My son was given a computer that had three partitions on the hard drive. He used FDISK to delete the D: & E: partitions, only to discover that the disk space reserved for those partitions didn't free itself up to the remaining drive. (The C: drive). So, he ran a FORMAT C:, to reformat the drive. Now the computer will not start Windows. The Windows 98 splash screen "flashes" for a second...and then a C:\> prompt appears. What did he do wrong?? And, how should he proceed??

When you format a drive you remove everything on it. What surprises me is that you even get the W98 splash screen. What partition held Windows 98? Have you a W98 CD (sounds like you need one)? DerekW

Deleting a partition does not automatically add the space to an existing partition. You will need to delete the "C" partition and create it again using the full hard drive capacity. By formatting the "C" drive, all data has already been erased so you will not lose anything. Fdisk is a destructive partitioning tool. All partition changes made using fdisk will result in loss of data.

Thanks Derek & Dave. I had already instructed my son to delete the C: drive and create a new partition. Then, follow up with a FORMAT C: and reinstall Windows. He said that he couldn't access either of his CD-ROM drives to install Windows. Turns out that he was trying to access the D: drive and the E: drive --- since he assumed those would be the drive letters for his CD-ROMs. Each attempt resulted in BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME. His Primary CD-ROM drive was actually labeled E:, and the drive is not operational, for some reason. His Slave CD-ROM...(F:)...contained his Windows disc. So...he ran setup from the F: drive...and PRESTO!!!.....Windows is now loading.

Glad to hear it. If you were using a bootdisk they often temporarily shift the drive letters up by one letter (the original letter being used as a ramdrive). This is shown during bootup if you watch the screen carefully. DerekW