[wannabe1]

Time to regroup...

Let's fdisk that drive and start with a completely clean slate.

Restart with the WinME Startup disk in the floppy drive. When presented with the Options Screen, press 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.

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 Shift + F5 for Command Prompt. You will see the A:\ prompt...type format C: /s 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 WinME Installation CD and type D: and press "Enter" (if invalid, type E:), type WIN ME and press "Enter", then type 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. Note...I've modified these commands a bit to work around the lack of a \ on your machine...we may have to play with them a bit to get them to work.

Let me know how this goes...

wannabe1

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the bit where I type "Format C:/s" produces a message " bad command or file name"

[benedicuk]

the bit where I type "Format C:/s" produces a message " bad command or file name"

[benedicuk]

Also at this s tage 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"
it says the primary DOS Partition already exists

[wannabe1]

primary DOS Partition already exists

Go back one screen (Esc) and delete it.

Format C:/s

format C: /s (Note the space between format and C:...and between C: and /s)

[benedicuk]

Have carefully typed Format C: /S with required spaces but still get Bad command or file name

[wannabe1]

Try format.com

C: format.com

Trying to stay away from the \...

[benedicuk]

Invalid media type reading drive C
Abort, retry, fail?

[wannabe1]

Abort...

Do you have an XP cd?

[benedicuk]

No I dont, although I have XP on this machine, its supplied by work and I dont have a disk, only an ME disk

[benedicuk]

I need to get some sleep Thanks for all your help so far
Roger

[wannabe1]

Did you sucessfully create a Primary Dos Partition? If not, you will need to do that. If you have got a Primary partition on the drive...try this shot in the dark.

Download PowerMax and load it to a floppy. This is for Maxtor drives, but I just ran it successfully on an older Western Digital. If it works, it will partition and format the drive for you. (You'll have to agree to the terms to start the download)

wannabe1

[benedicuk]

It says this program must be run under Win32

????

[wannabe1]

Hmmm...it booted right up in my HP with a WD drive...

Try MaxBlast 4 and boot the machine with it in the floppy drive. I haven't tried this one on anything but Maxtor drives, but give it a shot.

Can you get into BIOS and see if the make and model number of the HDD is listed? if it is, post it here for me.

wannabe1

[benedicuk]

maxblast4 is 1.8 mb, and the biggest floppy I have is 1.4

Cant now get into BIOS, pressing escape just produces a \ and jumps straight to the next line

[wannabe1]

Reboot without a floppy in the drive and try to get to BIOS...I'll check on the maxblast issue...

wannabe1