Can't Format a Hard Disk

Hi Everyone,

I'm using a Pentium lll, 650Mhz, 360MB RAM, IE6, OE6, with Win 98SE. I have
taken it upon myself to help a neighbour get her PC up and running.
Apparently, she got an internet account and in two days, viruses/parasites
attacked her system. The unit is a HP Pavillion, 256MB RAM, with Win XP Home
SP1. Following domestic issues, she no longer has her original setup CD for
Win XP and she's not even sure it is the one pre-installed with the unit
originally, as I discovered the Product Keys, though existent, don't match.
The unit is in great shape though past warranty (or it was purchased
privately, not sure).

Anyway, she wants Win XP uninstalled and Win 98 installed, as she has a new
Win 98SE CD package. I tried plugging her HDD into my system to format the
disk but only the "HP_Pavillion Recovery" partition is recognized by my
system. The actual C: drive containing the Win XP is NTFS formatted but is
not shown and I've been unable to select it in MS-DOS, though it shows up
along with the Recovery partition.

I've tried every IDE and jumper configuration possible and consulted all the
literature I could find.

Can anyone help me further? I've formatted HDD's before and successfully
installed OS's but I'm stumped. I also realize there's a great deal I don't
know compared to the little I do.

Thanks,
Terry
--
Peaceis not to be pursued; it is a by-product of love.

I would first and foremost STRONGLY SUGGEST that you make sure that HP will
support Windows 98 on her computer. I suspect that they won't have drivers
and that you won't be able to find drivers anywhere. I would contact HP for
a replacement disk set for the computer and restore the original operating
system.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* In fond memory ... Alex, you shall be sorely missed
* http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm


"Peaceworks" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone,

I'm using a Pentium lll, 650Mhz, 360MB RAM, IE6, OE6, with Win 98SE. I
have
taken it upon myself to help a neighbour get her PC up and running.
Apparently, she got an internet account and in two days, viruses/parasites
attacked her system. The unit is a HP Pavillion, 256MB RAM, with Win XP
Home
SP1. Following domestic issues, she no longer has her original setup CD
for
Win XP and she's not even sure it is the one pre-installed with the unit
originally, as I discovered the Product Keys, though existent, don't
match.
The unit is in great shape though past warranty (or it was purchased
privately, not sure).

Anyway, she wants Win XP uninstalled and Win 98 installed, as she has a
new
Win 98SE CD package. I tried plugging her HDD into my system to format the
disk but only the "HP_Pavillion Recovery" partition is recognized by my
system. The actual C: drive containing the Win XP is NTFS formatted but is
not shown and I've been unable to select it in MS-DOS, though it shows up
along with the Recovery partition.

I've tried every IDE and jumper configuration possible and consulted all
the
literature I could find.

Can anyone help me further? I've formatted HDD's before and successfully
installed OS's but I'm stumped. I also realize there's a great deal I
don't
know compared to the little I do.

Thanks,
Terry
--
Peaceis not to be pursued; it is a by-product of love.

You can't format an NTFS partition using Win9x Format, and if you format, it will
still be NTFS anyway. Partitioning is where the files system type is decided. You
must use FDISK from a floppy boot to DOS, to delete the non-DOS partition, and then
create a DOS partition, saying yes to enabling Large Disk Support, so that it will
be FAT32 rather than FAT.

Step 2 - Using FDISK - Delete Non-DOS Partition:
http://www.techrescue.net/guides/prepdrv6h.asp
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...t/default.mspx


"Peaceworks" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone,

I'm using a Pentium lll, 650Mhz, 360MB RAM, IE6, OE6, with Win 98SE. I have
taken it upon myself to help a neighbour get her PC up and running.
Apparently, she got an internet account and in two days, viruses/parasites
attacked her system. The unit is a HP Pavillion, 256MB RAM, with Win XP Home
SP1. Following domestic issues, she no longer has her original setup CD for
Win XP and she's not even sure it is the one pre-installed with the unit
originally, as I discovered the Product Keys, though existent, don't match.
The unit is in great shape though past warranty (or it was purchased
privately, not sure).

Anyway, she wants Win XP uninstalled and Win 98 installed, as she has a new
Win 98SE CD package. I tried plugging her HDD into my system to format the
disk but only the "HP_Pavillion Recovery" partition is recognized by my
system. The actual C: drive containing the Win XP is NTFS formatted but is
not shown and I've been unable to select it in MS-DOS, though it shows up
along with the Recovery partition.

I've tried every IDE and jumper configuration possible and consulted all the
literature I could find.

Can anyone help me further? I've formatted HDD's before and successfully
installed OS's but I'm stumped. I also realize there's a great deal I don't
know compared to the little I do.

Thanks,
Terry
--
Peaceis not to be pursued; it is a by-product of love.

Thanks Glee and Richard,

I am REALLY fortunate to have contacted you before I'd gone any further. As
far as I'm concerned, problem solved.

Terry, gratefully.

"Richard G. Harper" wrote:

I would first and foremost STRONGLY SUGGEST that you make sure that HP will
support Windows 98 on her computer. I suspect that they won't have drivers
and that you won't be able to find drivers anywhere. I would contact HP for
a replacement disk set for the computer and restore the original operating
system.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* In fond memory ... Alex, you shall be sorely missed
* http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm


"Peaceworks" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone,

I'm using a Pentium lll, 650Mhz, 360MB RAM, IE6, OE6, with Win 98SE. I
have
taken it upon myself to help a neighbour get her PC up and running.
Apparently, she got an internet account and in two days, viruses/parasites
attacked her system. The unit is a HP Pavillion, 256MB RAM, with Win XP
Home
SP1. Following domestic issues, she no longer has her original setup CD
for
Win XP and she's not even sure it is the one pre-installed with the unit
originally, as I discovered the Product Keys, though existent, don't
match.
The unit is in great shape though past warranty (or it was purchased
privately, not sure).

Anyway, she wants Win XP uninstalled and Win 98 installed, as she has a
new
Win 98SE CD package. I tried plugging her HDD into my system to format the
disk but only the "HP_Pavillion Recovery" partition is recognized by my
system. The actual C: drive containing the Win XP is NTFS formatted but is
not shown and I've been unable to select it in MS-DOS, though it shows up
along with the Recovery partition.

I've tried every IDE and jumper configuration possible and consulted all
the
literature I could find.

Can anyone help me further? I've formatted HDD's before and successfully
installed OS's but I'm stumped. I also realize there's a great deal I
don't
know compared to the little I do.

Thanks,
Terry
--
Peaceis not to be pursued; it is a by-product of love.