Hey everone!! We have this lap top made by Dell... We know we got some bad viruses and all. We figured we would re-install the operating sysyem back on. When we boot up form the disc, it starts the procedure and goes only for a few minutes then, something do with "corupt"and set up can't continue. We ried XP, Win 2000 and Vista, and we get the same error. So, I'm thinking its in such rough shape, that it needs a clean install some other way. Can a computer be re-formatted using DOS and then put the disk back in? Or is there more to this if possible... Thanks !

Yes, But I don't think that's the problem. If you boot from the CD and choose a clean install it formats the disk first.

So I suspect your hard drive is going bad and may need to be replaced.

Im thinking your right... I will toss the piece of junk out... With the price of a new one, makes sense to get one... Thanks

First you need to select from bios the boot secvence(put it on cd/dvd drive) then put the windows cd in and let the instalation go as planner if is not working with the windows cd try a linux live cd like ubuntu.