I have a new 20 Gig hard drive, and used FDISK to create one primary partition. At the end of partitioning, FDISK says that I need to FORMAT the new drive before I can use it. I am using Windows 98 2nd Ed. a Generic Computer running a 500 MHz Intel Processor, Asus P3BF MB and 512 Megs SDRAM. I went to Windows\Command sub-directory and copied the DOS FORMAT Command to a new 3.5" floppy which ALSO is a bootable floppy (I have copied I/O Sys, Command. Com, etc to this disk). I then put the floppy in my A drive and booted back up to the A:> prompt and typed the following command: FORMAT C: Yet, when I do this, it totally screws up the hard drive...it does not format the hard drive properly. I have searched the Microsoft Knowledge Base and come up with ZIP SQUAT NOTHING on what to do to FORMAT my new hard disk after FDISKING it......(grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!) My questions are these: 1). How do you use the FORMAT command at the A:> prompt using a bootable floppy to properly format a hard drive AFTER FDISKING it???? 2). Do any of you old time DOS types know the specific SWITCHES and how to use them with the FORMAT command? What are these switches and how do you use them? 3). If it's not right to try and FORMAT the FDISKED hard drive from the A:> prompt using a bootable diskette with the FORMAT command on this disk, then WHAT IS??????? the correct procedure????? 4). I know about 3rd party software like MaxBlast and OnTrack...what the heck can you do if these things FAIL?????

Walter, You have done everything right. What happens when you do the forma? Totalls screws up is not informative. Al

Dear Al: What happens is that it formats my 20 gig drive as something like an 8 megabyte (yeah, megabyte) drive!!!!! I have to go back and fdisk it again to wipe up the screw up. I have tried various switches, such as Format c: /s Every switch has been rejected that I can think of... Instead of proceeding to actually format, presenting me with a "percentage formatted" on the screen, it quick hurries up and runs through "something" so fast its a blur and then that is it...running a DIR on the disk gives me about an 8 MEG report. I even used FDISK /mbr just in case something was screwed up and it wasn't reading the FAT table right or something. Its the weirdest damned thing I have seen. Its a Maxtor 20 Gig, and I tried MaxBlast. MaxBlast failed several times, telling me that "due to a technical problem, partitioning succeeded but formatting failed" Of course the damned thing doesn't tell you WHAT technical problem that one is...so after this having failed, I went out with sleeve rolled up and did it the old fashioned way...one primary partition and wanting to use DOS format. After a I wrote my first question on here earlier, I went back to Maxblast, and after a few more attempts...IT TOOK IT!!!!!!! Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! I proceeded to start to install Windows 98 SE (yes, I have the FULL version, NOT the upgrade crap!). After the disk launches me, it tells me that Windows WANTS to format my disk (AGAAAAAAIIINNN!!!....yikes), and gives me the choice of either doing it, or getting out of Windows 98 SE setup. I said "OK" as what the heck other choice do I have????? It went on ahead and did its slllllloooowwww format thingee. At the end of sllloowwwly formatting, it kicks back into the pre-install program and tells me that "the hard disk is incompatible with Windows 98!!!!!!!). Hell, I have never seen anything like this....its a B.I.T...., you get the idea. Any suggestions on what I can do now, frustrated as hell and not getting anywhere except deeper in doo doo. Thanks Al!

Walter, I had a similar problem wih an older computer. Have you tried going into your BIOS and switching the properties under the hard disk drive? Try setting this to AUTO. If this doesn't work, then check on the hard drive itself, or its documentation, and find out the setting for cylinders, heads, etc. and set these manually in your BIOS. The other problem may be that you need to upgrade your BIOS. This may be the problem, and this is why...some older BIOS cannot detect large hard drives, and thus designate them as a set size (usually 540MB). So, this is why windows may have trouble formatting your drive. Sorry if this doesn't help.

Dear Madhav: Thanks! It was a good shot, but I sorta chuckled. I just got through flashing my BIOS with Version 1004 which is the latest from ASUS...it even has LS-120 support... Yes, I have my BIOS set to auto. It is a consideration though to set the cylinders, heads and sectors manually. However, nobody here YET seems to have answered my first initial question...HOW do you use the FORMAT command at the DOS level to format a hard drive.... Thanking you kindly - Walter

Walter, In the past when I have had to format my hard drive, I have done it from the promt letter of the drive (C:). I have had a lot of trouble trying to format from floppy drives it just seems to cause alot of headaches. If you have a good partition then you should be able to switch to C: prompt ant then just do a C:>format. I just finished working on my girlfriends pc and had a similar problem trying to format c: from the a: prompt. It may not help a damn bit but there's no harm in trying. Sorry if this doesn't help. Good luck.

My situation may not be related to what your experiencing but I also had a problem with my format command not being recognized from the C:\ prompt. I had to CD DOS to get to C:\DOS> then I typed in FORMAT C: and it worked. Even more important was the boot sequence. The old computer I was fixing up had the booting sequence so that the hard drive booted up first and the A: drive not at all. So of course the boot process wasn't the slightest bit concerned that a floppy was stuck in drive A:. I went into setup and changed the boot sequence to recognize A: first and C: second. Then when I booted it recognize the boot disk in the A: drive, as it should.