Reformatting!??

[Loop]

Yes, I've decided I'll reformat my PC.
Basically, I want to remove Windows ME, and put 98 back on.

Basicall, I want to know this:

" When I format my Hard Drive, how do I put everything back on?"

Oh, and:

"What is essential to put back on?"

[Cubix]

Your PC should have came with a WIN 98 disc, or a resource disc with WIN98 on it. But first u have to make a Startup disc to get your D drive working, then when u get that working pop in the win98 disc and your set (it should tell what to do from there).

I warn you that reformatting your Hard Drive can mess up your pc BAD! trust me it has happened to me before.

[Mattb90]

Originally posted by Loop
"What is essential to put back on?"

- Windows (You have Win98, but I'd recommend getting hold of a copy of WinXP)
- Internet Explorer 6 (get it from http://www.microsoft.com/ie ) - includes Outlook Express 6
- Office (doesn't have to MS Office, but a software suite that does word processing, etc)
- PC Games
- MSN Messenger 4.6

[Loop]

Right, ta for that.

I just needed to know how to install Windows again, I can use that OK. ;)

I'll try and find an Xp, but I've heard it's very buggy. Is this true?:wtf:

[Losvaize]

It's more than buggy, if you wan't it to work properly, you need a very new machine with all the expensive stuff, or it won't work, if you wan't XP, try not only changing your Operating System, but the proccessor, memory, blah blah, basicly, you need a new machine to work it.

[Mattb90]

Originally posted by Dane
It's more than buggy, if you wan't it to work properly, you need a very new machine with all the expensive stuff, or it won't work, if you wan't XP, try not only changing your Operating System, but the proccessor, memory, blah blah, basicly, you need a new machine to work it.

Are you anti-Microsoft or what?

Until I recently upgraded, I used Windows XP on a 400MHz PII, 128MB RAM, and a 30GB HD. It ran with no problems, when I upgraded from Windows 2000. (I've updgraded now for better games performance, not to make XP run better).

Also, XP may have bugs, but there's A LOT less than Windows 9x (inc. 98). It's the most stable and reliable version of Windows yet.


Oh, and Loop, IE6 and Windows Messenger 4.0 are included in Windows XP. You can upgrade to WM4.6 from Windows Update, as well as getting the latest drivers from there.

[I-NemesiS01]

I'll be attempting to upgrade to XP from ME tommorow and if anything goes wrong it's all matt's fault.:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

And he will look like this :smack: soon after.

[Dave2]

Originally posted by Dane
It's more than buggy, if you wan't it to work properly, you need a very new machine with all the expensive stuff, or it won't work, if you wan't XP, try not only changing your Operating System, but the proccessor, memory, blah blah, basicly, you need a new machine to work it.

I'm running XP Pro on a Celeron 600, 256MB RAM, 15Gb HD and I'm coping... Just...

[I-NemesiS01]

Well my PC is an athalon 1ghz,640mb ram and a 20gb HD and if it dont install then after I finish with matt i'm going after Mr gates.:evil::smack:

[XBD]

My bro-in-laws PC is 2.2Ghz Athlon, 512Mb RAM, and he has no problems with it at all, except that it seems to be incompatible with the Tomb Raider games and Worms: Armageddon. That alone is reason enough to reconsider, but all in all I think Windows XP is quite good.

Don't try and get a copied one though, didn't Microsoft make it check your BIOS chip or summat to make it impossible to install on more than one machine?

Edit: I feel I should add that PC was new from PC World and that Windows XP came pre-installed. Others have said you need a new PC to make it work properly, so this post was proberly pointless. Ah well, hope the infor about TR not working helps someone.

[Loop]

I've got an 800Mhz Duron, a lot of memory, and a lowly 10g HD. :(


Still, here's hoping!:thumb:

[XBD]

The PC i'm using to write this is Cyrix II MMX 233Mhz with 30Mb RAM and 4.2Gb hard drive.

Your PC is a powerhouse in comparison.

[Mattb90]

Originally posted by nemesis01
I'll be attempting to upgrade to XP from ME tommorow and if anything goes wrong it's all matt's fault.:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

And he will look like this :smack: soon after.

Did it work? HOPE SO! :gulp:

Anyway, I can't see it going wrong unless you muck it up! ;)

[Loop]

'Tis always a possibility with Nem!:eek::wtf:

Still, I hope it works; I'm thinking of getting XP...

[I-NemesiS01]

Originally posted by Loop
'Tis always a possibility with Nem!:eek::wtf:

Still, I hope it works; I'm thinking of getting XP...

Yeh,you should.Think you can get it for about £80 now.:D

[Loop]

Now that's just cruel, Nem! You know an Evil Insane being such as myself doesn't recieve much earnings!:cry:

Not for a few years, anyway. Then my Empire shall crush all asunder.
I can pay it then, but not right now.:upto:

[Losvaize]

Ah Loop, tis time that thee was vanquished from these cyberlands, hast thou ever thought 'bout halting thy stupid comments in the same language I speak before thee and all thy companians, (I should say write before thee now, heh heh), anyhoo, why have so many of you people talked about school, don't you think that it should be a word that when used, that user is banned, my day was perfect til I had to raed about your school careers. :mad: :mad:

[HeLiX]

Originally posted by Loop
Right, ta for that.

I just needed to know how to install Windows again, I can use that OK. ;)

I'll try and find an Xp, but I've heard it's very buggy. Is this true?:wtf:



use a boot disk...then install, else if ya get XP, just boot from CD

[dj014]

ok im here :upto:

right ive done this a couple of times myself so im used to formatting

print this out and follow it you should be ok however i am not responsible if anything goes wrong

1) get ALL your drivers for everything on floppy/CD (graphics card sound card etc) make sure you have them all and dont say oh ill get htem off the net after ive finished or itll be on the windows cd (because you can garantee the ocmpany who made it has prolly gone bust if it isnt new)

2) do the same wiht other programs etc

3) the windows 98se CD runs in DOS (i was suprised myself but it actually runs)

4) so drop into DOS (not the prompt actual shut down windows and open i dos


5) go into C:\ in dos

6) type the following format c:

7) itll do all sorts of crap then you put your "name" for C (hardrive or something like tat probably not G01UKGB7 like mine :P)

8) put your windows 98se CD into your drive and reset

9) follow the step by step instructions on the screen

10) NOTE: when installing windows install as CUSTOM and sleect all the different stuff otherwise all youll get is windows 98 (not even mine sweeper :P)

install all your drivers etc again

install all your programs

your away (hopefuly)

i cant be respoisble if anything goes wrong though

just blame it on matt :P

[Lee's Dad]

Loop, what dj has said is ok, but there are other things you need to know and do.
Firstly, have you got the proper Win98se CD?

[XBD]

Instead of all this dropping into DOS from Windows crap can be avoided if u just use a bog standard boot disk.

U can format with it, then just restart your PC with your Win98se cd in the drive.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR WINDOWS 98 MANUAL HANDY. U WILL NEED THE PRODUCT KEY TO COMPLETE THE INSTALLATION! BE WARNED!

Then just install ya drivers, software etc. etc.

I make it a regular habit to reformat my C:\ drive every month or so to clear out any junk and spyware files that have accumulated on my PC.


Sorry if I am just confusing the situation!

[Loop]

Well, that didn't go as well as I'd hoped... :(

I've ended up with more errors than I started with! :cry:

I reckon it might be a corrupt Hard Drive. Anyone else thing so? I'm getting BSOD's with games I never had errors with before!:eek::wtf:

[Lee's Dad]

Loop, to check the drive, do this:
Restart in DOS, and at the prompt type
scandisk/all
You will eventually see a graphical display of the clusters on the HDD, which will be systematically tested. Any bad ones will be displayed and marked so as to avoid future use.
Beware!! It may take hours!

To improve the job scandisk does, you can do this:
Go to Start/Run/scandisk.ini

This will open a notepad file. Scroll down a bit until you get to a section called [Environment]
Look under that heading for 'NumPasses = 1'
Change the 1 to a 3 and save the changes on the way out.
This forces Scandisk to run the test 3 times on each cluster leading to more reliable results. The figure can be increased up to as much as 10, although this will start to slow tings down.

[Loop]

Well, is it worth replacing the Hard Drive anyway? With all the errors I'm getting (and no conflicts), some hardware MUST be knackered!!!

[Lee's Dad]

Not at all. If you have a critical file which happens to be stored on an unreliable sector, it can cause all sorts of problems - even prevent the machine from booting at all.
Bad areas on the disk aren't a problem as long as the OS knows about them, many new drives supposedly have the odd bad cluster, although I don't on mine.
The only time they become a problem is if they start to spring up all over the place. This means the drive is dying.
The answer is to run the disk scanning utility regularly - every 3 months perhaps, unless you start getting new bad areas, in which case more often to keep up with the damage.

[Loop]

Well, I keep getting a lo of "Blue Screen of Death" errors, and a lot of "Such'n'such has caused an error in Whatever.etc, Whatever.etc will now close" errors.

And I get a very strange clicking noise on my games.:head:

Any ideas?

[L1 - GameSurfer]

Thats strange.......there is a possiblity that maybe ur entire windows has been corrupted. Try reinstalling it again with ur original Windows CD or u could try upgrading to XP;)

[Loop]

I doubt it's Windows, I've reinstalled it several times. Always the same.

I'll try XP later, I think.

[L1 - GameSurfer]

Yeah try XP if not....I prob. suspect theres sumthing wrong with ur hardware or stuff like ur BIOS (But i dont know stuff like that yet):D

[Lee's Dad]

HAVE YOU RUN THE DAMN DOS SCANDISK YET???????!!!!!! :upto: