Equivalent of a format for a Cisco 2500 router?

[Joony]

I want to blow away all the settings on my 2514 and start fresh the new IOS

is the Networking FAQ comming back soon?

 

[Goofball]

Do you want to just erase the configuration, or the IOS image itself?

If it's just the config:

Enter enable mode,
at the enable (#) prompt type "write erase" or "erase startup-config" and hit enter. Reboot without saving the running config and it should come up with the initial config tool. You will lose all settings including passwords and IPs if you do this.

If you want to blow away the IOS image from flash:

Enter enable mode,
at the enable (#) prompt type "erase flash". At this point the router will still be running on the IOS image that is loaded into memory. This would be a good time to transfer over the new IOS image to flash. If you don't do it now and reboot or crash before you do load a new version of IOS you will have to work through ROMMON to install a new image, this can be a major pain in the ass. It is also a good idea to make a backup copy of the IOS image currently installed in flash via TFTP prior to erasing it.