Thanks Gerry, and also to Greg, I can understand the first bit of your reply but the second ie boot with a DOS floppy ............. is a bit beyond me. I will give it a few read throughs. As usual though your help is much appreciated. John
----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerald E. Boyd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 1:47 AM Subject: Re: PCWorks: Customised ME OS > At 12:21 AM 4/19/02 +0100, jfisher wrote the following: > > >My question is how on earth do Tiny manage to keep their precence on the > >computer even after a format. > >And of course is there a way to clear Tiny off the computer and install the > >normal os. > > MBR - Master Boot Record > > The boot code for any OS is stored here. Many format operations do NOT > affect the MBR so in effect whatever startup code is located here stays > forever. Primary example of this is when you try to install Linux and > Windows, realize that Windows will screw up the boot record, delete the > Linux partition, try to install Windows first, oops Windows setup runs into > a problem and stops and you go back and forth scratching your head trying to > get this resolved. > > Try the undocumented "fdisk /mbr" command first before formatting the disk. > > FDISK /MBR Rewrites the Master Boot Record (Q69013) > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q69013 > > If you really want to wipe the boot record use DOS debug. > > Note: The following advice will completely wipe your Master Boot Record, > which contains all your partition information. DO NOT DO THIS unless you > know that this is exactly the result you want. > > Boot with a DOS floppy that has "debug.exe" on it. Execute "debug". At the > '-' prompt with are going to "block-fill" a the 512-byte MBR with zeroes: > f 9000:0 200 0 > Start assember code with the 'a' command, and enter the following code: > mov dx,9000 > mov es,dx > xor bx,bx > mov cx,0001 > mov dx,0080 > mov ax,0301 > int 13 > int 20 > Press Enter key to exit the assembler and press "g" to execute, then "q" to > quit. Your hard disk is now in a virgin state, ready for partitioning, > formatting and installation of an OS. > > -- > Gerry Boyd ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
