*Hurmph*

[FiddelStyckz]

I got a new computer but i NEed help!

I bought it without an OPerating System and loaded a WINDOWS ME disc i had.

Its all fine but the 40 gig hard drive reads as a 2 gig HD when i look at it in "my computer"

anyone know the problem?

 

[jcmkk]

You should go into fdisk and check out the status of the drive. You may have space partitioned off, but not formated. You could also use a tool like partition magic.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

How might i use fdisk?

I dont wanna spend all that money on partition magic

 

[jcmkk]

Make a windows startup disk, then put it in the floppy drive and restart. It will then boot from the startup disk. When it finally loads up the command prompt type in "fdisk" without the quotes. Then you can select to view you current drive information or something like that (I don't remember exactly what it says). If you see that you have unallocated space or a second partition that makes up the other space on your hard drive, then you know what the problem is. If this is the case, then come back and we'll explain how to fix the problem.

<<EDIT>> Here is a website that goes into a little more depth about fdisk.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

Thanks a LOT... how do you make a startup disk btw?

 

[DinoGucci]

i will tell you when i get home

 

[jcmkk]

It has been a long time since I've made a startup disk with a Windows OS of the 9x variety, but I will atempt to tell you by memory. Go into the Add/Remove Programs menu in the control panel and there should be a tab that says "Startup Disk" or something like that.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

yes, I saw it on the nice page you just gave me.


ill be right back, im gonna try it out

 

[FiddelStyckz]

ok, after a couple tries i got it ... I did "display partition info" and got this:


-



" Display Partition information...

Current fixed disk drive: 1

Partition------Status------Type ------Volume------Label------MBytes------System------Usage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C: 1--------------A--------PRI DOS----------------------------------2047--------FAT16---------5%


....... Total Drive Space is 38162 MBytes"



EDIT: Format got messed up

 

[BatmanNate]

You need to create a FAT32 partition and format it for the maximum size. Then, install WinME.

 

[fishingeek]

You can also get one here.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

<< You need to create a FAT32 partition and format it for the maximum size. Then, install WinME. >>



nice, but how might i do that?

also, does that mean i need to uninstall WIN ME, then reinstall?

 

[jcmkk]

I think that you can actually convert to FAT32 within windows and not have to do a clean install. Look through your system tools in the accessories menu, or right click the C: drive in My Computer to see if you can figure out how to do it. It is worth a try before you scratch your system and start from new. Best case senario for you is ditching Windows ME all together, and going with Windows 2000 or Windows XP (I prefer Windows 2000 myself). If you have a copy of Windows 98, I would go with that instead of WIndows ME.

 

[jcmkk]

You will most likely have to reinstall your whole operationg system. To do this, use fdisk to delete all of your current partitions, then create a new one (or multiple partitions if you want to). Make sure when going into fdisk you enable large disk support. After you get your partition made, restart and boot off the floppy again. When you get to the command prompt type "format C:", again, without the quotes. Then you should be able to reinstall windows with no problems.

 

[Harvey]

OK. So, if you want to use your entire drive as one contiguous drive C:\, you have two choices:

1. Delete the FAT 16 partition, and start over by booting from a startup disk. You may be able to use the one you just made. Better yet, before you wipe everything out, make a VERY simple bootable floppy that contains the system, FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM, SYS.COM.

To make a bootable floppy, from the DOS prompt, type FORMAT A: /S (which should transfer system on the fly), or FORMAT A:, then, when it's finished formatting, type SYS A:. Then, copy the other files I listed to that floppy. This is a disk you can use to boot, FDISK your hard drive, and format it.

Boot to the floppy, and type FDISK <Enter>. When it comes up, you will get a message that your drive is larger than 20 GB, and you will be prompted whether you want to use the entire disk space. Choose, Yes. That will set up the disk as FAT 32. Then, you can format the entire disk as one drive.

2. To avoid having to re-install everything, get a copy of Partition Magic, which can convert your drive to FAT 32 and format the rest of it on the fly. That will save you a lot of time, but you'll need the program to do it.

jcmkk -- Yes, Windows does have the ability to covert a disk to FAT 32, but I have never used it, so I don't know if it will also allow you to re-size an existing partition.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

Sorry for being such a hassle, but i have no idea what to do... I dunno how to make it a FAT32 and I dont have any other OS's

 

[jcmkk]

That post from Harvey probably just confused the crap out of you. It was all true, but you can disgard the part about making a boot disk. That is old school. The boot disk you made from within windows has all of the files that he stated already on it. You can follow his instructions after he gets past the parts about making a boot disk.

<<EDIT>> Here is the best guide I could find about doing a clean install.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

Ah, the last couple of posts cleared it up... I'll try those tips.

Thanks a TON jcmkk and Harvey.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

hehe, actually i kinda understood it. I figured the one i made was fine anyways so i didnt really concern myself over that boot disk part.

Anyways, one last thing... could I use the Win ME install CD i have instead of the floppy?

 

[jcmkk]

You'll need to use the floppy to delete your current partition and create a new one. After that you can restart and boot from the windows ME disk. They have a formatting utility built into the install disk so if you're afraid to do it the old fashion way, then you can use that.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

cool.

Again, thanks a LOT for your help guys... you dont know how much i appreciate it.

im gonna go try it out now

 

[jcmkk]

Good Luck!

 

[Harvey]

Yeah, I'm a bit old school. I forgot to add that I also add MSCDEX.EXE and a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT that sets up the CD-ROM. Then, to start setting up the system, you just call D:\SETUP.

When I want to do some simple checking around "under the hood," the problem I have with Windows rescue disks is, they always have too much stuff that takes too long to run. If you're not afraid of the DOS prompt, there are times when a very simple boot disk will allow you to access and fix a lot of things you can't do from Windows.

That's a lot more complicated than you need, and it's potentially dangerous, if you don't know what you're doing.

Anyhow, it look like you have what you need.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

Oh my god!!!!!!!!

You guys are gods!

Thanks so much - i cant tell you how much i appreciate it.

it worked!

 

[Harvey]

<< You guys are gods! >>

It's a fun job, but somebody's got to do it.