want to format C drive, reinstall windows 98

[bt]

I purhcased a used laptop, and want to start fresh.

I went to DOS to format c: /u but got the error message the drive was compressed. I found drvspace3 and uncompressing the c drive. (126meg was compressed)

Am I correct in thinking that to format the c drive /u will is unconditional? or leaves utilites?

Should I do fdisk and put the os on the smaller partition. I took classes about this stuff 4 years ago, and forgot alot of what I learned.

Thank you in advance for your help!!

I have windows 98 OS that I have not used. I also own Windows 95. I also have windows NT 4.0. Maybe I should load that as it may be more stable?


[This message has been edited by bt (edited 06-03-2002).]

[sea69]

my first thought was /u meant "unattended"... or "unformat"...

But then again I'm no DOS guy- I always,


format c: /s

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



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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/index.html)

[iisbob]

I suggest you use the Debug utility ( it's in the ebd.cab on the 98 bootdisk ) and completely wipe the drive-then do a dual boot with 98/NT-just be aware that NT will read only a FAT partition ( not FAT32 ) so take that in mind when you do the install of 98.

if you ned instructions on using the Debug utility go to this post-Hard drive utility for everyone (http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000504.html)



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iisbob

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.-Mark Twain

[jasongomillion]

If you know how to reinstall a computer operating system and have no data on the drive, you can just use f-disk and blow out the partitions and re-create them. Again, if you have any data on that drive even in different partition back it up. It is very easy to delete the wrong partition. Not that I would do something that stupid. :-)

[bt]

I was able to format the c drive. Being a laptop with a swapable bay area for the floppy, and the cd rom, I may have trouble. I can boot to the start up disks, load the cd drivers on the C drive. then get to want to load the operating system, swap out the drives, and the laptop does not recognize the cd drive. now I am stuck. (I have the start up floppy, and the set up boot floppy. I decided to stick with 95 as I have all the support for the software, etc. I only need this laptop for email, and internet connection.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[mjc]

You should be able to use the sys command to make C bootable (from the a: with the bootdisk inserted the command is a:sys c:), then copy the CD drivers and autoexec.bat and config.sys (modify them as needed) to the hard drive, power down swap the floppy out with the CD and then reboot......the CD drivers need the drive attached to recognise it.

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

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

[bt]

I did the a:sys c: and it came back as

the system transferred

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

I forgot the copy command in DOS.

edit config.sys ? to edit the drivers?

[rond36]

To answer one of your questions

format /U Unconditional format. This switch was instituted in Dos 5 along with the "Unformat" command. In Dos 7.x the Unformat command has been dropped and all formatting is unconditional. This switch is therefore redundant but presumably maintained so that batch files written with it will not fail.

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How to Use Fdisk and Format to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q255867)
How to multi-boot Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gettingstarted/multiboot.asp)
Microsoft Expert Zone Multi-booting made easy (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/russel/september10.asp)
MSKB How to multi-boot Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q306559)

[mjc]

You will need to edit the autoexec and config.sys files from the floppy and then copy them and the CD drivers to the hard drive. The easiest way that I have foun is to use Notepad on another machine, do the edit and save the to the floppy, overwriting the existing ones. Pay attention to which files are needed for the CD drivers and copy them too.....or if you find that you don't need to edit the files then from the A: copy_*.* c:/ (space instead of the underscore) to cpy the contents of the floppy over. Or use a file name and extension instead of the wildcards (*).

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

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

[bt]

Thank you so much! That did the trick! I installed win 95 finally! I can't thank you enough!!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif Those DOS classes I took 100 years ago still come in handy!!

[bt]

re DOS: as I know the options are there, just can't remember the commands!



[This message has been edited by bt (edited 06-07-2002).]

[mjc]

Tryhere (http://www3.sympatico.ca/rhwatson/dos7/)....

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

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

[HeadachesAbound]

Just a future note...

If the Laptops BIOS supports boot from CD then you should be able to perform the procedure as follows:

1. Format the Drive with the Floppy.
2. Power down, switch in the CD-ROM.
3. Boot directly from the CD.

I have used this procedure countless times.

[bt]

I have the laptop working great. Used windows 95 as that is what I was more comfortable with.

Come to find out, the digital camera we want to use with the laptop requires windows 98. I have a licensed version and want to start all over and reinstall windows 98.

I don't have a start up disk for windows 98. I guess I could get one from my work computer. I have a start up disk for windows 95. Can I use that?

Also, can I save the drivers on the laptop first before I format the hard drive? What file are they located in?

Thanks

[Budfred]

If you can get a copy of the Win98 Startup disk, you will be better off. It is much easier to use as I recently found out with some help here.

Budfred