formatting Laptop

I have a IBM T22 laptop with XP halfway installed erroring out. I want to get to a DOS prompt so that I can reformat HD and reinstall XP (new and Legal). How can I get there when the Laptop want to continually restart XP install and there is no Floppy Drive. Have changed boot sequence of devices in Bios (CDROM, HD, Removable Devices). I have the ability to burn CDs, and also have portable HD if it will help me get it the job done.

 

I have a similiar problem that I'd like some advice on. I have a friends laptop that won't boot. I don't know if it's a hosed boot.ini or what, but she wants me to fix it. When I start it up, it goes to a black screen with the HP logo and it asks to hit esc to change boot order, F2 to enter setup, or F12 to boot from LAN. If you actually hit any of those options, the computer freezes. If you wait, it gives the message Operating system not found.

I'm wondering if I use the boot and nuke if it'll still boot to BIOS setup or DOS or something and I'll be able to reinstall windows. The CD drive is setup as first boot, so it'll be able to read the nuke disk and do it's job.

 

took care of problem here is what i did. Made a bottable CD with Nero Express and my 98 startup floppy and made sure that Format was on the Cd. Went in to Bios Boot sequence and made sure Boot from CD Rom was first on the list. Then inserted cd into CD Rom and reformated the HD. XP Pro is running good.
Thanks for your help. I Hope this helps others with same problem