Need advice to reformat Harddisk in DOS without using ":" key.

1.Acer Travelmate 630 crashed while i was trying to reformat it with original recovery disc.
2. Tried to reboot using recovery boot disc
3. Error message "C drive unable to read media"
4. Need to reformat my C:
5. Unable to use dos prompt to reformat due to faulty ":" key
6. Kind souls offered ways of making ":" appear either using ascii (requires Numlock) or Fn key
7. Num lock key requires using "Fn" key to set.
8. "Fn" key on laptop is also spoilt.

lolz. Big Big hole i got myself into here. Its a pretty damn old laptop so its not worth going to Acer to get keyboard replaced just so i can format drive to boot up.

http://www.killdisk.com

You do not have DOS, P4 Travelmates came with XP....................

You could create a batch file with the following contents:
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@echo off
format c:
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Create it on a working computer an copy it to boot-disk. Name it formathd.bat and then boot from that disk. Than format hard drive using formathd.bat.

But I don't know how will you be able to use your dos system without ':', it's one of the most important keys for dos...

Does it have a PS/2 port for an external mouse or KB?

"its not worth going to Acer to get keyboard replaced just so i can format drive to boot up."

Probably not. But if you can't USE it why format?

=====================================
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

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You could create a batch file with the following contents:
---------------
@echo off
format c:
---------------
Create it on a working computer an copy it to boot-disk. Name it formathd.bat and then boot from that disk. Than format hard drive using formathd.bat.

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Hi, How do I create a boot cd with the formact c: instructions?

That depends on tools you are goinig to use to create and burn it. It's simple to do it with Nero for example. You need floppy image of your bootable floppy with all the tools needed. Then in nero select bootable disk and set your floppy image for boot image. For details on how to create bootable disk you should check nero's help (or help of the program you use).

It would be helpful if you'd tell us what your intention is. Which operating system do you intent to install? Some dos installers can format the drive for you automatically, windows xp install cd can format drive for you without need for ':' key.

DosX! NERO does not run in 'MS-DOS and compatibles', this is a non-windows/mac/*nix/beos etal forum after all, so this discussion is irrelelevent...

Nero does indeed not run in dos. But jeryl82 would obviously like to install dos or at least boot dos from cd. And I didn't go in details with nero, so I don't see any problem. If you know any other way to do it with mashine that does not jet have any sistem installed on it, but to use another (working) computer, I would be interested to here... :)

The OP is grasping at straws and the whole post is irrelevent for this forum, he probably in all likelyhood thinks NT Command Prompt is DOS.

Anyway the OP has long gone so it does not matter anyway, and as already mentioned he probaly has XP therefore a DOS Boot Floppy is not needed or required.