Issues With Uninstalling XP

I recently installed XP on my system after deciding to give it another go. I now want to upgrade my BIOS and don't want to risk doing it in XP (as I;m not sure about how to go about it) so decided to revert back to Win98 (I have the upgrade package) to upgrade the BIOS then bung XP back on. However! The stupid thing tells me I can't uninstall it as I have changed my partition sizes since the initial installation. I tried to fix this using Partiion Magic 7 and for some reason (no idea why!) I got an error and PM7 kindly decided to format my D drive for me! Now I don't even have a D drive!!! 33GB of unallocated space that it won't let me allocate without crashing!!! So, what I want to know is how on earth do I get rid of this god forsaken OS?!!!

AMD Is An Anagram Of MAD, Intel Is An Anagram Of INLET, Cyrix...Ah Who Cares?

1.) Flashing the BIOS does not require changing the operating system. This is normally done from DOS with a flash utility and a BIOS file on a floppy disk, or within the BIOS with a built-in wizard, depending on the mainboard. It is a very risky procedure to flash a BIOS with a utility while Windows is running, and I can't recommend this method. If the flash fails, and you have only one BIOS chip on the mainboard, it may become impossible to boot the system. The repair might involve replacing the chip, or sending in the mainboard for a replacement.

2.) There's no need to install WinXP as an upgrade if you have a full licensed version of Win98.

<A HREF="http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm" target="_new">Clean Install Windows XP</A>

3.) Repartition your drive with the FDISK utility on a <A HREF="http://www.mirrors.org/archived_software/www.bootdisk.com/original.htm" target="_new">boot disk</A>. Remove all logical, extended, and primary partitions, in that order. Repartition the drive in the reverse order; primary, extended, logical. Make sure the primary DOS partition is set as active.

<A HREF="http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mrscary/fdisk.htm" target="_new">FDISK : The Built In Partitioning Tool</A>

<A HREF="http://fdisk.radified.com/" target="_new">FDISK Guide</A>

Then install WinXP, using the procedure listed in the link above as a full, clean installation. You can format the primary partition during the operating system installation, and easily format any <i>other</i> partitions from within the GUI, just by right-clicking on a drive icon, choosing format, and selecting the file system.

Toejam31

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<font color=purple>"Some push the envelope. Some just lick it. And some can't find the flap."</font color=purple>

I'm glad you got it fixed.

However, in response:

You are confused about DOS. A boot disk contains a trundicated version of Windows DOS (MS-DOS). When you boot the system with a disk like this, you are <i>in</i> DOS. This entire version of the DOS operating system fits on the floppy disk, as it is very small, with only a few commands available. It has nothing to do with the Windows operating system. WinXP may not support restarting the system to an MS-DOS prompt, but that does not mean you can't do it with a boot disk, after changing the first bootable device in the BIOS to the floppy drive.

I regularly partition hard drives with the FDISK utility on a boot disk before installing WinXP.

I don't know what mainboard you have, but there should have been a downloadable flash utility to go along with that .bin file.

I would suggest researching the subject carefully, and taking a good look at the manufacturer's web site. There should be instructions on the site on how to correctly flash a BIOS. Be sure to check the BIOS before flashing, and look for a setting that temporarily allows the BIOS to <i>be</i> flashable. And once a BIOS has been flashed, the CMOS battery should be removed for a few seconds to reset the BIOS, and then the optimal BIOS defaults should be loaded and saved immediately afterwards on the next boot, for the best results.

If you have a Giga-Byte board with a dual-BIOS, there is a Wizard in the BIOS itself that can do the flash, and all that is needed is the .bin file.

Toejam31


<font color=red>First Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=17935" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Devastating Dalek Destroyer</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
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<font color=purple>"Some push the envelope. Some just lick it. And some can't find the flap."</font color=purple>