slow laptop needs to be formatted, please help!

djshowdowndjshowdown London
edited June 2005 in Science & Tech
i have a fairly old laptop that i need to format

i want to absolutely wipe it and just have win 98 se on it

i would put xp on there but it wouldnt cope


my question is what is the easiest way of formatting my c: drive

i have the windows 98 disc if this helps

thanks ppl :thumbsup:

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2005
    Try the Windows 98 SE Custom, No Ramdrive disk from www.bootdisk.com . Once you boot from it just run the Format C: command.

    I would make sure that you have a list of all the hardware before you format. Tracking down laptop devices can be a pain. Make sure the boot disk works for your cdrom drive, too, or you'll be up a creek when you go to reinstall. :p
  • djshowdowndjshowdown London
    edited June 2005
    "Once you boot from it just run the Format C: command."

    clearly i havent explained the fact that i am fairly good with sorting out my little windows niggles but when it comes to commands and stuff like that i know NOTHING!

    could you walk me through how to do it please :thumbsup:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2005
    The file you download will make the floppy for you all by itself. Just put a blank disk in the drive and double-click it.

    Then, make sure that the floppy drive is set as the first boot device in your bios. Put the disk in the drive and reboot the computer. Once it's booted, you should see a command prompt which looks like this:

    A:\

    Type in Format C: and hit enter. It should ask you if you're sure and remind you that all data on the drive will be lost. Just continue the process until it says that it's complete. :)
  • djshowdowndjshowdown London
    edited June 2005
    and will this wipe everything?

    i basically need to get rid of everything on there so it is 'as new'

    will this do the trick?
  • djshowdowndjshowdown London
    edited June 2005
    ok i have done this

    it said enter volume label or press enter to leave blank

    i pressed enter

    no it just shows

    A:\>

    what do i do?
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    you just formatted the drive.

    type "d:" (no quotes)

    the prompt should change to
    d:\>

    type "setup" (no quotes)

    follow the instructions.
  • djshowdowndjshowdown London
    edited June 2005
    the prompt wont change to d:\>

    it says invalid drive specification

    :(

    what do i do now :bawling:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2005
    Do what shwaip said, except substitute the letter c for d. :thumbsup:

    (shwaip - I referred him to the "no ramdrive" bootdisk. :) )
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    I assumed that since he formatted c:\, c: would just be a blank fat32 drive. I haven't done this in a long while, so I was going from memory.
  • djshowdowndjshowdown London
    edited June 2005
    ok well i had no luck with that

    however

    i took a risk and turned off the compter

    when it loaded back up i pressed f2 which on my computer takes me to the boot options screen

    i selected boot from cd rom

    i am now halfway through installing windows

    will let you know how i get on!

    cheers for the help guys :thumbsup:

    dos still scares me a bit though :(
  • djshowdowndjshowdown London
    edited June 2005
    ok now my screen is set at 16 colours and 640X480 :bawling:

    how can i rectify this?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2005
    See what it says for Display Adapter. I'm betting it says something like "Standard...".

    You'll need to install the driver for your graphic chip.
  • djshowdowndjshowdown London
    edited June 2005
    did say standard

    managed to cop a driver from driverguide.com

    cheers for the help guys

    im a producer so if you ever need a bit of music for a site or something let me know!

    peace
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