed as an option.
> >
> > I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of
> > how I might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean
> > install of XP?
>
> Tried this?
>
> 1.. Restart your computer.
>
> 2.. At the first text on the screen, or when the Dell logo appears, press
> the <F2> key every three seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.
>
> 3.. When the System Setup screen appears, press the <Alt> + <F> keys at
> the same time to load the factory defaults.
> A beep sounds to indicate the defaults have been loaded.
>
> 4.. Check and, if necessary, reset the time, date, and year.
>
> 5.. Change the Secondary Drive 0 setting to Auto.
>
> 6.. Change USB Legacy Support to Enabled.
>
> 7.. Press the <Alt> + <B> keys at the same time to save changes and
> reboot.
>
> 8.. Proceed with the installation or troubleshooting that you were
> attempting.
>
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
>
>

Hitting <ALT> + <F> does nothing. When I hit <F2> during startup it puts me
in the main BIOS screen with a prompt for the System Password. Without that,
I can't change any of the settings. Hitting <ALT> + <F> on this screen is not
doing anything. No beep, and the password prompt is still there.

gsulliv4 wrote:
> I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
> (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I don't
> know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
> the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.
>
> I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When I
> enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
> from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
>
> So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from there.
> It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
> install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
> still there.
>
> My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it will
> apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup cannot
> see it, even though it is listed as an option.
>

Have a look at
:http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...m/syssetup.htm

This gives implicit instructions on how to remove the BIOS password on
a Dimension 8300.
> I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
> might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?

That should be explicit not implicit.

It's been a looooong week :-}

Hello,
After removing the bios, cmos battery, you must use a jumper to rest
the bios to default. See the motherboard manual for location of bios jumper
pins. Remove battery, Apply jumper for min of 5 secs and then remove,
Reinsert battery. Start puter and hit delete. If the password is gone you'll
get in. If you get in tell it to boot ftom cd rom only.
This is what my machine would require! Maybe work for you?


"gsulliv4" <gsulliv4@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6A553565-AB0A-4DC0-AC74-5A43711C2127@microsoft.com...
>I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
> (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I
> don't
> know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
> the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.
>
> I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When
> I
> enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
> from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
>
> So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from
> there.
> It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
> install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
> still there.
>
> My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it
> will
> apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup
> cannot
> see it, even though it is listed as an option.
>
> I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
> might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?

Or call Dell support

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Norman Frith" <spyknee@verizon.net> wrote in message news:OT$awIg1FHA.3856@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Hello,
> After removing the bios, cmos battery, you must use a jumper to rest
> the bios to default. See the motherboard manual for location of bios jumper
> pins. Remove battery, Apply jumper for min of 5 secs and then remove,
> Reinsert battery. Start puter and hit delete. If the password is gone you'll
> get in. If you get in tell it to boot ftom cd rom only.
> This is what my machine would require! Maybe work for you?
>
>
> "gsulliv4" <gsulliv4@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6A553565-AB0A-4DC0-AC74-5A43711C2127@microsoft.com...
>>I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard drive
>> (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got set, I
>> don't
>> know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from CD. I tried removing
>> the battery for a day and a few other things to reset the BIOS. No go.
>>
>> I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable. When
>> I
>> enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the choice of "Boot
>> from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
>>
>> So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from
>> there.
>> It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I tried a clean
>> install, and all my XP files went away, but all the other garbage on C: is
>> still there.
>>
>> My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
>> external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well, it
>> will
>> apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says startup
>> cannot
>> see it, even though it is listed as an option.
>>
>> I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of how I
>> might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean install of XP?
>
>

"GreenieLeBrun" wrote:

> That should be explicit not implicit.
>
> It's been a looooong week :-}
>
>

I hear you on that. TGIF.

Thanks for the link. I will give this a try tonight.