how to reformat a hd and reinstall windows ME

eurotrotter

hI GUYS
i have a dell dimensions computer running on ME
i need to reformat the HD and reinstall ME
can someone tell me how to do it
thanks again lads

zilog_jones

Whatever you do, *don't* reinstall ME! It's a waste of space of an operating system ^_^
Get Windows 2000 - if your PC can run ME it should be able to run 2k fine... unless it's got like 64MB RAM.

garthv

zilog_jones wrote:

Whatever you do, *don't* reinstall ME! It's a waste of space of an operating system ^_^
Get Windows 2000 - if your PC can run ME it should be able to run 2k fine... unless it's got like 64MB RAM.

The guy didnt ask for your choice of OS mate, he asked how to reinstall ME

Set your PC to boot from CD(this can be done in this BIOS)
Put in the Windows ME disk and reboot the machine.

The machine will now boot into the Windows ME installation and eventually give you the option to choose where to install the OS. Delete all partitions and then create one new partition of your whole drive. It will then prompt you to make sure you wish to delete all data, click yes and then you can continue on with the installation.

eurotrotter

thanks for that gareth
but iv done that but it doesnt seem to give me the option to reinformat the hd it just goes ahead and reinstalls ME but thats no good to me
i need to reformat
any ideas
thanks again for the help
ed

GaRtH_V wrote:

The guy didnt ask for your choice of OS mate, he asked how to reinstall ME

Set your PC to boot from CD(this can be done in this BIOS)
Put in the Windows ME disk and reboot the machine.

The machine will now boot into the Windows ME installation and eventually give you the option to choose where to install the OS. Delete all partitions and then create one new partition of your whole drive. It will then prompt you to make sure you wish to delete all data, click yes and then you can continue on with the installation.

zilog_jones

Make a floppy boot disk if ME is still functional in some way (go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel if I remember right), or get someone else to make a Win98 or ME (doesn't matter which one) boot disk, then use FDISK to delete the partitions - the ME installer should then format the hard disk for you then.

I'd still highly recommend Windows 2000 though - it has much better support with modern software (99% of programs designed for XP work in 2000, and for example MS Office needs at least 2000 to install, i.e. it won't work in ME), it's a hell of a lot more stable and efficient, and networking and support for USB devices are vastly improved.

MunsterCycling

Make yourself a DOS boot disk, you will need another machine to do this if your system is wiped.

Boot from it, at prompt type format c: follow prompts from there.

Beat me to it zilog...

eurotrotter

thankf rot eh help lads
i tried makeing the startup disk but its freezing when i try it
i could make the startup disk on my other xp machine -or could i?!
thanks for the lp lads
talk soon,
ed

MunsterCycling

You can get a bootdisk image from the net, google it.


Here you are:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

eurotrotter

thanks for that
i have that on disk got a black screen up
with A:\ IN THE CORNER TYPED IN "format c:" and "bootme.exe"
but neither them were excepted
it said "bad command or summit like that any ideas
thanks again
ed"

MunsterCycling wrote:

You can get a bootdisk image from the net, google it.


Here you are:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

MunsterCycling

You have to double click (run virus scan on file first) the bootme.exe file and it will ask you to put a floppy in the drive and it will make a boot disk.

Gotta go, post if probs

eurotrotter

wont allow me make a disk my computer is trully sick! i tried makeing th disk on my xp machine but it said it cant
i remember reformatting the hd by just typing in format c: - having d:/ as the directory i think
i dunno i forget
any ideas
thanks for all the help though
!
ed

formatman

take the hdd out , put it in the XP machine you have and fdisk and partition and format it using disk manager

put it back in and run the XP setup

partition magic or similiar is the quickest way to get rid of the hidden dell partition

formatman

put it back in and run the XP setup


I mean the ME setup

eurotrotter

where is the disk manager or whatever teh program is to do that?!
thanks for teh help

MunsterCycling

Just a thought, the floppy is unlocked for write access isn't it??? :rolleyes: