reformat hd in win2000

jsfiat

Senior member
Jun 29, 2001
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I installed wk2000 on a new maxtor hd. I realize that with nwhat I do, 98se is a better choice.
The o/s didn't have a driver for my sound blaster live card or my savage video card.

Now all I want to do is wipe the w2000 out of it and install 98se. I keep getting an error that says something like drive is locked. I have a ms-dos floppy, a floppy that came with the maxtor hd.
I tried going into bios and setting the the boot config to 1st, floppy, 2nd hd. then rebooted with the floppy in the drive and I get an error boot failed system halted. must be an easy way to do this thanks
 

ojai00

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2001
3,291
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Try booting with the Windows 98 boot disk if you have it. I had that problem happen to me, and it occurs randomly. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. I have no reason why though...hope this helps.
 

jsfiat

Senior member
Jun 29, 2001
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even with the 98 boot disk in, it still brings windows 2000 up. If I try to access the disk, it wants me to format it. I think it is the way I have the boot order in bios. anyone know what the right settings would be if I wanted the machine to boot up to the disk in the floppy drive?
 

Dan

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Make a set of four (4) Win2K boot disks. Load them and start to reinstall Win2K. You'll be given the option of reformatting the partion you want to install Win2K on. Reformat using FAT32. Then you can boot up with your Win98se disk (or Win98se CD) and install that OS.
 

obenton

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
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If you format a floppy using w2k it will not boot into DOS. Is that what you did?.
 

MedicBob

Diamond Member
Nov 29, 2001
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<< I think it is the way I have the boot order in bios. anyone know what the right settings would be if I wanted the machine to boot up to the disk in the floppy drive? >>



You need to get into your BIOS at boot-up. Watch the screen it should tell you what key to press.
On most BIOS, goto BOOT section. Then use arrow key to get down to the "removable drive" or device. Once on it use the numberpad + key to move it to the top, or first spot. Most BIOS have 4 boot spots. Removable, Hard drive, CD, and Network. That should be the order to boot from a floppy.

You can leave it that way. If the BIOS doesn't see a bootable floppy it then boots from the Hard drive. You can also move the CD up to boot from the CD 1st before the HD.

As always, If I am incorrect someone correct me,
Bob

PS Mine is set SCSI, then CD, then floppy. SCSI instead of HD/IDE
 

jsfiat

Senior member
Jun 29, 2001
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man, what a nightmare. I finally had to set the boot sequence to removable drive and disable the hd.
I then was able to put in 3 floopy disks called Microsoft MS-DOS 6.22 plu enhanced tools. After all disks were loaded, I was able to put in the 98se cd-rom and install. However, it won't recognize stuff like the pci mastering bus and files are missing etc. I tried setting up the disc again but it won't run. I am going to takr it into work tomorrow and have a guy look at it. I will bring all the discs, I can't beleive I am giving up but I just want it to work.
 

CSFM

Senior member
Oct 16, 2001
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Win2K does have drivers for the SB Live! cards included in service pack 2. I don't know about your video card though. I wouldn't go back to Win98. The main reson is that now I don't have to contend with DOS now I am using Win2K. Just my opinion though...
 

chaswood

Member
Oct 10, 2001
130
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I agree with CSFM about Win98 vs. Win2k. The latter is a far better OS, and does play with legacy hardware quite well. My old Sound Blaster Live card works great.

You can download the Service Pack 2 after installing Win2k, and the Savage graphics driver is probably available from S3:

http://www.s3graphics.com/

If you still want to install Win98se, then start fresh by using your DOS floppies and going to fdisk. Delete the existing partition(s), create new ones, and then re-format with fat32 using your Win98 floppies. There will be no way that you'll get anything but a clean installation this way.
 

CSFM

Senior member
Oct 16, 2001
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Ohh... don't get me wrong. DOS has still got it's purpose in life... I have an old P2 233 sitting in the corner running just DOS. So I wouldn't ever get rid of it. I am just saying that an operating system like Win98 build on DOS is just not a very good idea... thanks Microsoft for putting me through that torture for years! I like Win2k because it isn't built around DOS, plain and simple I think it is the best move ever made by Microsoft (dumping DOS). I have no machines running WinXP, but I have used it enough to know that it isn't as stable as Win2K.... YET, give it a year or so and it will be the No. 1 OS out of the 2.... Red Hat is better than them both put together.... but that is a whole different thread now isn't it. :p
 

Skibby9

Senior member
Feb 3, 2002
208
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the CDRom God bails me out whenever I have a hosed OS, regardless of file structure. It has fdisk and format commands, and of course pretty much all of the DOS cd-rom drivers you could ask for. I boot with this, load up a cdrom driver, and fdisk/format my hard drive, and copy the OS install files [\win98 folder for windows 98, or \i386 for NT or 2000 using mkdir, ie mkdir c:\i386 (enter) copy e:\i386\*.* c:\i386\*.* (enter) then type setup (or is it winnt?) and let er rip.] Be careful if you have an ATA-100 HDD on a promise controller--- use it in mode 4 or lower on a standard IDE channel, otherwise Win2K or earlier won't complete installation. I just change cables around on my Asus A7V133 to get UDMA 5 back after reinstallation.


If I'm babbling, it's because it's waaaaaay past my bedtime.
Good Luck!


EDIT: DOH! forgot the linkdownload the CDROM God here