format hard drive (W98)

[suprtiger]

I need a tool that will delete all files on a hard drive. I am having real problems installing win 98 on a machine that had a motherboard problem and the hard driver was infected with the klez virus. the klez virus was removed at one time.

[adg]

just go to fdisk and delete the partition(s).

Allan
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.tweakdatabase.com/idealbb>tweakxp.com</a>

[Andy-S]

The attached link provides the details on how to use fdisk.

<a target="_blank" href=http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q255867>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q255867</a>


Cheers
Andy

[suprtiger]

I just cannot get windows to install on this machine. Everytime it gets part way done with the install, it will just crash. It doesn't seem to crash at the same spot.

[Andy-S]

Did you delete the partition and then create a new partition before you formatted?

If you did then you may want to remove one of your memory DIMM's (if you have more than one) and try again.

Cheers
Andy

[suprtiger]

Yes, I did that a number of times. I will try to remove one stick of RAM and see what happens. I might be able to find another hard drive to try.

[adg]

Yes, sounds like a hardware problem. Could be ram, could be that you need a bios update, could be a funky card (video, sound, whatever).

Allan
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.tweakdatabase.com/idealbb>tweakxp.com</a>

[jdharm]

You might try this utility (<a target="_blank" href=http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm>CLICK HERE</a>).

The documentation says it is for Maxtor/Quantum drives, but I have used it for Fujitsu, Samsung, and Seagate drives as well. It does some basic and some deep tests, but what I use it for mostly is to low level format drives. It wipes EVERYTHING on the drive, even partition tables, so I know I am starting out at square one, a squeaky clean drive. I have had drives that Windows said had bad sectors and Partition Magic said were completely shot magically fix themselves with a low level format, re-partition, FAT format, and thorough scandisk.

Josh

[i]Sorry folks, I'm an idiot. Moose out front shoulda told ya. [i]