I have an older HP176, running win 2000 pro. system is installed 3, yes three times, only one works and I need to format and start over. I can't do it with installed dos, it asks for volume info and won't take what astra sys info says it is.

How can Iformat it?

local shops want $125.00, and as a homeless dis vet I can't afford it.

This will have the tools you need, for free.
Ultimate Boot CD for Windows

with my wireless connection it took forever to download.

In the meantime I found a MSN site thad explained how to make a boot disk(4 floppies) from my system CD.

Works great, I was lucky my laptop was old enough to have a floppy drive.

Shalom, a bondservant,david