Reformat Vista without recovery disk?

[dagambler]

Hi there,

I have a Toshiba laptop (A350) running Windows Vista. When I start the computer it normally goes to a blank screen. If I tap shift while it reboots it will go to the safe mode screen approximately one out of ten times (the other times it does nothing but show a black screen).

I just want to reformat the hard drive and start over. The issue is that I don't have the original recovery disks (I can't even remember if I made them, it was a couple years ago).

I just want to reformat the computer and start over. I can deal with the loss of data.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can do this. I'm hoping I'll eventually be able to get myself to the c:

If all else fails, could I just install Windows XP? I actually have those disks.


Thank-you in advance for your help

[AnnMarie]

Hi dagambler. The laptop should have a recovery partition that allows you to restore to factory default (the state the laptop was shipped in). See here for more help. Failing that, you can order Recovery Disks from Toshiba for a small fee.

As far as XP is concerned, you would need to check on the Toshiba site to see if XP drivers are available for your model laptop. If not, I wouldnt.

[dagambler]

It's working great now, thank-you very much!

[AnnMarie]

That's good news dagambler and you are welcome.

[smithcth]

It's working great now, thank-you very much!