Hello! I recently installed Linux-Mandrake. I liked it, but I will probably just use Linux on an older system of mine. So, for right now, I just want to run Windows 98 SE. Well, when I set up my dual-boot...it was screwed from the beginning. Linux loaded fine - Windows didn't. So, I just want to start over. Now, I just want to format my C:\ drive and re-install Windows. Since Linux puts something in my MBR, I figured I would use FDISK /MBR to clean it out - then start with a fresh new MBR. Well, I booted from a Win98 startup disk - did the "FDISK /MBR" command - then restarted. Now, when I go to a command prompt and try to access my "C" drive - it says invalid drive specification...like it's not finding the drive. I figure I have to FDISK it right? Well, thats what I thought. So, I run regular FDISK - when FDISK opens, it gives me the screen about enabling Large Disk Yadda Yadda Yadda...I say "Yes"...then...all I see is a black screen with a white blinking cursor. I've used FDISK a few times and I've never ran into anything like this... I do have a question about how the MBR resets itself:...Could it be that after I use the "FDISK /MBR" I turn the power switch completely off - then turn the computer back on? - instead of just hitting the reset switch (I got a new motherboard and haven't set the reset LED right yet). I'm guessing that something in the BIOS could be triggering this as well...but everything looks good in my opinion. I'm really dead in the water here. Any help would be appreciated... Thanks-a-million!!!!!! 'tY

Linux turns fdisk into a bunch of mush. Download DelPart http://hercules.lss.ksu.edu/download/MSSTUFF/delpart.exe And delete all the partitions with it. Then you should be able to use fdisk to repartition the drive.

Or you can go into the BIOS and change the drive type from auto to normal, run FDISK and delete the extended partiton. Reboot and go into the BIOS and change the drive type from normal to LBA. FDISK again and delete the primary DOS partition. Reboot and go into the BIOS the last time and change the drive type back to auto. Linux is now GONE and you can run FDISK to set up the partitions again.

Hi, Did you create a linux emergency diskette? If so you have good chance to recover. Fdisk /mbr from DOS hopefully just rewrote your block 0, which is supposed to contain the Master Boot Record and ALSO the partition table. Your partition table is probably now empty. If you have a linux floppy, you can recover in restoring your old partitions, assuming you have an idea of how big you primary partition was. But anyway, if your primary and first partition on the drive was a windows partition, it is easy. I don't want to cover all possibilities right now. Describe pls your drive layout as good as you remember and identify, what you need to have recovered. I'll try to help you through. Peter

FYI Peter. Fdisk /mbr just rewrites the boot code portion of the MBR. It does not affect the partition table

Hey Guys...thanks for all the replies...you guys kick ass... I tried Sterling's way, hoping it would be the easiest, but, no avail. However, Wally's reply about Delpart I think is my way out of this whole f-ing mess. Before I do anything drastic, I want to know what I should do. When loading DelPart though Dos, I saw the words "non-recoverable" and "data loss" in the opening screen. Those aren't exactly what I like to hear...though I just want to format this thing. Below is what I see when I enter the program "DelPart": Drive Partition Boot Size Type 1 MBR 1 Yes 12,452M Extended 1 1 Yes 52,260M Unknown 1 2 Yes 1028M Unknown 1 3 Yes 27434M Unknown 1 4 Yes 10M Unknown Ok, to me, this looks all messed up considering it's 1 Hard Drive (I actually have two hard drives, but just disconnected one because I didn't want to lose all my mp3s). This hard drive that you see above is a 13GB Drive...My guess is that I should just remove all those partitons and then run FDISK Thanks a lot guys! 'tY

After doing the FDISK /MBR, try booting with your boot disk and doing a SYS C: to recreate the system files.