[Mac-Guy]

Folks,
I've been handed the onerous task of reformatting a Win98 box (I won't go into how). If it were a Mac, no problem. Boot off the CD, reformat, reinstall. But how the h*** do you do this with Windows? Do I have to monkey with the BIOS, etc.? I know my way around a PC okay, but am fearful of taking this on. Any advice? Sorry it's a bit off-topic; I couldn't find anywhere else to go for assistance.

I do have the original Windoze 98 CD and all other software installers.

[:XI:]

chances are that the win98 cd is bootable. place it in the cd drive and restart.

if that doesn't work there should be an option in the bios to change the boot drive order (cd-rom should be listed, put it before c: )

failing that, try a boot floppy (with cd-rom drivers) and type 'dsetup'
(replace 'd:' with the letter of your cd-rom drive)

god, i don't miss any of this at all

[cube-dude]

Originally posted by Mac-Guy:
Sorry it's a bit off-topic; I couldn't find anywhere else to go for assistance.

No worries, Mac-Guy. I'm going to move this to the Lounge however.

The admins are thinking about creating a PC forum area FWIW. Interested members, or those against it, might yea or nay the idea to them. Feedback is always welcomed.

[vmarks]

XI,
Tell him how to make the boot floppy, fergoshsakes.

Get a DOS floppy. Or take a formatted floppy to a working windows machine, and from a dos prompt type SYS A: and press enter.

You now have a bootable floppy.

Now, copy from your working win95/98 computer to the floppy-

copy Cwindows\command\mscdex.exe a:
copy Cwindows\command\oakcdrom.sys a:

Now, use edit.com to make an autoexec.bat with the text:
AMSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD0001

save that.

Make a config.sys file that reads:

DEVICE=AOAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD0001 /L:E

Save and exit.

Now, if those config.sys and autoexec.bat files are on the floppy like I intended you to do, you should be able to boot from the floppy, have it load the driver, and then associate the driver with the drive letter E.

So then, you put the cd-rom in the drive, type
E: (return)
then CD win98(return)
Then setup(return)

And be prepared to use the mouse from there.

[vmarks]

reasons to use a DOS floppy to get the cd-rom working:

Some Win98 install cds were NOT bootable.

Some machines do not have a BIOS that permits CD booting (likely to be old computers, pre-pentium II 300.)

[Raman]

You might be able to insert the CD in the CD ROM with Windows running (or if you want to venture into DOS it's not as bad as the OSX CLI you can do it from there) and see if there is a utility to make a bootable floppy. You could then insert the floppy and boot off that (you might have to tell the BIOS to try booting off a floppy first). Once you are booted into the DOS prompt type format c: /q The Q means "Quick". If the disk is already formatted then the quick format saves alot of time. No harm if you /q or not.

[klinux]

While vmarks's instructions are correct, I would recommand you to just go to http://www.bootdisk.com/ and download an image. Now, do you only want to do a format or install? If format, then just boot from the floppy and type "sys c:/s" (/s will put the system files on the HD and make it bootable).

Otherwise, for the reinstall, boot using the floppy which includes the driver for the CD and then navigate the D: (or your optical drive letter0 and do install/setup form there.

[:XI:]

vmarks, sorry, it's been ages since i made a windows/dos bootdisk. i made one and keep it safe.

fwiw my old pc supports cd-rom booting, it's a P200MMX.

[Spliffdaddy]

Might be faster to download the 'installation floppy disk' from the hard drive manufacturer and format your hard drive with that. Takes only a few seconds instead of many minutes with a standard DOS format. By using the manufacturers setup disk you'll also get a couple of service tools for error checking and partition configuration.

[msuper69]

Originally posted by vmarks:
XI,
Tell him how to make the boot floppy, fergoshsakes.

Get a DOS floppy. Or take a formatted floppy to a working windows machine, and from a dos prompt type SYS A: and press enter.

You now have a bootable floppy.

Now, copy from your working win95/98 computer to the floppy-

copy Cwindows\command\mscdex.exe a:
copy Cwindows\command\oakcdrom.sys a:

Now, use edit.com to make an autoexec.bat with the text:
AMSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD0001

save that.

Make a config.sys file that reads:

DEVICE=AOAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD0001 /L:E

Save and exit.

Now, if those config.sys and autoexec.bat files are on the floppy like I intended you to do, you should be able to boot from the floppy, have it load the driver, and then associate the driver with the drive letter E.

So then, you put the cd-rom in the drive, type
E: (return)
then CD win98(return)
Then setup(return)

And be prepared to use the mouse from there.

What fun! Now I remember why I don't miss the PC.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

I've used PCs for years and never gone through all those steps to simply reformat a system.

While I'm sure vmarks is correct and that's one way of doing it, err, I'd follow Klinux's advice and merely download a bootdisk.

It's really not that big a deal or that hard a thing to do unless you're hellbent on making it one.

[theolein]

They might have said this above as well, but in order to boot from a CD, you'ld have to start the machine up and press F2 (Function key 2) or Del, depending on the computer to get to the BIOS settings. After the machine has started and done the memory check bit, it usually prints "Press (Del) or (F2) to enter settings" for a short while before Windows comes up. Once you're in the BIOS settings, use the arrow keys to move around until you find the item that says "boot order" or "boot sequence". Hit enter while that item is highlighted and then use the "+" and "-" keys to move the highlighted CD item to position 1. Then hit Escape until it asks to save and exit. That would be a good time to put the CD in the drive. Then hit enter with the "Yes" option highlighted and bobs your uncle.

[Anomalous]

Originally posted by cube-dude:
No worries, Mac-Guy. I'm going to move this to the Lounge however.

The admins are thinking about creating a PC forum area FWIW. Interested members, or those against it, might yea or nay the idea to them. Feedback is always welcomed.

I think the PC forum is a good idea. A lot of people who use VirtualPC end up with Windows questions.

[klinux]

Originally posted by msuper69:
What fun! Now I remember why I don't miss the PC.

Yeah OK. There are always hard and easy ways to do things. To me, formatting any working IDE HD would take no more than a minute. Reinstalling Windows should be a piece of cake, too. If bootable, then let it boot from the OS CD. If not, boot from floppy then install from CD.

[Mac-Guy]

Originally posted by klinux:
Yeah OK. There are always hard and easy ways to do things. To me, formatting any working IDE HD would take no more than a minute. Reinstalling Windows should be a piece of cake, too. If bootable, then let it boot from the OS CD. If not, boot from floppy then install from CD.

One other question: Does the Win98 CD have a utility to low-level format the hard drive?

[Spliffdaddy]

Originally posted by Mac-Guy:
One other question: Does the Win98 CD have a utility to low-level format the hard drive?

If you're talking about "writing zeroes", then no it doesn't have that utility.

The standard 'format' command is a 'low-level' format. There are options for 'quick format', as well.

Your best bet is to download the floppy disk-based utility made by the manufacturer of your hard drive. These often have the tools you need to do advanced diagnostics and repair - and do it quickly - something a Windows CD won't offer.

[Mac-Guy]

Thanks, folks. Task completed successfully. Now I have a new, functioning Windows 98 doorstop (grin)...