Hi all, a friend of mine has an E machine, the ones that can be purchased from Dixons/Currys, what I would like to know is how do you I format the HDD, it seems to be protected and it is difficult to get DOS etc, any tips or help would be great...

Tia

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"What is now Proved, was once only imagined"

Get a bootable Windows 98 floopy for example and at the A:/ prompt type in Fdisk and when the selections show pick (4) View the Partition ..write down all that info and then press ESC and choose to delete the Partition which is (3) if my memory is correct..and when it ask for the Volume Name ,..i think thats what its called ..thats within the info you wrote down... enter that and continue..once u clear that partition press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot and follow the steps back to Fdisk and create a new partition ..option (1)..and this time when it asks for a Volume name just hit Enter for none..press ESC and the press CTRL-ALT-DEL to restart and boot from the floopy again and at the A prompt type FORMAT C and hit enter ..if it says thats invalid it may be FORMAT C: been a while sorry for the multiple choice. Once its formated if ya using a Windows 98 SE cd boot from that and select to Start Computer With CDROM Support and once it loads go to the drive letter assigned to the cdrom usually D:/ and just type cd\win98 and hit enter then type SETUP and hit enter to start the install. If it wont boot from a floppy and or CDROM you have to enter SETUP (Bios) and change it to do so ..usually by pressing the DEL key or F1 or F2 it should display how to enter SETUP during the post..if that doesnt show try pressing the TAB key as soon as it powers up.

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Good Programers never die they just don't C well.

OK, let's back up a bit...why do you want to format the drive? That usually means reinstalling the OS, and if this is related to a problem with the machine, we consider that a last resort only. Let us know what the problem is, chances are we can figure out how to fix it without a reinstall being necessary.

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If your nose runs and your feet smell...
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Hi peoples, thanks for the advice will try suggestions and report back

As for reason's, it would he wants to put winXP on but the system won't let him so then he tried to format the Hdd to get rid of the system but it wouldn't let him...

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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"What is now Proved, was once only imagined"

[This message has been edited by Darkan9el (edited 03-07-2002).]

What was the error when he tried to install XP?

And when he tried to format?



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mjc
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Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Hi all, It's sorted, apparently the bios was password protected so I got rid of the password, In order to install a retail OS instead of the one preinstalled at the factory, (IBM Aptiva) you have to fdisk using fdisk /mbr first, then fdisk the partition and let the winXP install rountine format in the file system of your choice. I am really impressed with that side of XP, all I had to do was keep pressing 'enter'

He is now a happy bunny, and skipping through green XP fields as we speak.

Excellent forum peoples, and thanks for any advice given, it did help and gave me different angles to look at.

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"What is now Proved, was once only imagined"