NTFS back to FAT32

[OP]

I needed to get a NTFS laptop back to FAT32 (Dell
Latitude 610).

I booted from the Win2000 CD, deleted the existing
partitions and formatted a new one in FAT32.

The instal of Win2000 completed successfully, however, I
can not add the proper drivers for the display or network
adapters - error messages indicate that the adapter is
not compatible with the driver I'm trying to install
(which are the same drivers that worked before I began
this project).

As well, when I do a restart I am asked to pick the
operating system - both choices are Windows 2000 and one
works but the other results in an error indicating a
problem with the drive configuration.

I have repeated the Win2000 fresh install, re-install,
repair, etc. with out any chnage to the end result.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, OP.

Why would you want to go back to FAT32 unless you plan to also install
MS-DOS or Win9x/ME on that laptop? It's your machine, of course, and if you
want to go back, you should be able to, but I'm curious as to the reason.
You probably don't need to do this at all.

You might want to ask Dell Tech Support about your problems. A couple of
factors in your description of the problems cause me to say this.

First is the problem with installing drivers that worked before. Most
laptops are quite proprietary (I've heard; I've never owned one.) and the
drivers for your display and NIC may be specific to Dell. They also may be
specific to the OS that came on the computer (Win9x?).

Second is your statement that:

the other results in an error indicating a
problem with the drive configuration.

Many users report that Dell and other laptop makers often include hidden
partitions on the hard drives. Such hidden partitions may have confused
Win2K on your computer. Simply editing C:\boot.ini to delete the second,
non-functional installation of Win2K may be all that's needed - but maybe
not.

You might receive more specific advice in the peer-to-peer Usenet newsgroup
alt.sys.pc-clone.dell. That's an active group that includes many users who
are quite knowledgeable about Dell computers.

RC

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, OP.

Comments inline...

RC - great response - thanks.

It's becoming so common see accountants involved in and
respopnsible for IT issues (I'm a CA - Chartered
Accountant - Canada).

Well, before computers were called computers, IBM called them "accounting
machines", so we've always been involved. My senior year as an accounting
major at the University of Oklahoma - in 1956 - I took a course in Machine
Accounting. We advised clients of our small CPA firm in California about
the new "minicomputers" (desk size - not desktop size - $50,000 prize range)
in the 1970's. I got my first "microcomputer" - a TRS-80 in 1977. And my
first CD-ROM in 1989. Some have asked why a CPA would need a CD, thinking
only of entertainment uses; but to me, that little shiny disk was a
replacement for a whole wall of tax cases and reference books.

Our company uses software (NOAH 3.0 from HIMSA for
fitting and programming hearing aids) and it does not run
on the NTFS file system.

That's strange. Why would an application care about the file system?
Especially if it runs on Win2K? To say that it runs on Win2K but not on
NTFS sounds VERY strange to me!

The drivers I'm using are from Dell - they were kind of
stymied on this issue as well .

I can't help you here except to point again to that Usenet newsgroup. :>(

B4 doing the reinstall of W2000 there was an unmounted
volume that is no longer there - 30 GB of who knows what -
perhaps there is still some remnant of it causing
confuison to the reinstalled O/S???

That's what I suspected. Win2K (and WinNT4 and WinXP) use the boot.ini file
to locate the "boot volume", which is referenced by physical drive number
and logical partition number, rather than by drive letter. If a hidden
volume got deleted somehow, it could easily throw off the partition number,
leaving boot.ini pointing at partition 3 when Win2K is really on 2 now - or
vice versa.

I'll take your advice re: the boot.ini file & see what
happens.

Thanks,

OP

Let us ALL know what happens. In a newsgroup, we all learn from each other.
What you post can help the next poster with a similar problem.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP