I'm working on a friend's computer, when I go to fdisk I attempt to delete the PRI DOS partition, but it says the volume label does not match. The only thing I see that doesn't match is that the label is lower case. When you type, its always upper case. Is there anyway to change this?? Anyone got any ideas? I think a virus did this because I know the voume label shouldn't be this "ay thatis".

If you can't use the shift key to change from lower to upper case you have a problem.You need to fill the volume label entry as it is written and spelled to delete the partition.Try with a different copy of the same boot disk or write zeroes to the drive if you suspect a virus.You will need the installation diskette utility from the manufacturer of the hard drive.Don't interrupt this procedure if you attempt it(about 10 min. for 40 Gb).After doing this operation you fdisk and format the drive.Good luck.

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/support/faqs/faqs_20000120_0000000036.htm

Well its a Western Digital Drive, and I happend to have one of those Western Digital disks. So I tried booting it with that. But it doesn't recognize the drive as being Western Digital. I duno...might need a new drive. As far as the fdisk goes, no shift won't work. That works while in DOS, but not in the actual fdisk. I've read that you can't use lower case. And that if it is lower case...then a 3rd party partitioning software has been used to do it. Anymore ideas? Might need a new hard drive. When I boot up and do a DIR command on C, it comes back with a few folders that have weird characterd names. But then it won't access it. Oh well, may need a new drive. Any other ideas though?

look for the program called DELPART, it will delete any partition regardless of allocation type, it is used when you need to delete non-DOS partitions, Al

josh, There's a number of products like Wipe Drive "http://www.accessdata.com/" that'll wipe that partition for you. This particular one costs $40 but that's cheaper than a new drive, i'm sure you'll find a free demo if you spend a little time searching or if you use Bearshare, iMesh, Kazaa or something like that to find it. ciao, wired

If you were trying out Linux(you should keep it!) use the fisk partition that came with the setup. Boot to the CD and delete all the partitions on the drive. Reboot. Using fdisk type in "fdisk/mbr" Then type "fdisk" Reboot Format the drive. Install Micro$oft windoze