Help! Reformatting?

[jsouth4502]

Okay, I've screwed up my daughter's old computer (pentium running Win95) to the point where it will only start in safe mode (and that's iffy). It all started when I thought it would be fun to use Drive Space to compress the hard drive. Ever since, it has been acting increasingly screwy, so I tried to Uncompress the drive, and it freezes. I tried typing format C: at the DOS prompt, and it tells me I have to do that from Drive Space because the drive is compressed. Drive Space won't let me do it because Windows is using the C:drive (or once I got the notice that it was because C is a booting drive, or something like that). I can't do a factory restore because there isn't enough memory for the CD to run. What in the blue blazes *can* I do???

And BTW, I'm blonde - as if you couldn't already tell, I need fairly explicit directions ;)

[Paladin]

Ok you need to Put the computer back in the box and take it back to wherever you found it and say "It was defective":P

[giambona]

Use a third-party partitioning and formatting utility (like MaxBlast) to repartition and format it.

[Tak]

You will need to boot from a boot disk. In the case that the disk compression utilities are also on your boot disk, you will need to do an F5 boot. - Simply reboot the system and press the F5 function key when you see "Starting Windows." Once you are at the DOS prompt, you should be able to format your hard drive.

Hope this helps :)

[BADFlSH]

If you didn’t get the previous methods to work here is what I do.

First get a win98 boot disk either from another computer or from a friend and always keep it. They are nice because they automatically load the cd rom drivers (win95 disks don’t).

Boot from the disk and when you get to the dos prompt type "fdisk" you will probably get a screen with a bunch of writing asking a y or n question. Just hit enter to accept the default.

Now I don’t know exactly what the menus are at this point so my directions will be a little shady but you should be able to figure it out. Also keep in mind since you are deleting the entire drive you cant really screw anything up :)

You want to find the option that says something like delete primary dos partition. Once you chose that it should give you a list or your primary dos partitions (there will probably be only one choice) just enter its number and it should be deleted.

Next look for an option that says something to the effect of view current partitions. At this point hopefully there are no partitions but if you see some in that window, try to find an option so that you can delete them.

Once you have no partition on the drive look for the option to create a primary dos partition. Once you pick this it will probably go through your entire drive calculating the available space, then it will ask you how big you want the partition to be. If you just want one partition then make it all of the available space. When you are done with that you should be returned to the main menu.

Find an option to set an active partition or something like that. Then chose the partition you just made (again it should be the only choice there). Now exit fdisk and restart the computer.

Again use the boot disk and this time chose to boot with cdrom support. Once at the dos prompt do format c: ( I wont go into detail here because it sounds like you know this part) Once formatted just pop in the 95 disk and you should be set.

Hope that helped, or if you had it fixed already maybe it will help someone else :)

[jsouth4502]

Thanks, everyone, for the help. While the " put it in the box and return it" option was very tempting, I didn't think it would fly, as the computer is four years old and a Packard Bell to boot. Kinda hard to return something they don't make any more...

Anyway, the fdisk trick did the trick, and I am now triumphantly putting said restored computer into the boxes for next spring's garage sale instead of throwing it off the roof. And I'm reasonably certain that my hair WILL grow back.

Thanks again!
Julie

[Tak]

Glad you got it working
and still have your sense of humor ;)

[rajatQ]

another similar suggestion for dealing with "drivespace" and "doublespace" windows problems.

on bootup, use the F8 Key trick and go to "step-by-step confirmation", and make sure NOT to load dblspace.bin, or the corresponding file for drivespace. might have those names wrong, but if you omit loading that file, you will be able to format the disk. Oh yeah make sure you don't load windows:)