Help to format HDD & reinstall ME !!!

[groovemaster1]

Dell dimension 2100, 128MB RAM, 900MHz Celeron, 20GB HDD, Geforce4 MX440 PCI, LG CDRW.

I recently reinstalled windows ME because my file menu had no new folder option, right click... view ...had no thumbnail view. The system takes a little longer to boot & freezes sometimes. When I reset & it boots & scandisc runs, it sticks at 2 bars & keeps starting all over. So I want to format & reinstall ME. I haven't the slightest idea how to format a HDD

How do I go about doing this???
Will I need a upgrade verication CD (eg. Win 98 CD)
Can someone explain how to go about doing this. (From start to finish)

Thanks!

[rjfvillarosa]

What disks do you have? have you got the DELL recovery disk?

[nubbler]

If you have the recovery CD that came with your system, then just put it in and boot the computer, "select boot from CD" or somthing to that extent, if it asks you and then just follow the instructions on the screen.

[speeddude2000]

oh boy....windows me...lets see....hmm......TERRIBLE OS, its just like a 3rd edition of WIN98....you should get XP if your system is good enough(might be a little low on ram though). if you can/dont want to get xp, then use the recovery CD. if you dont have one, then you should have a ME install disk. get a zero fill tool from your HD manucaturer, and run it.(everything will be deleted of course) then run the installation. im pretty sure both disks will automatically delete everything if you tell it to, but just to be sure, do a zero fill.

[nubbler]

Originally Posted by speeddude2000 you should get XP if your system is good enough(might be a little low on ram though).

XP would be a good improvement, 128MB RAM will run but kindas slow, especialy since you have a slower CPU. It also depends what kinda stuff you're gonna be doing with it.

[Yuanji]

i would get a RAM upgrade if you were to go XP. with 256mb of RAM, XP took me around 4-5 mins to load completely and all i had on startup was AIM and MSN Messenger.

[glc]

scandisc runs, it sticks at 2 bars & keeps starting all over.

I'd run hard drive diagnostics before you do anything else. They can be downloaded from the hard drive manufacturer, and there also should be diagnostics on your Dell Resource CD, boot with it. Let's see what that results in before we think about reinstalling anything, if the hard drive is developing bad sectors it must be replaced.

I want to format & reinstall ME.

you should get XP

Let's answer the questions more directly, please.

[masterchief316]

yea i agree with speeddude2000 "TERRIBLE OS, its just like a 3rd edition of WIN98"-speeddude2000. want u want to do if u dont want to do a memory upgrade is do a fresh (clean) install of windows 2000 professional and go from there. you have more than the required amount for win2000 pro. windows ME just flat out sucks. get rid of that as soon as possible. i call windows ME windows ceMEnt because you cant really do anything with it without something going wrong.

[glc]

masterchief, did you not read my last comment?

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