Reinstalling Windows Me

January 17, 2008

It sounded like it was too easy!!

Successfully reinstalled Windows Me this morning, subsequently taking

several hours downloading all the updates. In the process of downloading

required utilities, I ran into a memory problem which made no sense. However

I have subsequently found out that previous partitions appear to have

remained, although they are not recognized in MY COMPUTER.

Background: This is a 10 GB Compaq Laptop which is shipped with the O/S on

the C: drive and the Recovery System on D:. A couple of years ago, I had

created a new partition to house all of my data files., OE Message store,

tmp and temp.

Currently, MY COMPUTER shows C: at 4.86 GB and D: at 2.72 GB, however

SYSTEMS INFORMATION shows the following; 3 Partitions Size 9.37 GB

Partition Disk#0 (Partition #0) Size 4.88 GB

Partition Disk#0 (Partition #1) Size 2.73 GB

Partition Disk #0 (Partition #2) Size 1.75 GB

BootIt NG shows the following;

MBR Entry 0 Partition 4997nMB FAT-32

Data Partition 1796 MB FAT-32

MBR Entry 1 Partition 2793 MB Extended

System_S Volume 2793 MB FAT-32

I had thought I understood that the Compaq Recovery Discs would reformat my

computer and restore to a Factory level. Obviously not so. I'm ready to

start over but this time I need a little more guidance as to how to do it

properly. Was I supposed to format C: and D: separately before starting? D0

I use the startup disk for this or should I use BootIt NG to format and wipe

everything clean?

I'm on my way out for the evening and will be busy tomorrow afternoon but

will be ready to tackle this thereafter.

Thanks

January 18, 2008

Re: Reinstalling Windows Me

If clean installing then you need to format the drive on which the OS will

be installed, normally C:. Most recovery disks however lay down an image

rather than actually install the system hence why in most cases this means

the loss of any pre-existing partition structure that might exist on the

target disk.

Use your boot floppy to format the target partition.

> However I have subsequently found out that previous

> partitions appear to have remained, although they are not recognized

> in MY COMPUTER.

Unless formatted as FAT or FAT32 partitions won't be visible in Win Me's

Explorer/My Computer however since BING reports the partitions as all

being FAT32 it might be an idea to check their accessibility and

readability by booting to DOS using a boot floppy and checking from the

DOS prompt.

> I ran into a memory problem which made no sense.

Memory, that is, RAM, or do you mean storage, that is, space on your hard

drive?

--

Mike Maltby

mike.maltby@gmail.com

Dapper Dan <dapperdan@home.com> wrote:

> It sounded like it was too easy!!

>

> Successfully reinstalled Windows Me this morning, subsequently taking

> several hours downloading all the updates. In the process of

> downloading required utilities, I ran into a memory problem which

> made no sense. However I have subsequently found out that previous

> partitions appear to have remained, although they are not recognized

> in MY COMPUTER.

>

> Background: This is a 10 GB Compaq Laptop which is shipped with the

> O/S on the C: drive and the Recovery System on D:. A couple of years

> ago, I had created a new partition to house all of my data files., OE

> Message store, tmp and temp.

>

> Currently, MY COMPUTER shows C: at 4.86 GB and D: at 2.72 GB, however

> SYSTEMS INFORMATION shows the following; 3 Partitions Size 9.37 GB

> Partition Disk#0 (Partition #0) Size 4.88 GB

> Partition Disk#0 (Partition #1) Size 2.73 GB

> Partition Disk #0 (Partition #2) Size 1.75 GB

>

> BootIt NG shows the following;

> MBR Entry 0 Partition 4997nMB FAT-32

> Data Partition 1796 MB FAT-32

> MBR Entry 1 Partition 2793 MB Extended

> System_S Volume 2793 MB FAT-32

>

> I had thought I understood that the Compaq Recovery Discs would

> reformat my computer and restore to a Factory level. Obviously not

> so. I'm ready to start over but this time I need a little more

> guidance as to how to do it properly. Was I supposed to format C: and

> D: separately before starting? D0 I use the startup disk for this or

> should I use BootIt NG to format and wipe everything clean?

>

> I'm on my way out for the evening and will be busy tomorrow afternoon

> but will be ready to tackle this thereafter.

>

> Thanks

January 18, 2008

Re: Reinstalling Windows Me

Mike

Is there a way to format the whole disk drive and start from scratch.

I did Format C: however this left the partitions in place so I went back and

did format D: and tried to format E: but on this one the message says

"Format no supported on E:"

I can probably leave E: as is but simply erase all contents and start

cleanly that way. Or maybe "resize" using BootIt. Would appreciate your

help. Just to be clear, I would like to wipe everything and start anew both

for the reinstallation as well as the repartitioning (I'm assuming that the

Compaq Recovery Disks will automatically recreate D:).

BTW, responding to your query re did I mean RAM when I referenced memory

issue, I'm not sure what it was. I recall I was trying to install Diskeer

Lite and it seems to me it said I didn't have enough space (not memory).

Once again Mike thanks for your support.

Dan

"Mike M" <No_Spam@Corned_Beef.Only> wrote in message

news:%23gZdYvWWIHA.4896@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> If clean installing then you need to format the drive on which the OS will

> be installed, normally C:. Most recovery disks however lay down an image

> rather than actually install the system hence why in most cases this means

> the loss of any pre-existing partition structure that might exist on the

> target disk.

>

> Use your boot floppy to format the target partition.

>

>> However I have subsequently found out that previous

>> partitions appear to have remained, although they are not recognized

>> in MY COMPUTER.

>

> Unless formatted as FAT or FAT32 partitions won't be visible in Win Me's

> Explorer/My Computer however since BING reports the partitions as all

> being FAT32 it might be an idea to check their accessibility and

> readability by booting to DOS using a boot floppy and checking from the

> DOS prompt.

>

>> I ran into a memory problem which made no sense.

>

> Memory, that is, RAM, or do you mean storage, that is, space on your hard

> drive?

> --

> Mike Maltby

> mike.maltby@gmail.com

>

> Dapper Dan <dapperdan@home.com> wrote:

>

>> It sounded like it was too easy!!

>>

>> Successfully reinstalled Windows Me this morning, subsequently taking

>> several hours downloading all the updates. In the process of

>> downloading required utilities, I ran into a memory problem which

>> made no sense. However I have subsequently found out that previous

>> partitions appear to have remained, although they are not recognized

>> in MY COMPUTER.

>>

>> Background: This is a 10 GB Compaq Laptop which is shipped with the

>> O/S on the C: drive and the Recovery System on D:. A couple of years

>> ago, I had created a new partition to house all of my data files., OE

>> Message store, tmp and temp.

>>

>> Currently, MY COMPUTER shows C: at 4.86 GB and D: at 2.72 GB, however

>> SYSTEMS INFORMATION shows the following; 3 Partitions Size 9.37 GB

>> Partition Disk#0 (Partition #0) Size 4.88 GB

>> Partition Disk#0 (Partition #1) Size 2.73 GB

>> Partition Disk #0 (Partition #2) Size 1.75 GB

>>

>> BootIt NG shows the following;

>> MBR Entry 0 Partition 4997nMB FAT-32

>> Data Partition 1796 MB FAT-32

>> MBR Entry 1 Partition 2793 MB Extended

>> System_S Volume 2793 MB FAT-32

>>

>> I had thought I understood that the Compaq Recovery Discs would

>> reformat my computer and restore to a Factory level. Obviously not

>> so. I'm ready to start over but this time I need a little more

>> guidance as to how to do it properly. Was I supposed to format C: and

>> D: separately before starting? D0 I use the startup disk for this or

>> should I use BootIt NG to format and wipe everything clean?

>>

>> I'm on my way out for the evening and will be busy tomorrow afternoon

>> but will be ready to tackle this thereafter.

>>

>> Thanks

>

January 18, 2008

Re: Reinstalling Windows Me

If reinstalling from a recovery partition the very last thing you want to

be doing is formatting the drive containing that partition.

As it is I don't really understand what problem you are having. You

earlier said that you had reinstalled Win Me and that it is running on C:

so I'm unclear as to why you wish to do this again. If the problem is

that you can't see D: in Windows Explorer you first need to ascertain

whether it still contains usable data that you might want to keep. If not

then delete it, either using BING or by using the DOS command fdisk. If

you do decide to remove D: then, either recreate and reformat, you can do

this from within Win Me using fdisk and format or by using BING where you

also have the additional option of increasing the size of C so as to use

al of the space currently occupied by D. Note however if you do the

latter the current drive E will become D.

Due to continuing comms problems I have no idea when I will next be able

to post to this NG.

--

Mike Maltby

mike.maltby@gmail.com

Dapper Dan <dapperdan@home.com> wrote:

> Mike

>

> Is there a way to format the whole disk drive and start from scratch.

>

> I did Format C: however this left the partitions in place so I went

> back and did format D: and tried to format E: but on this one the

> message says "Format no supported on E:"

>

> I can probably leave E: as is but simply erase all contents and start

> cleanly that way. Or maybe "resize" using BootIt. Would appreciate

> your help. Just to be clear, I would like to wipe everything and

> start anew both for the reinstallation as well as the repartitioning

> (I'm assuming that the Compaq Recovery Disks will automatically

> recreate D:).

> BTW, responding to your query re did I mean RAM when I referenced memory

> issue, I'm not sure what it was. I recall I was trying to

> install Diskeer Lite and it seems to me it said I didn't have enough

> space (not memory).

> Once again Mike thanks for your support.

January 19, 2008

Re: Reinstalling Windows Me

Mike

Sorry to hear about your continuing comm problems. In this day and age you

would hope they would be a thing of the past, but not so, I guess.

The problems from this end were obviously caused by my lack of knowledge.

Yes I had reinstalled but as indicated, I had thought that everything would

be wiped clean. Given that it wasn't, I became aware that it wasn't

recognizing my DATA drive and there was some issue with either storage or

memory, so I thought that I had not reinstalled properly. In any event, I

think all is now in order. I ended up deleting all partitions and resizing

it all under the C: drive using BootIt NG. I then reinstalled and as I

expected, it created a D: drive to house the recovery system. I have just

spent the last several hours updating the system. The next step will be to

create a partition and move all data , OE, tmp, temp etc etc.

Thanks for being there. I may need to come back for more advice once I start

working with it, however I'll try and keep that to a minimum.

Dan

"Mike M" <No_Spam@Corned_Beef.Only> wrote in message

news:eqckxLgWIHA.5208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> If reinstalling from a recovery partition the very last thing you want to

> be doing is formatting the drive containing that partition.

>

> As it is I don't really understand what problem you are having. You

> earlier said that you had reinstalled Win Me and that it is running on C:

> so I'm unclear as to why you wish to do this again. If the problem is

> that you can't see D: in Windows Explorer you first need to ascertain

> whether it still contains usable data that you might want to keep. If not

> then delete it, either using BING or by using the DOS command fdisk. If

> you do decide to remove D: then, either recreate and reformat, you can do

> this from within Win Me using fdisk and format or by using BING where you

> also have the additional option of increasing the size of C so as to use

> al of the space currently occupied by D. Note however if you do the

> latter the current drive E will become D.

>

> Due to continuing comms problems I have no idea when I will next be able

> to post to this NG.

> --

> Mike Maltby

> mike.maltby@gmail.com

>

> Dapper Dan <dapperdan@home.com> wrote:

>

>> Mike

>>

>> Is there a way to format the whole disk drive and start from scratch.

>>

>> I did Format C: however this left the partitions in place so I went

>> back and did format D: and tried to format E: but on this one the

>> message says "Format no supported on E:"

>>

>> I can probably leave E: as is but simply erase all contents and start

>> cleanly that way. Or maybe "resize" using BootIt. Would appreciate

>> your help. Just to be clear, I would like to wipe everything and

>> start anew both for the reinstallation as well as the repartitioning

>> (I'm assuming that the Compaq Recovery Disks will automatically

>> recreate D:).

>> BTW, responding to your query re did I mean RAM when I referenced memory

>> issue, I'm not sure what it was. I recall I was trying to

>> install Diskeer Lite and it seems to me it said I didn't have enough

>> space (not memory).

>> Once again Mike thanks for your support.

>

January 19, 2008

Re: Reinstalling Windows Me

I have a question related to OEM crap that comes with reinstalling an O/S,

specifically icons on the desktop for programs that are not in ADD/REMOVE.

In START/ALL PROGRAMS, if listed, they do not have an uninstaller. Examples

would Online Service (like AOL) and "Install Norton Antivirus" plus many

more. Would it be safe to simply delete the folders or should I just leave

them there?

Granted there are only a few on this Windows Me Laptop, however I'm more

interested in my Windows XP Desktop because there are so many more (it just

came back from the shop on a warranty issue and surprisingly they

reinstalled the o/s....so I must go through the same procedure as when I

initially purchased it, uninstalling what I don't want and configuring the

setup to my satisfaction).

Would appreciate feedback.