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How to format your pc
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| musicaddict |
How do i format my computer? I want to format it but I have no clue how to. Can somebody here show me some basic and get me going? My computers been acting weird lately so i want to start over.
Btw, Im running: Windows 2000
And if possible is there any good sites/books that teach you how to fix computer related problems? Thanks in advance.
musicaddict |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by musicaddict
How do i format my computer? I want to format it but I have no clue how to. Can somebody here show me some basic and get me going? My computers been acting weird lately so i want to start over.
Btw, Im running: Windows 2000
And if possible is there any good sites/books that teach you how to fix computer related problems? Thanks in advance.
musicaddict |
I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do; if you're trying to erase sensitive data or something then that requires additional steps. But if you just want to reinstall the OS from scratch, it's best to boot from your W2K install CD and tell it to format your disk when you start the install (it will ask you that automatically).
Also most of the hard drive manufacturers have some utility you can download on their website that you can use to test/format/do anything else to your hard drive. |
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| kewlness |
turn of your computer, and turn it on again, press f8 before windows starts loading to go to dos
type "format c:" and then press "y" and then it'll take about 15 min to format depending on the size of your hard drive
after you reformat, reboot, go into BIOS, select your cd-rom drive with your win2k cd as the primary boot sequence, and then go exit, save, and then reboot and then it should go to the win2k start up screen and you should be able to install everything from there
also be sure after you install win2k to go to bios again and remove the cd-rom drive from the boot sequence because it'll make starting up your comp slower as everytime you boot up, it will read your cd-rom drive |
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| SuperFarStucker |
| quote: | Originally posted by kewlness
turn of your computer, and turn it on again, press f8 before windows starts loading to go to dos
type "format c:" and then press "y" and then it'll take about 15 min to format depending on the size of your hard drive
after you reformat, reboot, go into BIOS, select your cd-rom drive with your win2k cd as the primary boot sequence, and then go exit, save, and then reboot and then it should go to the win2k start up screen and you should be able to install everything from there
also be sure after you install win2k to go to bios again and remove the cd-rom drive from the boot sequence because it'll make starting up your comp slower as everytime you boot up, it will read your cd-rom drive |
just restart with the boot chain set as Cd-rom first with a bootable win2k cd in (most are). The installation process gives the option to format the partition you are installing it on... simple stuff.. make sure you have/know where to get all the drivers for your machine before you get too excited though |
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| DigiNut |
Doing it the "format c:" way is a pretty bad idea if you're installing a relatively new OS (like W2K) or have a large drive (I think 30GB+)... since you'll just have to reformat anyway when you do the install.
Good way to waste 15 minutes though, if, say, you're at work and trying to look busy. :happy2: |
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| musicaddict |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do; if you're trying to erase sensitive data or something then that requires additional steps. But if you just want to reinstall the OS from scratch, it's best to boot from your W2K install CD and tell it to format your disk when you start the install (it will ask you that automatically).
Also most of the hard drive manufacturers have some utility you can download on their website that you can use to test/format/do anything else to your hard drive. |
yeah. Basicly I just want to reinstall the os from scratch. I want to delete everything and start over if thats what you call it. Thanks for the advice TAs. |
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| USMC_Greg |
I recently re-installed Windows 2000. When I booted up my computer with the Windows CD in it, I was given the option of "deleting" my various hard-drives.
I got all scared and didn't know what they meant by "deleting". But I found out it's just the term for formatting the disk.
Best thing done on my computer was the partioning of my hard-drive. I run all my apps, windows, and off the C drive, then I use the other partitioned part of the drive (D drive, in my case) for Games and Music. This way if I have to format the C drive 'cuz Windows if ing up again, I can do so without loosing my MP3 and other valuable files. It's cheaper than buying a second drive... but then again if you're like me you're going to end up buying one anyway. |
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| Vert |
Arstechnica Open Forum - Best tech related forum (anywhere). You will learn much there, and never turn back ;) :D.
es |
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| whiskers |
yea, i just spent 4 days installing new hd and basically cloning the old one... fun fun fun
if you wanna learn how to fix computer mistakes by reading books and websites, don't bother. there are an infinite amout of things that can go wrong with your pc and you won't really remember how to fix them if you read something once. best is to go through with it...
nothing better than www.groups.google.com - all newsgroups posts ever because someone somewhere already had that same exact problem before and there's a chance they posted a question about it there. |
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| apostrophe |
hmm..i was wondering something similar - I have XP pro on my computer, and I wanted to format my drive - BUT to install XP I had to format for NTFS, now, going through DOS doesn't work - it won't format the drive!! >:(
how do you format NTFS?? with the intention of keeping the drive format the same? |
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| whiskers |
| quote: | Originally posted by apostrophe
hmm..i was wondering something similar - I have XP pro on my computer, and I wanted to format my drive - BUT to install XP I had to format for NTFS, now, going through DOS doesn't work - it won't format the drive!! >:(
how do you format NTFS?? with the intention of keeping the drive format the same? |
DOS cannot see NTFS partitions. you might wanna get something like partition magic or format from the XP cd (i don't know if that's an option, i've never installed XP). i know in win2k you can just reboot from the cd (or 4 ing floppies in my case since my win2k cd isn't bootable) and then choose to delete the old installation and reinstall from scratch.
what do you mean "with the intention of keeping the drive format the same?" |
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| DJ RozzeR |
Here are the steps i would take
1. Make a bootable floppy disk, with Format.com and FDISK.exe , found in windows\ dir.
2. Goto your BIOS at start up and change the Boot UP from IDE to CDROM , And test that your W2k CD will Boot !
3. If it does then your laughin, if you not you will require a w2k boot disk, thats 1.44 floppy. presume you dont need it goto next step
4. Back all your Video drivers , VGA Drivers , Etc onto cd'S
5. Double check you have backed everything up, coz your PC is going Bye Bye.
6. Boot your PC up press F8 to goto Command Prompt, run FDISK.exe from c:\fdisk.exe , should open a DOS terminal, just press Y,
then goto Remove Partition , delete your old partition the one you want to format. if you can't find it press option 4, and view partions.
once all removed, your Hard Disk drive is now ready for Partioning, here you can have 2 x15GB drive or 1x 30GB drive, or 3x10Gb drives
totally upto you. reboot your PC, to make changes,
7. Enter Floppy Disk the one created and goto A:\. C:\ will not exist anymore ! , from A:\ run Fisk Again, then goto create partition , then select
the size you want and how many , once created the partition, reboot, with the floppy disk , and goto A:\ Again, now you will require to format C:\
just type a:\format c:\ and press yes. the process should take around 10mins. press ok on volume label , then reboot your PC.
8. Enter the BIOS, and select CDROM for first boot choice, enter W2K, make sure you have the serial., press f10 for BIOS changes and reboot.
9. Welcome to W2K installation, complete that. and then your back up and running.
10. Goto tranceaddict.com :0 |
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