formatting a Dell

[suitcase]

I have a P III 1gig Dell. I would like to get rid of everything and just load windows. I have the win ME disc. Since you can't make a boot disc with ME how would I go about doing it. I wan't to use the dell for learning how to install OSs and the like. I have all the discs that came with it but will they work if I try to cut dell out of the picture? The mobo is Intel with 815 chipset. GPU, sound,and modem, are PCI cards.

My first PC was ATS and when things went south I just popped in the restore disc and it was back to the day I bought it. Don't know about the Dell.

[GaryRouth]

If that Dell is a desktop, I'm guessing it's in the model range of the Dimension 2100 or so series? If so, those did come with a separate CD for just Windows ME (as opposed to the systems that ship with just a "Recovery Disk Set"). That disk is bootable - anything you'd want to do with a floppy you can do by booting with the CD & choosing "boot from CD", then "start computer with CD rom support".

Are you sure you want to erase everything & start over? If you don't have disks for the bundled software, all you'll have left is a computer with an operating system, but no other programs to run.

If you are sure that's what you want to do, press the DEL key while the DELL logo is displaying at startup, and change the boot order item in your Setup menus to "Boot from CD". Slip your WinMe disk in the CD drive, save & exit. Choose the CD when asked to boot from hard drive or CD, then choose "start computer with CDrom support" (DOS). You can use the fdisk command to delete the DOS partitions you wish to get rid of [if you see a Non-DOS partition, leave it alone]. Then re-create a Primary DOS partition and mark it active. Now you can reboot with the WinMe Cd in the drive & let WinMe start Setup - it will offer to format the hard drive for you & prompt you for the rest of the Setup routine.

Restore disks are handy because they already have all the drivers you need on them. Just installing only Windows means that you will have to reinstall some of your drivers (they are available for download at the Dell website - you can download them ahead of time to make everything go more quickly).

Disconnect from any networks while doing such a reinstall, and disable the Bios AntiVirus program (re-enable it when you are done).

Any other questions, let us know
. . . Gary

[suitcase]

Thanks Gary, I have your reply in my email for reference. The Dell is a 4100 I think. I never throw anything away so I know I have all the discs that came with it. I have the restore disc. I also have a (ahem) win me disc oem version. Not even sure where it came from. I have the software that came with it. Lotus and the like. I don't use it for anything, though it's a good pc. My newer games would not run on it due to the 64mb nVidia GeForce 2 card. So I built the one in my sig. Just looking to put the dell back to use. Trying to talk my into it rather than an new laptop. More than anything, I'd like to learn how to fdisk, formatt, partition and install OSs. Maybe create two partitions and install windows on one. Isn't that like having two drives. kinda?

[budbd]

Yeah, I would disable anti-virus programs first, that screwed me up on a reinstallation the other day, had to do it all over again.
Like you, I have an older computer, and my system restoration cd didn't exactly do all the restoration for me, given with the Gateway computer 5.5 years ago. Good thing I understood a little DOS!

[not important]

suitcase
Here is a link to a good tutorial for fdisk.
http://fdisk.radified.com/

[GaryRouth]

Hi again -

Sorry I've taken so long to reply - between a wonderful visit (my folks were here) and several deadlines, I've been busy. . .

An easier way to toy with learning OS installs might be to use an extra hard drive. Doesn't have to be big, and it costs about the same as Partition Magic, which is what you'd need if you wanted to have two partitons on the Dell while keeping your current data there. To be completely safe, you could just disconnect the Dell drive, and learn with your extra drive (you'd have to slip cables on and off, but the Dell data would be available again as soon as you disconnected the newer extra drive & reconnected the Dell) [you'd need to pay attention to your jumpers and cabling]. A friend of mine uses the "removable" hard drive rack to swap hard drives in and out that have different OSs on them. It lets you learn completely safe from complications (for example, if while in Linux, which can read Windows partitions and files, you make a change to the Windows environment by accident).

Enjoy your project!
. . . Gary

[glc]

If you just want to wipe the drive, there are a few ways of doing it. If you are doing this as a learning experience, download the utility from the hard drive manufacturer to "zero fill" the hard drive - this will wipe absolutely everything and restore it to factory condition - no partitions or anything. You can also use Delpart (http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm) - but you need a bootdisk to do this. You can download assorted bootdisks from places like bootdisk.com.