Laptop Question about reformatting

longshot

Ok...My brother has a IBM Thinkpad 600e. Somehow he messed up the O.S. (Win 2000) removing components of the Gator Program. He get error after error on just about anything he does. I want to reformat the Hard Drive but running into problems. This laptop does not have a Floppy Drive and the DOS wont let me reformat even with /u. I have tried setting BIOS to load to CD first but thats not working out.

I finally just tried a repair with win 2000 but for some reason...now its got 2 admin users and used up alot of his hard drive (Total space is 6 gigs, used 4 1/2 gigs)

Should I buy a External Floppy so I can boot up to that first. I want to do a totally clean install...thats why I want to wipe out the hard drive.

cheeblie

Well, if you haven't tried the Recovery Console, I would try that. Put in your Windows 2000 CD and type in "D:\i386winnt32.exe /cmdcons" (Substitute D for the drive letter of your CD-ROM). This will install Recovery Console. You can select it by pressing F8 during the OS boot process. From there you can fix system files and anything else that may have become corrupted. Also, does the DOS prompt allow you to access the CD-ROM? If so, browse to \i386winnt.exe. This should start the installer where you can delete partitions and format new ones. Then you can re-install the OS.

Cheeblie

cheeblie

That folder is \i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons and \i386\winnt.exe. The spell checker removed them for some reason.

Cheeblie

Webmaster

If you can start Windows 2000 setup, you can delete/creat/format partitions in setup.

I did have to buy an external floppy drive for my VAIO, although that was to perform a bios update.... about $120... for a BIOS update I needed it to be able to run XP so I had no choice..

longshot

Thanks. I will try that when I get home tonight.

Webmaster

I need to type faster

The spell checker removed them for some reason.

Nice to know someone is actually using it

longshot

wahts a pellcheker???

cheeblie

I always use the spellchecker. I just hate knowing that I did something wrong. I'm so ****, but I imagine that will be good in an industry where one minute detail can make a network not function .

Cheeblie

2lazybutsmart

I've got an IBM ThinkPad R32. Though I've never run the auto-recovery, and do hope I never do, you can start it by pressing Ctrl+F11 at the computer startup.

Not sure if all Thinkpads are the same, but that's what you'd want to do on a R32.

Luck
2lbs.

longshot

Well...I think I am going to borrow a friends external floppy and wipe everything out. The little bugger is about to become magnet food if I cant get the thing to reformat. Thats not from me....my brother will do it.