Switching the Master to Slave jumper

[HardtailStrat]

Yes, I agree, because as little as I know about computers, I remember using DOS a lot in the early 80's in middle school.

You know, there isn't a single thing on that computer, and frankly, if I could wipe the entire thing clean, like it was when I got it, I could just reinstall the OS--only ONE time, this time--and start from scratch.

Is there some kind of command or process that will allow to wipe both OS's from it, and just start over?

I feel pretty lame for doing this to myself.  

[patio]

I'm kinda stubborn and will work a problem until i get it right even if it's just to learn how...
But if this is the way you want to go you can do the following:
Remove both the power and IDE cables from the slave drive.
Re-boot to your XP CD with only the master drive attached.
In Setup choose delete and create new partition; this will wipe the drive clean.
Do a full install of XP, add any drivers you might be missing and do a few cold boots making sure all is running well.
Re-enter the BIOS and make IDE1 your first boot device and reboot again making sure all is well.
If so you can now power down; hook up the second HDD as slave as before and re-boot.
Then you can use the tools in disk management to properly format and partition your slave drive.
That drive will now be clean and properly formatted.

patio.  

[HardtailStrat]

Hi patio,

Ordinarily, I would do the same thing, staying after a problem until I figure it out.  I do like a good challenge, tho...just maybe not this one...silly, I know.

Part of what had had me dragging my heels on this, is that the floppy drive I need to use is here at work, to get the bootdisk...the PC I use at home for the internet, doesn't have a floppy drive, and the PC I'm using for the music, isn't connected to the internet.

I'm sure there's a way to get around the problem there, but it's crunch time for me at the moment, and need a quick fix, so I can start learning all this software to write music to this movie I'm working on.

You really are a HUGE help, patio.  Thanks very much.  I'm sure this'll do it.  

[patio]

You're more than Welcome and kudo's to you for your sticktoitiveness...

patio.