Need help wiping an E-machine

[Murphy Durphy]

Hey guys. Someone from my work wanted me to take a look at his broken E-machine and try and get it going again. I figured it'd be a simple wipe, and I still think it probably is.

When I turn it on it allows me to get to the diagnostics stuff, but then it goes to repeating "Operating System Not Found". I went to change the boot to CD-Rom first, but it looks as though it's already set that way. I have a clear-hdd program on a cd that I've used to wipe mine and other computes many times, but it won't let me get to a point for which I can actually use it. It just repeats the OS Not Found message. Any ideas?

 

[alexXx]

why not put an xp cd in and boot to that.. delete the current partition. repartition, format, and install windows. why would you use a cd to wipe a hd..?

 

[Murphy Durphy]

Originally posted by: alexXx
why not put an xp cd in and boot to that.. delete the current partition. repartition, format, and install windows. why would you use a cd to wipe a hd..?

I had instances where a worm had infested itself on my HDD and the only way to really get rid of it was to wipe it first using a non-windows CD. I can't find my Windows CD right now so I wanted to try this first.

 

[Eli]

Uhh.. lol

Is this "diagnostic CD" bootable?

 

[KarenMarie]

are all emachines bootable to the same restore CD?

 

[Murphy Durphy]

Originally posted by: Eli
Uhh.. lol

Is this "diagnostic CD" bootable?

Originally posted by: HajikuFlip
I have a clear-hdd program on a cd that I've used to wipe mine and other computes many times, but it won't let me get to a point for which I can actually use it.

Eli, come on man... Read.

 

[The Stigenator]

hahaha..

go into fdisk (a low level command program for DOS) and turn your drive to Active. that's your problem. Your partition isnt active..

 

[EatSpam]

Go to the hard disk manufacturer's website and download their diagnostic tools and check the drive out. If its ok, write zeros to the whole drive and you'll be in good shape.