[RESOLVED] Format Hard Drive (Gateway)

My neighbor has a Gateway she purchased in 2001 and has Windows Me. The only information I have is that it is a Pentium 4 1400mhz processor and motherboard. 128MB RAM AND 20GB Hard Drive

This machine has had no upgrades at all. I want to format the hard drive and install Windows 98se. I have a boot disk for Windows 98se to work with.
I have never done this before and would like some very specific instructions on the procedure.
I have already used the Windows ME disk to try to do a repair and that did nothing to help how this machine is performing. As a matter of fact it it actually hung up this morning doing the update. It possibly could have a virus and is the reason it as slow as molasses.
I assume I can download any drivers I would need for her printer etc after I get it up and running again.
I would appreciate any help I can get. As always I appreciate your help.
Thanks

Before going the reformat and reinstall route, update the AV program, and check for viruses.
Also, d/l and run Ad-aware and Spybot to remove any malware.
If those do not help, then d/l and run 'Hijack This', and post its findings.

I would have run the AV etc but I tried to do a repair 1st with the disks she was provided but that did not work. It is actually hung up and will not finish the repair. At this point the pc will not boot up. So I assume I will have to start with the re-format.

Go into BIOS and make sure the floppy drive is configured as a boot drive ahead of the HD, insert the Win 98 boot floppy, restart, select 'Start with CD-ROM support' and press Enter, note the letter assigned to the CD-ROM drive, at the A:\> prompt type format c and press Enter, when the formatting process is finished remove the boot floppy and insert the Windows CD, at the A:\> prompt type X (where X is the CD-ROM drive's letter), press Enter, at the X:\> prompt type setup and press Enter, and follow the instructions to install Windows.

Thanks for the information. I am not sure how soon I am going to do this but I will post back when I finish.

Hello Ski,

I have sucessufully re-formated my neighbors machine with virtually no issues. Thank you for the pointers, I appreciate it.

You're welcome. Glad that things worked out well.