Member Avatar for keithcojo

Hi, I'm sort of new here. I'm not really laptop smart but I know a little about computers. However, This is my question.

Can I remove the hard drive from my laptop, then format it, reinstall my windows then reconnect my hard drive? Is this even possible or does the installation of Windows need the hard drive to be in the laptop for installation?

The problem I have is that I have an error (svchost.exe) when Windows starts to the login menu. I click cancel and nothing happens, the login menu just keeps coming up. My laptop does not work in safe mode or regular mode. I had taken it to a laptop store and I told the guy it was svchost.exe and he said its a virus. My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 6400. I've searched all of the internet to fix this problem and came up with nothing. Also I have Windows XP Home/SP2 disc. I hope that Someone can help me resolve this problem with the information I have provided. Thank you very much for your time!

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Member Avatar for Salem

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/a/biosaccess_pc.htm
Scroll down to the Dell bit.

When the machine powers on, press Del (or other combination) to enter the BIOS.
On one of the pages, there will be an option to set the boot device order. It's probably set to something like "C only".

Anyway, you should change this to something which has "CDROM" appearing before C.

Having done that, you then do "save settings and exit", pop your XP disk in the CD drive and reboot. That will then boot the windows installer off the CD.
One of the options you should be presented with is "Repair".

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