Ok, I have WinXP Pro on my computer. I have 2x20GB West. Digital Harddrives.
Now I wish to format C drive, but theres no way I can do it. I remember with Win98 you could run in MS-Dos and just format C as long as you had a bootup disk and then just reinstall windows that way.
I cant think of anything else to try. I installed XP on the D drive, booted up through there and attempted to format C, and it still wont let me do it.
PLEASE Help!!!
-Mith
http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
Use the 98se boot disk
Boot and use fdisk to blow out the C drive partiton - recreate the partition - reboot then format with the “format c: /s” switch
Make sure the drive you are re-setting the partion on is the C drive - It might actually best to disconnect the D drive while you are doing this to minimize errors.
UMMmmm…unfortunately Im not 100% what you mean.
Can you dumb it down a bit more for me? step by step please??
Thanks
-Mith
If you click on and download the win98se boot image from the linked site you can then execute it and it will create a boot floppy with that OS (WIN 98se) and DOS utilities on it.
Boot with this disk (make sure your BIOS is set to boot the floppy first)
Execute the program “fdisk” (type “fdisk” and hit the “enter” key) which will be on the floppy. This gives you a basic DOS menu to delete or create partitions. Follow the menu options and delete the existing partition on C. Then create a new primary partition on C. Reboot with the floppy still in place and then format the partition with the command “format c: /s”
There are spaces between “format^C:^/s” in the command (not sure how this si showing in SDMB display format)
sweet…I will give that a shot
if you dont hear from me for a while…its working 
Have you tried booting from the CDROM with the XP CD? 99.999999% of the time you can go in and delete partitions, add partitions, and format. Even the C Drive.
I’m not sure what exactly you’re trying to do. Do want to install XP onto the C drive, or do you just want to format the C drive so that Windows will recognize it?
You can format any drive on XP. There are certain restrictions. You have to have sufficient access privileges, which may require you to log onto the computer as an administrator. You may still not be able to format the disk if you have files open on it.
Also, as a hint, though this probably won’t solve Mithgard’s problems:
[ul]
[li]If you do a LOT of this type of stuff, get Partition Magic.[/li][/ul]
It’s been said you can use the XP CD. In case you don’t know how, you can try this:
Good advice, but you should also post how to boot off of CD!
For those who may not know, it’s a BIOS option. If you put in a CD that you think should boot, and it doesn’t, go into your BIOS and look for boot options. You may see it as an option to boot from CD, or it may be in “boot sequence”. I set boot sequence to floppy - CD - harddrive
Joe
ok ladies and gents,
I followed Astros instructions, and got fdisk, set up new partition, put win98 startup disk in it, installed those drivers, and then I put the WIN 98 cd in and it get stuck at “intsalling windows drivers…this may take several minutes” or something to that effect.
Worst part is, that I cant even boot up through my D drive any longer…so i basically have one useles expensive computer just sitting here.
Any ideas as to why i cant do ANYTHing right now??? Please help
-Mith
1: Unplug drive D from the drive cable until the 98 install is completed.
2: Remove any USB devices connected to the PC
3: Remove the modem card and sound cards (if they exist as PCI cards)
4: Make sure that the onboard comm ports are set to be defeated in the BIOS (unless you are using one of them)
5: Once the basic Win 98 install is completed shut down and install the sound card. Reboot wth the sound card installed and install the appropriate drivers.
Do the same with the modem.
Only plug the USB devices back in after 98 is installed and fully updated.
XP is a version of windows NT (2000 is NT 5, XP is NT 5.1). All version of NT use a boot loader and a config file called boot.ini on drive C. They aren’t too happy if you remove the boot loader on them. I think if you boot from the XP CD and do a repair that it will fix everything, including the boot loader, but I’ve never tried to restore the XP boot loader so I’m not sure.
If you can boot from a floppy, or one of your CDs will let you get to a command prompt, then copy everything from the windows 98 CD to the C drive. Put it in a folder called win98 or win98cd or something so you’ll know where it is. When it goes through its installation and looks for the CD, just point it at the hard drive versions of the files instead. This will get you around any problems of accessing the CD while it’s trying to install drivers. If you install from the hard drive in the first place it will never ask you for a CD. I think there’s a line in win.ini where you can set the location of the install files, which would allow it to always look on the HD even though you didn’t install it from there.
This seems like a good place to ask: If you’re doing a fresh install of Windows, how do you get all the drivers loaded for the important peripherals like the video card, the display, and the CD drive? If those drivers aren’t loaded, how can you even start the installation of Windows? It seems to go in a circle, but there’s obviously something I’m missing.
Cardinal. WindowsXP comes with all the basic drivers you need for video, sound, lan cards… It installs them in the beginning of the installation. They are only basic drivers though, enough to install windows. So say you have an ATI 9600XT video card. You can be fine with the installation, Windows will install a basic VGA driver for it. After you install windows, just go to the ATI website and download the latest drivers. Install them, and you’re set. It’s recommeded that you download all the drivers you intend to install before you format though, so you’re prepared.
With some types of BIOS (I forget which and I’m too lazy to look it up), it is optional on holding down a specific key (I forget which…) during the boot sequence; if there’s a message ‘Hit <some key> to boot from CD’, then the user need not actually go into the CMOS setup (this is generally a good thing).
well…$110, a new 450W power supply later…my comp is up and running again and everything is working as it should…*sigh…so much for going camping next weekend :’(
I think im def gonna stick with Win98…at least I know my way around with this one over XP
-Mith
Ummmm… WIndows hasn’t needed drivers for CD-ROM drives since Windows 3.x. Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000 and XP have built-in CD-ROM drivers that should work (at least on a basic level) until the installation is done.
When I used to rebuild systems a lot, I used to download the network (or in even older days, the modem) drivers to a floppy. That way I would at least be able to get online and download any other drivers I needed - although XP can detect most of the hardware I ran across and at least install a basic driver (for example, most any NVIDIA Geforce card or Creative SoundBlaster card).
To format a drive in XP, all you’ve gotta do is right-click on My Computer and select “Manage”, then click on the “Disk Management” applet. From there, right-click on the partition in question and select “Format”. As others have mentioned, formatting your C: drive will kill the bootloader, so make sure you have the XP install CD handy (well, in the future I guess, as you’re apparently going back to 98 :smack: ). You’d need to boot off the XP CD and select Repair > Boot.