i have tryed to format my hard drive useing win xp disk and it says it can not be formated is there any other way to format it with out a disk
Can you add it to another computer? That is what I do that is the easiest way to set up a HD. If you have access to the internet, maxblast can be downloaded from Seagate. That will partition and format/clone large disks. That is a great utility just to keep in your 'tool box'. That will not work as a DOS routine from a boot disk. Since you do have the internet they have a bootable tool SeaDOS however I don't remember if that will format.
Using the XP disk, boot to a command prompt and use diskpart to setup the partition; then you can use the format tool.
Im also have trouble reformatting. I have a dell dimension e510 and evry time it boots it past the windows eblem on the startup screen it freezes on a random picture in the back ground and thats it . Other times itll go to the log on screen but no prompt to enter a password but when you hit cntrl+alt+delete it does give you a prompt. However I beleive that when you try and boot from a disk that shouldnt even matter. N thats the problem its not reading the cdrom either. PLease heLP!!