[shortcake]

I have a Dell desktop its about five years old. I am wanting to give the computer away and so I used blancco software to erase my hard drive, so none of my personal information would be on there. So I went through the steps using blancco to erase my hard drive, it had about 11 minutes left of erasing when I got a message saying please cut off computer. So I did. Ever since then, I cannot reinstall windows or do much with it. I can use the Windows 98 startup disk, and Dell resource cd to copy windows files but Windows will not start. I can get to a A prompt. Now when I power on the computer all I get is a black screen with a white cursor blinking at the top left. What do I do know. I don't even know what the problem is at this point.
Help please.

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Hi shortcake...Welcome to G2G!

Let's start over with this machine...

Restart with the Win98 Startup disk in the floppy drive. When presented with the Options Screen, press F5 (on some versions: Shift > F5) for Command Prompt. You will see the A:\ prompt...type fdisk and press "Enter".

On the next screen type Y to enable large disk support...press "Enter".

In the "FDISK Options" screen, use option 3 to delete the partition and press "Enter" (You may be prompted to accept the deletion...accept it.) and press "Enter" then press "Esc" to return to the "FDISK Options" screen. Choose option 1 to "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive" and press enter..again, accept the change.

On the "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive" screen, choose option 1 to "Create Primary DOS partition" and press "Enter". Type Y to "use the maximum available size and set the partition as Active"...press "Enter"

On the next screen, press "Esc" to get the A:\ prompt and then press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to restart your machine.

When presented with the Options Screen, press F5 (on some versions: Shift > F5) for Command Prompt. You will see the A:\ prompt...type format C: /s (note the space after C:) and press "Enter"...type Y to accept the change and press "Enter". Formatting will take a while...be patient.

When the format is complete and you are back at the A:\ prompt, insert your Win98 Installation CD and type D:\WIN98\setup (the command line should appear A:\D:\WIN98\setup) and press "Enter". Setup will then check the Hard Drive...this may take a while...be patient. Installation should then begin...just follow the prompts.

Let us know how it goes...

wannabe1

Edited by wannabe1, 20 October 2005 - 12:41 PM.

[wannabe1]

Hi shortcake...Welcome to G2G!

Let's start over with this machine...

Restart with the Win98 Startup disk in the floppy drive. When presented with the Options Screen, press F5 (on some versions: Shift > F5) for Command Prompt. You will see the A:\ prompt...type fdisk and press "Enter".

On the next screen type Y to enable large disk support...press "Enter".

In the "FDISK Options" screen, use option 3 to delete the partition and press "Enter" (You may be prompted to accept the deletion...accept it.) and press "Enter" then press "Esc" to return to the "FDISK Options" screen. Choose option 1 to "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive" and press enter..again, accept the change.

On the "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive" screen, choose option 1 to "Create Primary DOS partition" and press "Enter". Type Y to "use the maximum available size and set the partition as Active"...press "Enter"

On the next screen, press "Esc" to get the A:\ prompt and then press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to restart your machine.

When presented with the Options Screen, press F5 (on some versions: Shift > F5) for Command Prompt. You will see the A:\ prompt...type format C: /s (note the space after C:) and press "Enter"...type Y to accept the change and press "Enter". Formatting will take a while...be patient.

When the format is complete and you are back at the A:\ prompt, insert your Win98 Installation CD and type D:\WIN98\setup (the command line should appear A:\D:\WIN98\setup) and press "Enter". Setup will then check the Hard Drive...this may take a while...be patient. Installation should then begin...just follow the prompts.

Let us know how it goes...

wannabe1

Edited by wannabe1, 20 October 2005 - 12:41 PM.

[shortcake]

Hi wannabe1 thanks so much for responding. I got to the part in the steps where I pushed 3 to delete the partition and press enter, it then went to another screen asking me to make a choice between 4 options;]
1. delete primary Dos partition
2. delete extended dos partition
3. delete logical dos drive in the extended dos partition
4. delete non-dos partition

which number do i choose?

[wannabe1]

shortcake...

1. delete primary Dos partition

[shortcake]

ok i selected number 1 delete primary dos partition... pressed esc and chose option 1 to create partion. now the screen says current primary dos partition already exists

the screen has on it create primary dos partition then lists
current fixed drive 1 partion c status a type pri dos volume label nothing listed mbytes 7326 system fat32 usage 100% then at the bottom of the screen press esc to continue. what do i do now?

[wannabe1]

Go back to delete the partition again and press "Enter" then accept the deletion by typing Y and press "Enter" again.

[shortcake]

ok sorry for all the back and forth, its asking me to enter the volume label at the delete dos partition screen after i confirmed that i wanted to delete the primary dos partition c drive, what do i enter in the volume label field?

[wannabe1]

Not a problem. The volume label should be listed on one of the screens...perhaps the one you are on. You may have to look closely to spot it or back up a screen or two. If there is no label listed, leave it blank and press "Enter"

wannabe1

[shortcake]

ok got it, do i keep my startup disk in my floppy drive when i restart my machine?

[wannabe1]

Yes...until the Format is complete and the Windows installation begins. Then remove it when Windows is installing.

wannabe1

[shortcake]

ok restarted machine at a prompt when i enter format C: /s it says bad command or file name

[wannabe1]

Try just format C:...seems like every machine is a little different...

Edited by wannabe1, 20 October 2005 - 01:48 PM.

[shortcake]

still didn't work, I do have instructions on formatting the hard drive using the dell resource cd, should i try that? And if I do to I keep the startup disk in the floppy drive?

[wannabe1]

Try it with just the cd in the drive (no floppy) using the instructions you have. Every OEM machine is different, that's why I have a pretty long list of format commands to try...

[shortcake]

I was able to format the drive with the resource cd, and it unpacked all the windows files, it then asked me to remove the disk, and it restarted when it did I get the dell logo splash screen, it beeps once, then the floppy drive light comes on, then it goes to a black screen with a white cursor on the top left.