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#1
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format and reinstall?
after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and
reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. happy new year to all -- seanpaul99 |
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#2
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format and reinstall?
The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow Windows XP to partition and format your drive: NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP. NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter. After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it. 1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device". === Accessing Motherboard BIOS === http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm 2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer. 3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions. 4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP. 5. Clean Install Windows XP http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html [Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP] 6. == Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall. == http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...t/default.mspx 7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website and download the available "Critical Updates". 8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter and audio drivers. 9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources: How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;310064 Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm [Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot] -- Carey Frisch Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Microsoft Community Newsgroups news://msnews.microsoft.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "seanpaul99" wrote: | after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and | reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by | step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up | everything. | happy new year to all | -- | seanpaul99 |
#3
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format and reinstall?
seanpaul99 wrote:
after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. happy new year to all After backing up or copying any important personal data files to a CD or other removable storage media, simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.) HOW TO Install Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941 http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm However, a complete re-installation of an OS and the applications is a lot of work and is rarely necessary to correct most problems. Perhaps if you were to post your specific problems and provide the relevant details concerning your computer, someone here would be able to offer you a much less draconian solution. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. - RAH |
#4
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format and reinstall?
seanpaul99 wrote:
after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if necessary to accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation (delete the existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one). You can find detailed instructions he http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm However why do you want to reformat and reinstall? In my view, it's usually a mistake. With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the period of time before the next version came out, and each on two machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything more than an occasional minor problem. It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree). But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work the way you're comfortable with. Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs? Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed. If you have problems, post them here; it's likely that someone can help you and a reinstallation won't be required. -- Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User Please reply to the newsgroup |
#5
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format and reinstall?
many thanks Bruce, i have posted my problems over the past week or so,
unfortunately a remedy was not forthcoming. my add os remove programs has lost the option to remove/change programs. system restore cannot restore to any given point. i have xp home ps2 on a Dell dimension 5000 machine. i run norton nis 2006, ad-aware pro, microsoft anti-spyware, spy-bot s&d. many thanks. -- seanpaul99 "Bruce Chambers" wrote: seanpaul99 wrote: after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. happy new year to all After backing up or copying any important personal data files to a CD or other removable storage media, simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.) HOW TO Install Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941 http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm However, a complete re-installation of an OS and the applications is a lot of work and is rarely necessary to correct most problems. Perhaps if you were to post your specific problems and provide the relevant details concerning your computer, someone here would be able to offer you a much less draconian solution. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. - RAH |
#6
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format and reinstall?
seanpaul99 wrote:
many thanks Bruce, i have posted my problems over the past week or so, unfortunately a remedy was not forthcoming. my add os remove programs has lost the option to remove/change programs. Have you attempted to repair damaged systems files by running the System File Checker? -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. - RAH |
#7
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format and reinstall?
There is an illustrated guide to installing windows xp on my website
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org Click the Win XP Faq button and take a look at question 85 -- John Barnett MVP Associate Expert http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy, reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post.. "seanpaul99" wrote in message ... after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. happy new year to all -- seanpaul99 |
#8
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format and reinstall?
If you are using a Dell. did they not supply a complete recover CD
with the system?? I would use that as it will put your system back to the original configuration that Dell had on the disk when you purchased it. TonySper "seanpaul99" wrote in message ... many thanks Bruce, i have posted my problems over the past week or so, unfortunately a remedy was not forthcoming. my add os remove programs has lost the option to remove/change programs. system restore cannot restore to any given point. i have xp home ps2 on a Dell dimension 5000 machine. i run norton nis 2006, ad-aware pro, microsoft anti-spyware, spy-bot s&d. many thanks. -- seanpaul99 "Bruce Chambers" wrote: seanpaul99 wrote: after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. happy new year to all After backing up or copying any important personal data files to a CD or other removable storage media, simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.) HOW TO Install Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941 http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm However, a complete re-installation of an OS and the applications is a lot of work and is rarely necessary to correct most problems. Perhaps if you were to post your specific problems and provide the relevant details concerning your computer, someone here would be able to offer you a much less draconian solution. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. - RAH |
#9
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format and reinstall?
Sorry for posting in this thread but i do not know where else to post.
i have recently got a virus, it had infected all of the file C:\WINDOWS\inet20001, every time my virus protection tried to delete or move or heal them the virus came back, i believe the virus had infected the backups too, the only way i could get rid of them was by deleting the file inet2001, will this cause any bad consequences and repercussions, if so how do i get them back without getting back the virus, i do not have the original windows xp professional operating system installation disc, but i do have a system recovery disc. |
#10
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format and reinstall?
Thanks for your response J.
I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. I was not using the arrows and spacebar, as well as the F1 button(info) to make necessary changes. Since my drivers loaded but Windows could not detect the device/hardware (code 41 ), I went to the manufacturer's website. Samsung Once there I found that is where you get better updates and upgrades. In the 'find' box I typed "cdrw', it took me to a page for upgrades and manuals for all types of "built in". Note: Whether or not it says manual or firmware click on it, it takes you to the page for both. For my DVD/CDROM Samsung CD-R/RW SW 248F, I found an upgrade and manual. It was FREE! Annnnnnnnnnd Voila..it is working! Hopefully this will help someone that is considering reinstallation as I was, or new PC purchase. Well, after 5 days of neverending searching and tries/fails I have reached the goal I sought. Thanks all in the thread and Be Blessed "John Barnett MVP" wrote: There is an illustrated guide to installing windows xp on my website http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org Click the Win XP Faq button and take a look at question 85 -- John Barnett MVP Associate Expert http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy, reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post.. "seanpaul99" wrote in message ... after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. happy new year to all -- seanpaul99 |
#11
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format and reinstall?
Thanks for your response J. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. I was not using the arrows and spacebar, as well as the F1 button(info) to make necessary changes. Since my drivers loaded but Windows could not detect the device/hardware (code 41 ), I went to the manufacturer's website. Samsung Once there I found that is where you get better updates and upgrades. In the 'find' box I typed "cdrw', it took me to a page for upgrades and manuals for all types of "built in". Note: Whether or not it says manual or firmware click on it, it takes you to the page for both. For my DVD/CDROM Samsung CD-R/RW SW 248F, I found an upgrade and manual. It was FREE! Annnnnnnnnnd Voila..it is working! Hopefully this will help someone that is considering reinstallation as I was, or new PC purchase. Well, after 5 days of neverending searching and tries/fails I have reached the goal I sought. Thanks all in the thread and Be Blessed "John Barnett MVP" wrote: There is an illustrated guide to installing windows xp on my website http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org Click the Win XP Faq button and take a look at question 85 -- John Barnett MVP Associate Expert http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy, reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post.. "seanpaul99" wrote in message ... after a few recent problems i have decided i want to format my hard drive and reinstall xp home. i have never attempted this before. is there a step by step guide i can obtain to walk me through this? i know i have to back up everything. happy new year to all -- seanpaul99 |
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