Reinstalling Pavilion a450n with Recovery CDs

[tacoeater]

I want to use the recovery cds produced from the HP Recovery Partition on a a450n pavilion. I would like to zap/format the partition with the old installation cause i never have had a desireable result when i recover over the old install. the only way i know to format the partition is to start an install with an XP cd then shut down after it has formatted with NTFS. Is this the only way to format just that partition or am i way off?
Then what I want to know is if i can then use the Recoverytools CD to boot and restore from the recovery partition onto a formatted partition?
thanks,
alan

[tealmaroon]

Hi there,

Download a Win98 floppy disk from here:- http://www.freepctech.net/files/WIN98SE.exe


Boot your system from floppy disk, if you are unsure how to do this consult your manual or change the boot order to floppy drive first (via BIOS - usually the DEL key). At the prompt, select boot 'WITHOUT' CD-Rom support, select option 1 and type FDISK at the command prompt. Delete or add drives using the simple to use menus as per requirements.

Also - please be aware that sometimes the recovery partition on some OEM machines is a requirement as some CD's only act as a booting method to get to the recovery program.