Switching the Master to Slave jumper

[HardtailStrat]

Well, it shows 3 main folders, "Documents & Settings", "Program Files", and "Windows", and for example in the "Program Files" it still has a couple of folders I put in there yesterday.

?

[Mystik1982*]

After you put in the command to format what happened?  Did it format it?  There shouldn't be anything on your D drive at all.

I'd try it again and this time wait to see it finish.  

Tell me what it did the first time you entered the command in.

[HardtailStrat]

the intial prompt says:

D:\Documents and Settings\Tim Casey>

I typed in the command like this:

D: /fs:NTFS

And it gave me another prompt:

D:\Documents and Settings\Tim Casey>

it's just sitting there waiting for another command.  I noticed that it is the D: prompt in the first place...should that be reading a C drive prompt?

[patio]

Sounds like it did not format, especially if there is still data on there...
Try going thru Disk Management directly to do this.
Right clik My Computer select Manage and this will bring you to the Disk Management console.
From there you can select D: and choose format.
Make sure there is no data you need on there beforehand, but from what you've stated there shouldn't be...

patio.  

[HardtailStrat]

Howdy!

Well, I've managed to get to the "computer management" window, and see that split screen window where the 2 drives are visible, but I'm not seeing the option to "format"...

thanks!

[patio]

Right clik D:...

[HardtailStrat]

Ah!  Thanks, patio.

The "Format" selection is greyed out, and had to select "Open" in order to get to a window that would allow me to R click on it, and have the "Format" option avaiable.

I clicked on "Format", and I get a dialogue box that says:

"Windows cannot format this drive.  Quit any utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of the drive.  Then try formatting again."

I should note that there is nothing open but these windows here that I'm trying to use to get to D drive.

Sorry for being so difficult with all this.  Any other ideas on how to go about this?

Thanks very much!

[patio]

Make a new folder on D: called AAA...this is going to help when you need to identify the correct drive as a bootdisk will sometimes bump up the drive letters and we want to be sure to format the correct drive...
Travel to bootdisk and dload a WinME bootdisk.
Extract the contents to a clean floppy.
Boot with the floppy in and select "start machine with CDRom support.
At the A: prompt type D: and hit enter. Type Dir /p and hit enter...we are looking for the AAA dir you created. If you don't see it on D: try E: with the same steps
Once you have determined which drive is correct type A: and hit enter...then type format E: /u   (or whatever letter corresponds to that drive) and hit enter. Your format will now start.. Should take 3 to 5 minutes depending on the size of the drive.
Re-boot to Windows and using the Disk Management Console check that the drive shows up and assign it a drive letter if needed....

p.s. after format it will ask for a volume label...just hit Enter for "none.
GCongrats you're done !

patio.  

[HardtailStrat]

Thanks, patio!

I'll give this a try.  This computer (not the one I'm having trouble with) is the one I use to get on the Internet, but it's a newer model, and doesn't have a floppy drive.

I'll try getting that info onto the floppy I found, by using the PC I use at work, and will follow your steps.

I sure hope I can get this to work!  

[Mystik1982*]

I think I found the reason it didn't work with the way I told you.  If you typed in this:

D: /fs:NTFS

then it wouldn't work.  You forgot the word format,

D:format /fs:NTFS

that should have worked.  That's why it gave you another prompt, because there was no command.  glad you seem to have things worked out either way.

[HardtailStrat]

Hi Mystik,

Thanks for tip on that.  I still haven't tried patio's advice yet, and since that might be a little easier for now, I'll give it shot.

I'll be sure to post my results.  Thanks again to both of you for helping me!  Have a great day!

[HardtailStrat]

Hey there...

No luck on the "D:format /fs:NTFS" attempt.  I tried it just like you had typed it, but there hasn't been any changes.

I'm going to try the advice from patio, and see if that helps.

I can't figure out why it didn't work though.  Hmmm....

Any other ideas, perhaps?  Thanks very much for any help you can offer.  It really is appreciated.

[Mystik1982*]

No, I don't have any other ideas other than what Patio is saying to do.  You should just go that route, it won't take much longer his way.  Just be SURE to format the correct drive.

[HardtailStrat]

Will do.  Hey, thanks a lot for offering the help you did though.

I'm a lot more familar with guitar gear and consoles than computers, but I'm trying to get the hang of the more intricate things.

I'll give patio's advice a shot.  I just keep forgetting to bring a floppy up here to work so I can copy that bootdisk info to it...   :-/

[Mystik1982*]

No problem.  It's weird that it didn't work though.  I hope Patio's way works better for you.