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Need to wipe drive 1
- Thread starter sliptdisk
- Start date
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1
- #2
If you are talking about reformatting, then be sure you have all your data backed up. Copy the drivers for your CDROM also, or you won't be able to access the CD drive to reinstall Win95 after booting from your boot disk.
You might want to look in the Autoexec.bat and config.sys for the references to your CDROM drive.
Do you know if your PC can run from the CDROM drive? Do you know how to get into the BIOS of your computer to check to see if you can boot from CDROM?
Mary
You might want to look in the Autoexec.bat and config.sys for the references to your CDROM drive.
Do you know if your PC can run from the CDROM drive? Do you know how to get into the BIOS of your computer to check to see if you can boot from CDROM?
Mary
CitrixEngineer
Technical User
What symptoms are you getting that prompted this diagnosis?
It is, in my experience, very rare that a hard disk completely crashes.
Generally a "crashed" hard disk can be recovered using fdisk /mbr, if it cannot be accessed either in safe/VGA mode or via a DOS startup disk.
If you "created" the disk using control panel, you should be able to remove it using safe mode. The best way would be to remove all disk-related drivers while in safe mode, then reboot the computer. Windows 9x will then reinstall the necessary drivers automatically.
I hope this information is useful.
It is, in my experience, very rare that a hard disk completely crashes.
Generally a "crashed" hard disk can be recovered using fdisk /mbr, if it cannot be accessed either in safe/VGA mode or via a DOS startup disk.
If you "created" the disk using control panel, you should be able to remove it using safe mode. The best way would be to remove all disk-related drivers while in safe mode, then reboot the computer. Windows 9x will then reinstall the necessary drivers automatically.
I hope this information is useful.
- Thread starter
- #4
Thanks for all of the responses. I started having trouble w/ my home PC about 2 or 3 mos. ago, after I attempted to install Access 2000 from the Ofc2000 disk. I don't know if it led to some sort of registry problem, or what, but, I, also, have a problem with repeated power outages in my neighborhood that have necessitated lots of cold boots, over time (I know - I need to get a power thingee).
Anyway, the system was crashing whenever I tried to do anything, yesterday, until, finally I got a Kernel32 error message. My friend, also a Citrix engineer, told me I needed to wipe my hard drive, starting with making the disk I mentioned. Is this not necessarily so? This is not my neck of the woods, at all. Thanks again.
Dan
Anyway, the system was crashing whenever I tried to do anything, yesterday, until, finally I got a Kernel32 error message. My friend, also a Citrix engineer, told me I needed to wipe my hard drive, starting with making the disk I mentioned. Is this not necessarily so? This is not my neck of the woods, at all. Thanks again.
Dan
I agree with Citrix, that wiping your disk may not be necessary, but I will also ask how old is this version of this disk? Kind of out of habit, I like to make a fresh system about once a year. I am always installing / deinstalling new software, and feel that a lot of these programs don't clean them self up very well when removed.
So, after about a year, I will save off all of my important documents, drivers and other special files, format the disk, reload a clean version of whatever Win OS I have and then install what I need. This is time consuming sometimes and a pain most of the time, but from then on, I have a lot less little quirks and errors...
Terry M. Hoey
th3856@txmail.sbc.com
Ever notice that by the time that you realize that you ran a truncate script on the wrong instance, it is too late to stop it?
So, after about a year, I will save off all of my important documents, drivers and other special files, format the disk, reload a clean version of whatever Win OS I have and then install what I need. This is time consuming sometimes and a pain most of the time, but from then on, I have a lot less little quirks and errors...
Terry M. Hoey
th3856@txmail.sbc.com
Ever notice that by the time that you realize that you ran a truncate script on the wrong instance, it is too late to stop it?
Okay, have you emptied your temp directory and run scandisk and defrag? Sometimes that is all you need. Then again if your registry is corrupted, you would need to remove Win 95 and reinstall... which is another option... rather than reformatting.
I did a deltree on my OS directory and reinstalled the other day and none of my data was loss, though I did have to reinstall all of my programs. But the process took less time then reformatting and reinstalling.
Some things to think about.
Mary
I did a deltree on my OS directory and reinstalled the other day and none of my data was loss, though I did have to reinstall all of my programs. But the process took less time then reformatting and reinstalling.
Some things to think about.
Mary
- Thread starter
- #7
Thanks, Mary.
I haven't defragged, recently, but, will do so. By the temp directory, do you mean temporary internet files? No, I don't think this is caused by having too much junk in my cache. And, what's a deltree, by the way? If I can get away with just reinstalling the OS, that would be great. Do I need to uninstall and then install, or should I just slip the disk *:->* in and go? Hate to sound dumb, but, I don't want to screw anything up any worse than it already is.
Dan
I haven't defragged, recently, but, will do so. By the temp directory, do you mean temporary internet files? No, I don't think this is caused by having too much junk in my cache. And, what's a deltree, by the way? If I can get away with just reinstalling the OS, that would be great. Do I need to uninstall and then install, or should I just slip the disk *:->* in and go? Hate to sound dumb, but, I don't want to screw anything up any worse than it already is.
Dan
Believe me, you don't sound dumb... You have good questions!
Okay, the temp directory I'm referring to is right off the C:\ root. If you go into Windows Explorer and look at the directories from c: you will see a TEMP dir. When programs are installed or you are running a program, they use this directory to temporarily store data. Sometimes they don't clean after themselves and this gets bogged down.
And if you are crashing a lot, then there would be LOTS of files in there! Just delete all that Windows will let you. Don't worry about the ones Windows won't let you, it uses that directory too!
I'm assuming you have run scandisk.
Then you need to run defrag. Go to Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools and select Defragment. This will help optimize your drive and reduce your crashes. Nothing eliminates crashes, by the way!
If your system has trouble defragging, then try booting in Safe Mode and doing it there. Sometimes there are programs in memory that will intefere.
These are little things to do before you do the most destructive thing.
HTH
Mary
)
Okay, the temp directory I'm referring to is right off the C:\ root. If you go into Windows Explorer and look at the directories from c: you will see a TEMP dir. When programs are installed or you are running a program, they use this directory to temporarily store data. Sometimes they don't clean after themselves and this gets bogged down.
And if you are crashing a lot, then there would be LOTS of files in there! Just delete all that Windows will let you. Don't worry about the ones Windows won't let you, it uses that directory too!
I'm assuming you have run scandisk.
Then you need to run defrag. Go to Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools and select Defragment. This will help optimize your drive and reduce your crashes. Nothing eliminates crashes, by the way!
If your system has trouble defragging, then try booting in Safe Mode and doing it there. Sometimes there are programs in memory that will intefere.
These are little things to do before you do the most destructive thing.
HTH
Mary
)Oh... to answer your question about deltree...
It is a DOS program you run from the prompt. It deletes the directories and data in one fell swoop. That way you don't have to go into each directory under windows and delete files before you delete the directories and work your way up. Windows has LOTS of directories under its first directory (Windows).
If you have a Directory call DOS, then you should be able to find the program there.
But clean up your temp dir and run defrag before we get into that!
Mary
It is a DOS program you run from the prompt. It deletes the directories and data in one fell swoop. That way you don't have to go into each directory under windows and delete files before you delete the directories and work your way up. Windows has LOTS of directories under its first directory (Windows).
If you have a Directory call DOS, then you should be able to find the program there.
But clean up your temp dir and run defrag before we get into that!
Mary
- Thread starter
- #10
Terry - to answer your ? about how old the disk is: I've been running Win95 on the home computer for a couple of years, but, have never refreshed the system.
Mary - I defragged, per your suggestion. I got a msg saying 2% was fragged and that I could wait, but, I went ahead, anyway. Then, although ScanDisk had run many, many times after crashing while online, I ran it manually and it asked me about a bunch of files which I mostly deleted. I looked in the Temp file to find that there's 34MB X-) of stuff in there! Should I just select all and delete and wait for it to tell me I'm trying to delete sytems files, or whatever?
For some reason, I haven't been crashing, today. I wonder if this has anything to do w/ my ISP; the browser kept crashing, I called, they sent me the new version, it worked once and then everything went jabberwocky the next dozen times I tried to fire up the PC. I called and yelled at them, yesterday. But, everything seems to be working fine, today, even before I did the aforementioned stuff. Weird. One thing's for sure - I'm going to plow through this registry for dummies book I got and get this thing working the way I want it to. Thanks for all the help.
Dan
Mary - I defragged, per your suggestion. I got a msg saying 2% was fragged and that I could wait, but, I went ahead, anyway. Then, although ScanDisk had run many, many times after crashing while online, I ran it manually and it asked me about a bunch of files which I mostly deleted. I looked in the Temp file to find that there's 34MB X-) of stuff in there! Should I just select all and delete and wait for it to tell me I'm trying to delete sytems files, or whatever?
For some reason, I haven't been crashing, today. I wonder if this has anything to do w/ my ISP; the browser kept crashing, I called, they sent me the new version, it worked once and then everything went jabberwocky the next dozen times I tried to fire up the PC. I called and yelled at them, yesterday. But, everything seems to be working fine, today, even before I did the aforementioned stuff. Weird. One thing's for sure - I'm going to plow through this registry for dummies book I got and get this thing working the way I want it to. Thanks for all the help.
Dan
Dan,
Yes, you can delete everything in your temp directory. Windows will let you know if you are trying to delete something you shouldn't... so don't worry about it.
I do suspect that you need to do a reload of your OS, especially since you haven't done one a few years. With Windows, you really need to do a reload about once a year... just the nature of the beast!
Have you updated your drivers lately? SOmetimes getting the latest and greatest will remove problems because people are putting more stuff on pages that can cause your video card to work a little harder.
Just a thought...
Mary
Yes, you can delete everything in your temp directory. Windows will let you know if you are trying to delete something you shouldn't... so don't worry about it.
I do suspect that you need to do a reload of your OS, especially since you haven't done one a few years. With Windows, you really need to do a reload about once a year... just the nature of the beast!
Have you updated your drivers lately? SOmetimes getting the latest and greatest will remove problems because people are putting more stuff on pages that can cause your video card to work a little harder.
Just a thought...
Mary
- Thread starter
- #12
You need to go to the manufacturer. You have video drivers, CDROM drivers, and probably sound drivers as well.
A good place to go looking for drivers is
You do need to know the brand of your cards. That place will direct you to the place you need to get the drivers. Also, it is a great place to direct to get a file that will help you get your CDROM accessible once you decide to reinstall Win95.
It is essential you have the files to start your CDROM because you can't install Win95 without it.
Mary ;O)
A good place to go looking for drivers is
You do need to know the brand of your cards. That place will direct you to the place you need to get the drivers. Also, it is a great place to direct to get a file that will help you get your CDROM accessible once you decide to reinstall Win95.
It is essential you have the files to start your CDROM because you can't install Win95 without it.
Mary ;O)
- Thread starter
- #14
Oh, great. Will do. Gosh, you're a lifesaver. Can't say I'm familiar w/ that particular emoticon - I have to admit, it looks fairly suggestive, but, maybe I just have a dirty mind. LOL Anyway, seriously, I do appreciate that information. I never would have known that I need to be doing all of this stuff. And, I can't believe that that guy said I needed to just pall mall wipe my hard drive. Sure am glad I checked in here, first. If I had done what he told me, I'd have lost everything. A million thanks, again.
Dan :
Dan :
LOL! It was suppose to look like this But I keep getting interrupted at work so I typed it wrong!!
Hey, we have done a lot of reinstalling OS's and I've learned all the pros and cons and what to do and what to watch out for. I'm glad to help.
So start backing up your irreplaceable data... just in case. Then if it comes to the point of a total reinstall, I'll help you out there too.
Mary ;-)
But I keep getting interrupted at work so I typed it wrong!!Hey, we have done a lot of reinstalling OS's and I've learned all the pros and cons and what to do and what to watch out for. I'm glad to help.
So start backing up your irreplaceable data... just in case. Then if it comes to the point of a total reinstall, I'll help you out there too.
Mary ;-)
- Thread starter
- #16
Oh, sure. I see. A mistake, huh? Ok. If that's your story and you want to stick to it @@ You know what Freud said - there are no mistakes.
No, I'm just teasin'. I know what it's like to be distracted by one's coworkers. Anyway, like alot of other inventions, perhaps you've accidentally come up with a new emoticon (for people that hang out in *those* kinds of chat rooms - not me, of course
).
Now, quit goofin' off and get back to work.
;-)
Dan
No, I'm just teasin'. I know what it's like to be distracted by one's coworkers. Anyway, like alot of other inventions, perhaps you've accidentally come up with a new emoticon (for people that hang out in *those* kinds of chat rooms - not me, of course
).Now, quit goofin' off and get back to work.
;-)
Dan
- Thread starter
- #17
Do these mostly happen when you try to go online? What if you are just working or playing games, not connected to the internet?
If most are when you are online, I think we found an area to focus on. Modem, modem drivers, ISP/ISP software...
Terry M. Hoey
th3856@txmail.sbc.com
Ever notice that by the time that you realize that you ran a truncate script on the wrong instance, it is too late to stop it?
If most are when you are online, I think we found an area to focus on. Modem, modem drivers, ISP/ISP software...
Terry M. Hoey
th3856@txmail.sbc.com
Ever notice that by the time that you realize that you ran a truncate script on the wrong instance, it is too late to stop it?
- Thread starter
- #19
Actually, I was thinking about that myself. Yes, it does seem to happen when I'm online. I've had to reinstall my modem several times after power outages caused a problem with the ports. Lately, I've been finding the screensaver locked up and having to do cold boots when nothing was running. Also, today, I got an illegal operation msg about RealPlayer, which wasn't running, but, which has a flashing icon in the quickbar. I don't know if any of this is relevant. I'm going to go to windrivers.com to see if I can get what I need onto a floppy from here, at work. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that, having only the 28k modem at home, I'll keep a Solitaire game going while pages load. Lately, though, it crahes at the drop of a hat. Does any of that info help?
Dan
Dan
- Thread starter
- #20
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