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reformat hard drive



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 2nd 04, 08:05 PM
jody
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default reformat hard drive

It's been a long time since i've done it in Windows 98 and
can't remember where to get started. Can you help? I think
this is the only thing that will fix my problem.
Thanks
  #2  
Old July 2nd 04, 08:30 PM
Ron Badour
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Posts: n/a
Default reformat hard drive

Maybe you ought to tell us what the problem is and see if we know how to fix
it. To answer your question:
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html


--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"jody" wrote in message
...
It's been a long time since i've done it in Windows 98 and
can't remember where to get started. Can you help? I think
this is the only thing that will fix my problem.
Thanks



  #3  
Old July 2nd 04, 10:44 PM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default reformat hard drive


-----Original Message-----
Maybe you ought to tell us what the problem is and see if

we know how to fix
it. To answer your question:
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html


--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo


It is a Gateway 2000 originally with windows 95 and
upgraged to 98. the machine was donated to our charitable
group. I am trying to network it as an original
workstation. It will not network or go on the internet. It
says it has files missing. I have installed my windows 98
disk 5 different times and various other things. The
people that donated the machine didn't send the upgrade
disk. The anti virus software I installed found and
removed a virus. From my experience in the past when I had
virus damage my tec support walked me through re-
formatting the machine. I remember how to do it on the dos
machines but not windows 98. If you can help please do.
the machine is not worth what tec support would cost. It
will be used mostly for email, internet, calendar, and
word processing occasionally.
Thank you

"jody" wrote in

message
...
It's been a long time since i've done it in Windows 98

and
can't remember where to get started. Can you help? I

think
this is the only thing that will fix my problem.
Thanks



.

  #4  
Old July 3rd 04, 12:46 AM
Jeff Richards
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default reformat hard drive

If there is suspicion of virus, and if there is nothing on the machine you
want to recover and if you are making such a large change to the way it is
being used then re-formatting is justified.

It is done in Windows the same as DOS - Boot to a DOS startup disk and do
FORMAT C:

However, some preparation is worthwhile, so it would be best to follow the
procedure at the site Ron referred you to.

I would strongly recommend running hardware diagnostics for at least a day
before attempting to install the OS - you can waste a lot of time playing
with errors that turn out to be hardware, especially when you don't know the
history of the machine.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (DTS)
wrote in message
...

-----Original Message-----
Maybe you ought to tell us what the problem is and see if

we know how to fix
it. To answer your question:
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html


--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo


It is a Gateway 2000 originally with windows 95 and
upgraged to 98. the machine was donated to our charitable
group. I am trying to network it as an original
workstation. It will not network or go on the internet. It
says it has files missing. I have installed my windows 98
disk 5 different times and various other things. The
people that donated the machine didn't send the upgrade
disk. The anti virus software I installed found and
removed a virus. From my experience in the past when I had
virus damage my tec support walked me through re-
formatting the machine. I remember how to do it on the dos
machines but not windows 98. If you can help please do.
the machine is not worth what tec support would cost. It
will be used mostly for email, internet, calendar, and
word processing occasionally.
Thank you

"jody" wrote in

message
.. .
It's been a long time since i've done it in Windows 98

and
can't remember where to get started. Can you help? I

think
this is the only thing that will fix my problem.
Thanks



.



  #5  
Old July 3rd 04, 09:28 PM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default reformat hard drive


-----Original Message-----
It's been a long time since i've done it in Windows 98

and
can't remember where to get started. Can you help? I

think
this is the only thing that will fix my problem.
Thanks
.


You have to start your computer up with your Windows
startup disk on a floppy drive. That will give you CD rom
support so your CD will go online when it starts in DOS
mode. If you dont have a startup disk you can make one by
going to Contol Panel Add or Remove Programs
Startup Disk Tab at the top. That will make you a

bootable floppy. Then you need to be sure that your A
drive is the first drive in the boot order inside your
computer setup, accessed when you first start the computer
in the first few seconds, keep pressing either F1 or F10
depending on the machine or sometimes DEL and you will get
into the bios setup where you want to look around till you
find Boot Order and if A drive isnt first, then follow the
prompts to make it first, then go to exit and save.

Now shut down the computer. Put the bootable floppy into
the A drive and start the computer. It should boot up
from the A drive and not the hard drive and give you the
option to start with CD rom support which you want to
choose.

Watch the screen as it scrolls info, but most systems the
ramdrive ends up being lableled as D and the CD rom get
the letter E. When its done booting up youll be looking
at a dos prompt with the letter A:\ Type D: and
press enter. You should now be at a D:\ prompt. Now
type DIR and press enter and you should see files scroll
up the screen, one of which is "Format.com". When you see
that now you can type at the dos prompt the following
string exactly. format c:/s This tells the
system to reformat your hard drive and put the bootable
startup system files onto the drive when finished
formatting. This takes usually 10 to 30 minutes depending
on the size of you hard drive. You will get a warning
that you are about to lose all information on drive C:
ARE YOU SURE, and then say yes.

When the format is all finished, it will let you give a
name to your hard drive up to 11 letters, or no name at
all, then press enter and restart your computer with the
floppy still in the drive. Again start with CD rom
support as your choice, and when its all booted up and at
an A;\ prompt then you caught which drive letter got
assigned to your cd, I hope. If not start the system
again and watch closely. If it says near the end of the
bootup that your CD got the letter of E: then at the A:\
prompt type the following: E:\setup and press enter.

The CD will start spinning and prompt you on from there.
Hope that helps. If you need any talking thru it I can be
reached at 415-370-3288.
  #6  
Old July 4th 04, 12:04 AM
TR
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default reformat hard drive

schreef in bericht
...
It is a Gateway 2000 originally with windows 95 and

upgraged to 98. the machine was donated to our charitable
group. I am trying to network it as an original
workstation. It will not network or go on the internet. It
says it has files missing. I have installed my windows 98
disk 5 different times and various other things.


If that is the problem: which files are missing?
My guess is some communicationsfiles are missing.

Take a look at:
Configurationscreen - software - tab windows setup - doubleclick on
"communications" and place a checkmark before all items. And click your way
back by clicking OK.

Grtz,

TR


 




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