Some laptops are real sensitive when it comes to this sort of thing. They may involve recovery cd's and special drivers as well.
With a desktop, I just create a startup disk through control panel>add remove programs.
Then boot up with the floppy disk inserted. That should get you to the a: prompt
You can do the following command to format the hard drive "format c:/s" (don't use the quotes).
Now the hard drive is formated and the system files will be copied over to allow it to boot up to a c: prompt on it's own. You still won't have cdrom access though. The easiest way to get cdrom support is to bootup again with the startup disk that you made and select the option that lets you have cdrom support. That will install some temporary drivers that will let you use the cdrom to install windows.
Once booted up with cdrom support, I believe dos assigns "e:" to the cdrom. You can start the windows install by typing "e:install" again don't use the quotes.
This is one way to do it. If your just doin a format, there isn't any reason to go through the partition routine, since it's already been partitioned.
Hope this helps.
[ March 24, 2002, 09:24 PM: Message edited by: Bruce Evans ]
Posted by Joseph Gluchy (Member # 231) on :
Everything Bruce said is right on...but before you format, you should go into your BIOS to make sure that your boot sequence is first..."A", "C", "CD ROM"...This you do by holding down the delete key at the early part of your boot up...The screen will be black...once this is done, you will automatically be taken to Drive A. Do not forget that if the option "Boot with CD Rom Support,"appears,hilight this option. This will allow you to install Windows...This is for Win 98 or later OS versions. Good Luck... Joe Gluchy
Posted by Robb Lowe (Member # 2121) on :
For the best answer to this question, a little info would help.
What brand is it? What size is the hard drive? What OS are you wanting to reload onto it? What is on it now? Do you have anything on there you want to save, file wise, favorite places, fonts, wallpapers, etc? A format means everything is gone, forever. I say this not knowing if you're aware of that, better safe than sorry.
Posted by Santo (Member # 411) on :
2 questions to ask yourself. 1. Why do I have to format the hard drive? 2. Do I have everything I need to put back on the drive?
