question

cobra · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 4:11 pm Post subject: question

what's the command in dos to completely format the hard drive.

reason i'm asking is cause i have been given a comp here that has been formated but i think something went wrong. it gives me an memory error when i boot it up.

then i get 2 blue fields on the bottom. one saying press F1 to boot and the second says press F10 to enter system setup. well the second one doesn't do a thing.

when i press the F1 key it boots and for a sec i get the windows98 field and then i just go to dos. from there i can't start win.

another strange thing is that it will not let me use the cd writer.

any suggestions??
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SpeCies · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 4:50 pm Post subject:

format c: /u

c: = the drive /u= Unconditional wipesout everything
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SpeCies · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2003 4:52 pm Post subject:

this is done at the A:\ format c: /u

/u unconditional <recommended>
/s copies the system of a Boot Disk
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cobra · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 2:39 am Post subject:

that command ain't working. i already figured that that was the command but it ain't working.
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sharkbyte · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 8:42 am Post subject:

Cobra, I think I know your problem...

First, you must boot to a floppy disk. You are getting booted to a command prompt, which is not truly a DOS prompt. Win98 WILL NOT allow you to format c: when you booted to c:.

Create a bootable floppy, or rescue disk. Make sure you bring over the format.exe file (does not normally appear). You can find this is your Win98 folders. Do a search for it, but I'm thinking 98 had an old DOS commands folder.

Once you have booted to the floppy (a

then you can format c:.

You really shouldn't need any switches except for one very important point.......

Can the machine boot to a CD?

If it cannot, then you will have to plan to format the drive, then also get a boot disk which has the files to load your cd-rom. Also, in this instance, I would recommend using the /s switch when formatting the drive.

If you can boot to the CD, then it shouldn't matter. Format the drive, dump in the Windows CD, and go.
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cobra · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 8:48 am Post subject:

thx sharkbyte i will try that out tonight.

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Bright Red Nipples · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 9:33 am Post subject:

I just learned something here today. Thanks for the lesson Shark

.

I've been thinking of getting another harddrive for my comp. I currently have a 40 GB but it's gettting close to filling up, at least for me it's close. When the time comes I'll try to catch up with ya Shark to make sure I do everything right

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Vulcan · Registered User Joined: 29 Dec 2001 Posts: 2773

If you have trouble booting from either a floppy, you might have to change the settings in your bios for boot order. If you really need to do that and don't feel comfortable in your bios, ask for more help.
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sharkbyte · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 2:11 pm Post subject:

I knew all those reformats I did, as a kid, on my 8086 and 286 would come in handy.

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