On re-formatting your hard drive, it is very necessary to have a floppy disk boot up or if your system came with a recovery disk.
If you have neither one of these please find a floppy bootdisk with CD-Rom support. Ask a friend for their floppy until you can get your system up and running.
A word of caution to those of you who have never done this before. If you do not know exactly what I am talking about here, please contact a professional.
However if you are a seasoned veteran and feel comfortable following these simple instructions, then by all means proceed.
Once you have made all the copies of files you want to keep, then go to your start button in lower left corner. You should have the shut down/restart in MS-Dos option (if not your MS-Dos Prompt will be on your Program line up.)
All you do is type A: and hit enter
it should give you A:\
Type in Format C:\ then hit enter
it will ask you if you are sure if you want to do this as this will delete ALL files. Type in Y then hit enter again.
This will begin the re-format process. You will see the percentage sign of how much is being done. When it reaches 100% then it will ask you for a label for this drive I type in Hard Drive then hit enter.
When this is done re-boot your system after you put in the floppy or
use the CD-Rom Recovery disk. If you use the floppy disk you will also need to put in the Windows 98 Disk into your CD-Rom.
After your system re-boots from A: You should see a CD driver or it will will ask you if you want to re-boot using CD Rom Support. If given the option to re-boot with CD-Rom Support select that one.
Then you should have a prompt A:\ next you type in the letter of your CD Rom. Then hit enter the CD-Rom drive
could be D:\ E:\ or even M:\ (Whichever one it is it will not say Bad command or file name.)
Once you have the proper drive letter, Then type in setup.exe then hit enter again. This should begin your windows intallation. When it is done installing your windows it will run Windows for the firt time. Check your system Settings when it is done to make sure your modem soundcard etc are all working.
You can only re-format these Hard Drives so many times before you will have to replace it with a new one. Scandisk and Defrag should be done every day, especially if you are online a lot. If you are a heavy surfer, then it will not harm your system if you run it 2 or 3 times a day. You will find that your system will run faster and smoother if you do.
If you get totally lost and ready to rip all of your hair out, just pay someone to come out to do it for you. Of course if you wanted ME to do it, well it would be cheaper to send your kids to Disney World. (Since I live so far away) lol
Let me know if this helps in anyway.
This page was created for the friends who have asked me for help on how to re-format. This site is dedicated to helping others. And in no way will posting this does this make me liable for any damage that you may cause to your equiptment. If you are not sure if you are not able to do this or this is not making any sense to you, then by all means call a Professional.
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