ME doesn't want to format HDD

[propaganda]

I had Mandrake 9.2 on an old computer really because I was sick of not being able to find the PCI drivers for my motherboard which Windows couldn't install so I used Mandrake and it worked fine. But now that I actually found the drivers I can't install Windows again. Whenever the ME install asks me if I want to remove all partitions on my drive I press next and it freezes and absolutely nothing happens.
I was thinking bootdisk but I can't use a Windows bootdisk since there is no C drive. So I'm all out of solutions can anyone help?

 

[markjs]

I wish I could help more, but the only thing I can tell you is probably something you already know; ME is Microsofts biggest pile of flaming dog poo yet. I bet a 2K or XP install would work fine.

 

[propaganda]

This I know. It is a horrid OS but its not going to be my PC and I'm not going to waste my 200 to get XP Home. Its not worth it for what its going to be used for

 

[markjs]

Then if you can I suggest you try 98. Maybe you can get that to work. 98 sucks but not near so bad as ME.

BTW XP Home is about $90 for the upgrade.

 

[propaganda]

I heard some bad things about the upgrade XP version and really I'm not trying to spend any cash on this. If it really comes down to the bottom line maybe I will

 

[markjs]

Yes bad things about the upgrade if you upgrade. What you do instead is clean install with the upgrade CD then at some point the upgrade CD will prompt you to put in an older version of windows to prove you are upgrade eligeable.

 

[sxftdeep]

If you have a WindowsXP installation CD, simply boot from it and use the partition manager it provides to remove the Linux partitions. Afterwards, when your drive is unpartitioned, boot with Windows 98 startup disk and use FDISK to create a FAT32 partition. When that's finished, reboot the computer with either the Windows 98 or WindowsME boot disk, making sure to enable CDROM support, format the newly partioned drive, and proceed with the installation of WindowsME as normal.

I had this same problem before when I was experiment with Linux. I hope this works as well for you as it did for me. Good luck.

BTW, if you can get your hands on a copy of Windows 98, install it instead of WindowsME. ME is so, ugh...
:disgust:

 

[redbeard1]

Download the hard drive utilities from whoever made your drive and run the "low level format" or "write zeroes to drive" option. My guess is there is something left from the linux install interfering with the partitioning process. However the utility is named, running it will reset the drive back to a state that should enable you to install your OS.

 

[propaganda]

Well I tried both the ideas above and I still have no solution to my problem. I could always end up getting another 20 gb HDD.

O_O Just checked newegg.com and the 20 GB hard drives are just 1 dollar less then the 40... thats a bit odd

 

[sxftdeep]

Originally posted by: propaganda
Well I tried both the ideas above and I still have no solution to my problem. I could always end up getting another 20 gb HDD.

O_O Just checked newegg.com and the 20 GB hard drives are just 1 dollar less then the 40... thats a bit odd

Actually, that's not really odd. The 20GB drives are being phased out. Manufacturers are pushing their bigger drives into the market now. The same thing applies to CPUs. For example, where I work the 2.6C is selling for the same price as the 2.8C and the 2.6B is actually more expensive than the 2.8C. It's just that companies are trying to get their new products into the market and phase out the old stuff.

 

[sharq]

Not sure what you've tried, but here goes: Did you use fdisk in linux to delete all the partitions and free up the space? I know win98 install cd let you go to the console from the cd, and then you could run win's fdisk to create a primary active fat32 partition and format it from the command line. Then all you did was reboot and install 98. Just wondering if ME offers anything like that? If not, just wondering if you created a C: fat32 partition? Never did that in linux, but I'm sure there is a way.