Reconfiguring/reformating

[p47jug]

I've been told that by reconfiguring I can wipe my HD clean and start fresh. I plan on giving my PC to my six-year old and want him to have as much HD space as he'll need (till he's eight). Thing is I'm not sure of the process to do this. I plan on reinstalling Win98 from a bootable disk and CD. I just don't know the DOS command to reconfigure (format).I've tried--A:\formatc:/s and couple of other variants similiar. But I keep getting -bad command. Any suggstions?

[Hardtek1976]

The PCGUIDE has a good artical on partitioning and formating a hard disk here at www.pcguide.com/proc/setup/hdd-c.html (http://www.pcguide.com/proc/setup/hdd-c.html) With the win98 startup disk you must choose option 1 with cdrom support and have your win98 cd inserted. This is because not all the necessary file can be put on the floppy.

Ron


P.S.
Backup anything on the drive that you consider important as it will be permantly lost. Also download any driver that you may require for sound cards, video cards, etc as it will make your life a lot easier than running around and trying to find them later.



[This message has been edited by Hardtek1976 (edited 01-01-2001).]

[Paleo Pete]

Quick Guide to a Win98 Fresh Start (http://www.hardwarehell.com/fdisk.htm) is very good also. The link posted above is one I suggest often as well, between the two you should be good to go.

The advice to back up anything you may need later is always very good.

Also, when you install, try to install other applications one at a time and test each one for a day to be sure it works before installing any more software, I always start with Internet Explorer, and make sure you install a virus scanner LAST, to avoid problems if you forget to disable it before an installation. (Make sure any downloaded zip files are checked previously, or install them after the virus scanner and make sure to turn it off during installations.)

That will alleviate many potential problems, since you have no idea which application causes trouble later if you install everything in one sitting. Usually it takes me about a week to get my system set up when I format and reinstall everything, and I have fewer problems that way by far. If anything causes trouble, you know where to look, since it was running great until you installed that last program...it's the culprit in most cases.

------------------
My hairdresser charges me a finder's fee!!

Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Hardtek1976]

Oops, having thought of a little bit more I should have asked are you when you shutting down going to restart in MS-DOS mode. No, this should not work. You should have to do a warm/cold boot with the disks inserted and make sure that your bios is set to recognize the A drive first. Sometimes when you do things you go to automatic and forget how to explain it.


Ron

[p47jug]

Thanks for the help. The first trick still had me wondering what I was doing wrong (format command). The second suggestion helped even better. My son is now the proud owner of his own (slightly used) computer.