Hard drive/booting up problem

[maclost]

Ok, so I tried to reinstall the system software 7.6 of my mac to try to solve the HD problem the disk doc is telling me about. At the end of reinstalling the program froze it said ...closing files... and the little and was counting then it just froze. So I did a forced quit and now all I get on the screen is the liitle mac computer w/ face on it and a chime. How can I get past this?
How can I wipe this mess out and reinstall the system software? I have a coflict catcher to help w/ some problems but need to boot first. OH! bty the disk doc just says there is a problem but not whats wrong how can I find this info?

[Buzz]

Okay.. I certainly hope there is nothgin on the drive you need becasue the best way to fix this is to wipe the drive entirely and start completely from scratch.

If there Is info on the drive you need boot from startup CD or floppy, To boot from a CD in system 7 insert the CD in the drive hold down commadn and delete while the machine boots up. Then backup all data you want onto floppies or some other removable media.

Once that's done run "Apple Drive Setup" that should be on the CD or boot floppy. Initialize your drive. Then reinstall the system and reboot.