Assuming that the hard drive is in the Compaq and that it is the only 
hard drive in the Compaq and that it is already partitioned with only 
one active partition and that it does not have XP on it already and that 
the XP installation CD is not a proprietary one distributed from a 
computer manufacturer and that the BIOS is set to boot from the CD, just 
install XP from the installation CD. It will format the drive as part of 
the installation. As long as there are no hybrid components or devices, 
it should include and install the appropriate drivers. Just in case have 
the installation CD's ready for any components and devices in or 
attached to the Compaq.

As mentioned, the make of the computer will not make a difference to XP 
except for the drivers that it installs.

Tom Mayer 

[log in to unmask] wrote:
> No, I want to format the compaq which is not working and they don't  use.  I 
> know how to do it on this computer but wanted to know if there was  a 
> difference in the formatting of XP on different computers.  They would  have their own 
> XP cds.   Harriet
> -----------------------
> As far as I know the procedure would be the same, since both are using  
> WinXP.
> If you are trying to format a drive that the system is currently  running on, 
> I don't think you would be successful.  If you have the  WinXP installation 
> disk, you can go through the procedure of reloading XP  and during that 
> procedure it will ask if you want to repartition and or  reformat the 
> partition(s).
>
> I'm not sure just what you want to format,  so you have a rather "open" 
> question.  Are you adding a drive? Or do  you want to format the drive which 
> the system is currently booting  from?
>
>
>
>
>
>   

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