Dave,

I'll give you my humble opinion on how to handle the 286
situation...First, I would create a boot disk by placing a floppy in
drive A and at the C prompt type:  format A: /s  This will give you a
bootable disk from the A drive.  I would test the disk to be sure that
it works all ok.  Reboot the computer with the disk in A drive and it
should boot with an A:\ prompt on the screen.  After this stage, I would
format the hard drive.  Oh, I would also copy a few additional files on
that boot disk...like, format, fdisk, just in case you may need them
later.  Foramt the C drive then start with the first MS-DOS disk and
install DOS.  Once DOS is on the machine, your really home free. I would
reboot the computer to be sure you get a C:\ prompt then begin the
reload of Windows 3.1.  I would even think of attempting anything
greater in terms WIndows.  Do you know how much ram the machine has in
it ??
Let me know if I can be of further assistance... Thanks,
Jerry

Dreamer's Den wrote:

> Now, now, don't laugh too loud.
>
> I was given an old 286 with a 40 mb Hard Drive. I would like to
> get the critter running well enough that my kids can use it for
> homework (basic word processing) when dad needs his computer to do
> his own work.
>
> I can boot to the C: drive and see the directory (dir/w) without a
> problem. I can run other programs that are on the hard drive and
> in other directories. The previous owner had lotus, windows 3.1,
> a couple of games, and some misc other software installed.
>
> However, if I change to the "windows" directory (win 3.1) and then
> try to view the directory the following errror message pops up.
> "general failure reading drive C: abort, retry, fail?"
>
> This error message pops up every time in the "WINDOWS" directory
> only. Any ideas?
>
> There is nothing I need on the hard drive right now. So wiping the
> slate clean is a feasible idea if someone can supply step by step
> instructions. I have the disks for dos 6 and win 3.1. I am just
> not sure wether they are still good. Do I need to reformat first?
> If so how do I do it? I have seen warnings about formatting a hard
> drive on this list in the past few weeks and don't want to kill
> a potentially useful computer.
>
> Any help is sincerely appreciated.
>
> Dave Thuillier    Chief scripter & Master of the arcane web at
> Dreamer's Den Game Shoppe  - Hillsboro, New Hampshire
> http://www.dreamersden.com   mailto:[log in to unmask]
>
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