[dsenette]

make sure to choose the repair option...unless you want to format and start over

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I have tried reinstalling ME and that didn't work either

[Saigon]

I have tried reinstalling ME and that didn't work either

[Saigon]

make sure to choose the repair option...unless you want to format and start over

What would formatting do

[wannabe1]

Saigon...

Formatting will remove ALL data from the HDD and prepare the drive to receive and store data. To really do it up right, you could delete the primary dos partition and then create the partition and format it. If you do format, you will have to install your drivers again and get all the Windows Updates. Your OEM ME cd will take your machine back to "Factory Fresh" condiditon.

wannabe1

[Saigon]

"delete the primary dos partition and then create the partition and format it"
How do I do that?

[Samm]

Hi Saigon

Can you do the following please :
Boot from the floppy disk you created earlier.
At the A:> prompt, type :
extract ebd.cab format.com <enter>

Let me know if you get any error messages.

Next, type fdisk <enter>
When you see the screen regarding large drive support, answer Y
On the menu screen, select option 4 (display partition information)
Let me know exactly what is written under the headings :
partition
status
Type
Mbytes
System
Usage

If you see a message asking whether you want to view logical drive info, reply Y.
Let me know what is listed under the headings :
Drv
Mbytes
System
Useage

Press ESC at each screen to quit fdisk, remove the boot disk & shut down the system. Let me know the info I've asked for before we go any further.

[Saigon]

Fortunately no error messages came up.

partition: C:1
status: A
type: PRI DOS
mbytes: 19540
system: FAT32
usage: 100%

It never gave me the option to view logical drive info, so I couldn't get the rest.

[Samm]

Don't worry about the logical drive info, if it doesn't give the option to view it, then it doesn't exist, which is fine.

Next step, is to boot from the floppy again & when you get to the a:> prompt, type :
dir format.com <enter>
You should see the filename format.com listed after pressing enter.

Next, type :
fdisk
and again press Y to large drive support.

On the menu screen, select option 3 to delete partition

On next screen, select option 1 to delete primary dos partition

You will be asked to enter the volume label as confirmation, so just type in exactly what appears under the heading Volume Label. If this is blank, then don't type anything, just press enter.

When asked if you wish to create primary partition using 100% of drive space & to make it active, select Y <enter>

When finished, fdisk will tell you to reboot the system.
Exit out of fdisk to the A:> prompt, leave floppy disk in drive & press [ctrl][alt][del] (all 3 keys at once to reboot the system.

When rebooted back to the A:> prompt, type :
format c: /s <enter>
This will format the c drive for you. When thats done, let me know & I'll give you further instructions.

[peterm]

Are you sure he/she is ready to kiss everything goodbye?

[Saigon]

Are you sure he/she is ready to kiss everything goodbye?

Don't worry I'm ready.

[Samm]

Saigon
Have you completed the last lot of instructions?

[Saigon]

Sorry it took so long to reply. I have modem problems now(not because of the reformat it was broken beforehand) and I havent gotten to a computer with the internet until now. It worked perfectly. There were two things that were different though: first of all it never asked me if I wanted to create a partition so I went to the create partition thing in the fdisk main menu. After that DOS didnt understand the /s bit so I left it out. Thank you very much for the help.

[Samm]

Hi Saigon

Glad to hear its all ok now. The reason for the /s switch not working on format, is because you were using winME boot disk & ME's version of format.com doesn't support making the drive bootable on format. Its been a while since I played with Millenium (thankfully) so I forgot about that!

If you get any more problems, let us know

Samm