I have a dead T600 Thinkpad,  will not boot.  I don't care about what
is on the hard drive...how do I format the hard drive and reinstall an
operating system?

Hi cardiorob-ga,
 
Putting in a new operating system requires a bit of command line
background...once you've done it a couple times you'll find it quite
easy. The steps are outlined below:
 
FORMAT HARD DRIVE:  
  
You will need a boot disk to proceed with this step. However, if you
are planning to install Windows XP you are able to boot directly from
the CD.

Instructions on creating a boot disk are as follows (you'll need to
put a
floppy disk in first). Of course you can do this on another system:
 
"Windows XP Professional will create an MS-DOS boot disk. Just right-
click Drive A in My Computer and choose Format. When the Format dialog
box opens, select the 'Create an MS-DOS startup disk' check box and
click Start."
 
http://www.itworld.com/nl/win_admin_tips/09282001/ 
  
1. Restart the computer and continuously hit delete while on the black
start-up screen to enter the BIOS menu options. 
  
2. Go to BIOS Options (or something similarly worded depending on your
motherboard brand) and change Boot Sequence so that A: is listed 
first (CDROM should be listed first if you are booting from CD). This
can generally be done using the PGUP and PGDN keys.
  
3. Save your changes and exit. Be sure to put your boot disk (or CD)
into the
appropriate drive before restarting. 
  
4. The system will boot from the floppy drive (or CD) and you will get
a DOS
prompt. If you are asked, you want to boot with CD-ROM support. 
  
5. From the command prompt type:  
         format c:  
   (I'm assuming that your C Drive is the one that currently has your
current installation)
  
Your hard drive is now completely empty.
  
INSTALL FRESH COPY OF O/S 
  
6. Once complete (it will take a few minutes), type:  
    D:  
   (assuming that the D Drive is your CD-ROM drive)  
  
7. Type:  
         setup  
  
You will now be navigated through the O/S installation 
process. This is not difficult (just follow the prompts), but remember
to remove your floppy disk (if this is what you used to boot the
system) and to change the boot sequence back to C:, CD-ROM, A:. This
just means it will boot up from the hard drive again after the O/S has
been re-installed.
  
Cheers!  
  
answerguru-ga