Formatting HD out of dos

[RSanders]

I just booted into DOS using a CD.. and now I need to find out how to format my hd with it.

Of course I am on another computer right now.

What I did is made an image from the bootable floppy that I made. Now I am stuck on what to do to format the drive.

Thanks

 

[DaveSimmons]

FDISK
FORMAT C: /S

or

FDISK
FORMAT C:
SYS

 

[RSanders]

I try those but it says Bad File Command.... I type in "dir" and it doesn't list format or fdisk.

So I realized that you have to have one of those files on there.. so I brought the floppy back and put format.com on there.. and burnt it onto a CD again.. then I went back and tried FORMAT C:\.... It said that you cannot run this in DOS... umm.. isn't that what it is used for?

LOL So I am stumped.

 

[MrChad]

Why are you formatting in DOS, out of curiosity?

 

[RSanders]

I have no other way to format my harddrive. 🙂 My computer restarts itself continuosly.. even when I put in my WinXP disk.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: RSanders What I did is made an image from the bootable floppy that I made. Now I am stuck on what to do to format the drive.

I try those but it says Bad File Command.... I type in "dir" and it doesn't list format or fdisk.

Try downloading a Win98SE boot disk with CD drivers from www.bootdisk.com

You need DOS versions of fdisk and format, not Windows versions.

 

[tfinch2]

www.ultimatebootcd.com

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: RSanders
I have no other way to format my harddrive. 🙂 My computer restarts itself continuosly.. even when I put in my WinXP disk.

You should diagnose your hard drive problem first. You don't want to format with a 9x/DOS disc; you'll be limited to FAT32.

 

[moonsite]

You can format from the WinXP cd. You don't need to use a boot floppy.

 

[RSanders]

Not with mine.. cause my computer restarts itself before I reach that point with the CD. I got that Ultimate Boot CD.. but I am scared to do it because I read where someone said that it would format in Fat32.. and it is in NTFS.. and can you go to NTFS from Fat32?

 

[Budman]

If your system cant even boot off the XP cd without rebooting itself then you have a bigger problem.

How will you install xp after if you cant boot off xp install the cd???

You need to find & repair what's causing your system to reboot while try to boot off a cd....

Maybe bad ram?? a bad cable ? ??

 

[RSanders]

Might be bad ram.. I am not sure. I just know I started copying driver files from another computer onto that one (don't ask why. 🙂 ) and then it gave me a blue screen while doing this.. then it started doing it.

BTW.. I can boot off of all other bootable CDs.. it is just that when I use the WinXP cd.. it starts loading files.. says press F6 for RAID drives (or something like that) at the bottom.. then it starts loading these files.. then it says Starting WindowsXP.. then it reboots itself again.