Reformat Messed PC

[radi0head]

Hey i've got this old computer(about 5 years) and its really messed up. It hasn't been reformatted since we've bought it and i think its about time. I've reformatted computers hundreds of times, but i'm having trouble. this computer will not restart in ms-dos mode, where i type fdisk, to reformat it. Is there another way to do this? I've tried typing fdisk into Run on the start menu, but it won't reformat will windows is running.

how can i reformat it, or where can i go for help?

 

[InlineFive]

If you are installing WinXP you can have it format the disk for you. It sounds like you are using 9x and I don't know of any other method to do it besides fdisk and the WinXP Setup Utility. If you can access a WinXP CD then you could use that a reformat it with FAT32.

-Por

 

[EeyoreX]

What OS are you running? I agree that it sounds like 9x, as Windows XP has no real DOS component. Regardless, you should be able to format from the CD or from the boot floppy. That is a better option than booting to a DOS prompt from the hard drive and formatting.

\Dan

 

[kursplat]

there's always bootdisk.com .
good luck

 

[NokiaDude]

Have Windows XP format it in NTFS if the drive is less than 36GB. What brand hard drive are you working with?

 

[NokiaDude]

Oh, make an MS-DOS boot disk. You should be able to make one in 98SE.

 

[Abhi]

I think in windows 9x....while booting up.... press F8... then go to command prompt...

Then format ....

 

[EeyoreX]

I think in windows 9x....while booting up.... press F8... then go to command prompt...

Then format ....

I am almost certain that this won't work. It's the same thing as trying to format from within Windows. The format will not run, as it would remove the command to format. I may be wrong in this case, but I am fairly sure I am correct. Boot disk or CD is the way to go.

\Dan