2smart4u Posted February 1, 2005 CID Share Posted February 1, 2005 ok i got a computer and the computer is locked cause it used to be on a network and the logon only logs on the network, and what i want to do is format the c drive in ms dos on the start up, and ive already tried format c: and it says invalid bad command, can anyone help me?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organ_shifter Posted February 1, 2005 CID Share Posted February 1, 2005 If you are planning to install a new operating system on it, you will come out better just inserting the OS disc into the CD-Rom and allowing it to guide you to the install screen. You will have the option to format the drive there. If not, go here Bootdisk.com and download a copy of the Windows 98SE OEM (use alternative 1 or 2). Restart the pc with the floppy in the drive and allow the computer to boot from the floppy. You will then be able to utilize several dos commands. I'm not too sure as I haven't used dos in awhile, but I think the format command is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MICROWAVE Posted February 1, 2005 CID Share Posted February 1, 2005 Yeah thats correct organ_shifter ya might have to do fdisk but I just did one awhile back and this way works best.... Microwave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanBuren Posted February 1, 2005 CID Share Posted February 1, 2005 if you have a NTFS partition the boot disc from win 98 wont find the partition in that case i suggest you to open BIOS ( on my pc press "delete" key as soon as your pc starts up ) then change boot sequence from default 1st bootdevice floppy, change that to cdrom and ( on my pc click F10 to save and exit ) insert your OS in your cdrom and follow the installation guide if you installing XP you can choose to delete the c: partition and make a new partition in un allocated space, then windows will format the new partition for you. good luck VanBuren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MICROWAVE Posted February 2, 2005 CID Share Posted February 2, 2005 Hmmmm thats strange because I have NTFS and have used a boot disk (98se and ME)3or 4 times and then used FDISK and format and installed XP after it made a new partition on my c-drive it even gives several choices how you want to set up the new install, the Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanBuren Posted February 2, 2005 CID Share Posted February 2, 2005 i used to run dual boot win 98 and xp, and runned NTFS and XP on c: and FAT32 on D: with win 98 win 98 cant read NTFS and the partition never showed up when i runned 98. so i figure i format c: to FAT 32 and reinstall XP on that. plugged in win 98 bootdisc and clouldnt find the NTFS partition it found the d: that i have win 98 installed on, reporting that as c: so i installed Partition magic on win 98 and formated it from that, somehow that program found it VanBuren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MICROWAVE Posted February 6, 2005 CID Share Posted February 6, 2005 Except it didnt work yesterday, used ME (couldnt find 98se boot disk.........but I did format and reinstalled , but Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted February 6, 2005 CID Share Posted February 6, 2005 get yourself a copy of Symatec's Partition Magic! 69.95 is cheap for how much this program can do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptorial Posted February 11, 2005 CID Share Posted February 11, 2005 I have a huge problem, i used the Format C: /s buet then!!!.... When i change my boot sequance to CDrom as primary, so i can boot from a compaq windows xp cd it will start checking my hardware confuguration. So far so good, but when it opens the blue windows setup screen it just crashes, nothing happens. Not that i dislike blue, but i expect a bit more from a pentium 4 LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junkieXL Posted February 11, 2005 CID Share Posted February 11, 2005 XP setup has proven to be a Royal pain in the Arse.....My suggestions: 1. make sure your internet connection is unplugged/disabled. Sasser worm just loves fresh installations... 2. run FDISK from a command prompt & create active partition (C:) after formatting. 3. download XP setup discs from Microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;310994&spid=1173&sid=global 4. run the setup disks & cross your fingers. this procdure worked for me on a hung blue-screen XP install recently, good luck ~! ;) -JxL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptorial Posted February 11, 2005 CID Share Posted February 11, 2005 Ok ive made the disks (6 in total) also i made the c disk the active disk, but again i get the blue septup screen but now from the floppy, and again it crashes. :? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptorial Posted February 11, 2005 CID Share Posted February 11, 2005 Ok i know what the problem is, my disks. Could some one please tell me what to do with fdisk after removing all disks? TU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junkieXL Posted February 12, 2005 CID Share Posted February 12, 2005 Try this official MSDOS boot procedure for XP from Microsoft---it says to use SmartDrv which I was unaware of http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307848 -JxL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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