Zenith ZStar EX

[granz]

NOW we have the system coming up, and BIOS is SEEING the IDE DOM, its size and using the boot disk, C:\ IS THERE! So tried Format C: /s and reboot, I get it frozen at something which is Grub 1.5, whatever that is.... least its progress!

Congrats, Joe - good work.

Grub is the boot manager that is most often used for Linux (although it can work with almost any OS.)

[Chris Savage]

It may be that you have to remove the partition and then redo it. That may help with formatting. Also, you may have to use a switch during the format. MBR, maybe. It's been a while.

[JKnightandKARR]

It may be that you have to remove the partition and then redo it. That may help with formatting. Also, you may have to use a switch during the format. MBR, maybe. It's been a while.

Ok I can try that. Thanks. I got software to do the drive, can't remwmber what it is, other then Rufus...

NOW we have the system coming up, and BIOS is SEEING the IDE DOM, its size and using the boot disk, C:\ IS THERE! So tried Format C: /s and reboot, I get it frozen at something which is Grub 1.5, whatever that is.... least its progress!

Congrats, Joe - good work.

Grub is the boot manager that is most often used for Linux (although it can work with almost any OS.)

Thanks. Not sure what happened, but its progress. Lol

[granz]

Thanks. Not sure what happened, but its progress. Lol

Yeah, did this hard drive find former employment in a Linux system? That could explain the presence of grub. Either way, unless you specifically need/want grub, you can just format the entire hard drive, wiping out grub, then format the drive for FAT alone. Let MS-DOS's MBR handle the booting rather than grub.

P.S. The MBR that I mentioned is the Master Boot Record. That is MS-DOS's boot program (does the same thing as grub.) This is as opposed to Chris' suggestion of using the /MBR [Make Boot Record] switch with the format command - which is how you get the Master Boot Record placed on the disk. It can be very confusing.

[Chris Savage]

P.S. The MBR that I mentioned is the Master Boot Record. That is MS-DOS's boot program (does the same thing as grub.) This is as opposed to Chris' suggestion of using the /MBR [Make Boot Record] switch with the format command - which is how you get the Master Boot Record placed on the disk. It can be very confusing.

That's what I was referring to in my previous post, but I'm at work and wasn't sure of the command format.

[granz]

That's what I was referring to in my previous post, but I'm at work and wasn't sure of the command format.

Yeah, I knew what you meant, but the command of Make Boot Record is too close to the Master Boot Record, the thing that the /MBR switch to the format command creates. I thought that it could use a bit of an explanation.

[Chris Savage]

I thought that it could use a bit of an explanation.

No doubt. I was thinking afterward that I might have waited to reply until I got to a DOS machine to see the switches. Thanks for following up on that though.

[JKnightandKARR]

Thanks. Not sure what happened, but its progress. Lol

Yeah, did this hard drive find former employment in a Linux system? That could explain the presence of grub. Either way, unless you specifically need/want grub, you can just format the entire hard drive, wiping out grub, then format the drive for FAT alone. Let MS-DOS's MBR handle the booting rather than grub.

P.S. The MBR that I mentioned is the Master Boot Record. That is MS-DOS's boot program (does the same thing as grub.) This is as opposed to Chris' suggestion of using the /MBR [Make Boot Record] switch with the format command - which is how you get the Master Boot Record placed on the disk. It can be very confusing.

It could have had Linux on it, i got the IDE DOMs off Ebay used, soo good pastability.  I'll wipe it out with my Win 11 system n go from there.

[granz]

It could have had Linux on it, i got the IDE DOMs off Ebay used, soo good pastability.  I'll wipe it out with my Win 11 system n go from there.

I am not familiar enough with Win 11 - it seems that Microsoft makes things difficult, or impossible, to do low-level work like properly formatting a disk.

If Win won't work, you can boot the Windows system with a Linux Live installation USB disk, and then go into Gparted (GNU Partition Editor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GParted) and delete the DOM. Make sure that you get the right disk, or you may have to completely reinstall Windows.