You have to boot from some other device than the hard disk to format it.
I assume that you have done this before by booting from the CDROM. When
you get to that point, delete any existing partitions and create a new
one. Then allow it to format the partion and proceed with the install.
This should take care of the MBR as well as the partition space.

Peter
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The NoSpin Group
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-----Original Message-----
I have a partitioned hard drive using XP home with NTFS.  The drive had
originally been formatted with NTFS - it has only "known" XP.  I
recently attempted to do a complete reformat of the drive in order to
re-partition and do a complete cleanup and reinstall.  I couldn't get it
to format in XP (C would not dismount) so I ended up using Maxtor's
powermax (it is a Maxtor drive).  I made the mistake (I think) of doing
a low level format. I repartitioned and reinstalled XP.  That is where I
stand.  I can't remove the Recovery Console following Microsoft's
directions.  When booting it stops at a black screen and asks for one of
two choices - one of which I can't see (the cursor will move up or down
but the one choice is not visible).  No matter which one I choose
however they both go into XP.  When shutting down the computer used to
shut off automatically - it no longer does.

Paul Ecclestone

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