Zero-Fill Utility

[thom]

I am trying to run a zero fill utility on a Gateway 450, G6 with WinXP OS. When I click on the Zero Fill.exe file I get a momentary look at a DOS screen and then it goes away. What must I do to get a DOS screen with a prompt?

Thanks

[doctorgonzo]

You've got to boot into DOS. You can create a DOS disk by formatting a floppy and checking "Create an MS-DOS startup disk", then copying the zero-fill utility to the floppy. Or you can download a bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com

[thom]

The boot disk is from www.bootdisk.com. It is the floppy that contains the zero-fill utility. For some reason it will not boot to DOS.

Thanks

[doctorgonzo]

Make sure that the floppy drive is before the hard drive in the boot order in the BIOS.

[thom]

One more thing.......I do not see a "create a MS-DOS Startup Disk" option when I format a disk.

[doctorgonzo]

If all else fails, download the Ultimate Boot CD. It has a zero-fill utility on it: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

The option to format a MS-DOS disk should be there. I've attached a picture.

[thom]

ok...I feeling my way along here. The reason I did not see the option to create msdos disk was that I was in Win2000. I do see the option on my Winxp computer. At the A:\> prompt, what should I enter to activate the zero fill utility

Thanks

[doctorgonzo]

Enter the name of the file exe, whatever it is. If you don't know, do a "dir" to see what files are on the floppy.

[thom]

Thanks for all of your help.

Thom