Reformatting Computer?

[LatinR33]

Hey I want to reformat my computer cause its getting kinda slow. Just wondering if its easy enough to get a step by step guide to do this. thanks

[fuzzy_scuz]

If you don't want your data on your disk any more.

Reload windows and select the option to format your disk before loading windows installation files.

[Medium Dave]

Just be sure to back up your desktop, my documents, and favourites, and any other stuff you may want before you wipe the disk. You should only need to do a quick ntfs format, win xp is a pretty straight forward install, the only pain is reinstalling all the software and mabey a few drivers, then copy and paste your data from the backup, good luck

[LatinR33]

Yeah im going to burn everything that I can onto DVD. So what do i do just put in the XP cd and turn computer on and click reformat of that it???

[intune]

Yeah im going to burn everything that I can onto DVD. So what do i do just put in the XP cd and turn computer on and click reformat of that it???

Just follow the prompts carefully and you will be OK.

[(B1) MR_fanny]

you have to go into bios and change your boot sequence so it boots from the cdrom first then hd.

i bought myself another larger hd(pretty cheap nowdays) and wacked all the stuff on to that then re installed on the old one. its pretty handy. also with a bigger hd you can partition c drive to just 20gigs just for windows and store all your other stuff on another partition. so if you ever need to format again it'll only be that 20gig c drive thatll need it. saves you burning stuff to dvd.

[LatinR33]

"you have to go into bios and change your boot sequence so it boots from the cdrom first then hd."

If I knew what this was then I would do it. Im thinking putting the XP cd and letting it work its magic. The HD idea is alright but dvd's are cheaper hehe.

[kralster]

When your computer first boots it will say something in the corner like

"press DEL to enter bios"

press the key until it boots into your bios. Then under one of the tabs will be

"boot sequence"

it will probably be something like this

1st Device - HDD

2nd Device - CDROM

3rd Device - None

make the first device CDROM

then save and exit from the bios.

Make sure your xp cd is in the drive then it will reboot, and say

"press enter to run from cd"

do that and follow the prompts. Fairly straight foward.

[LatinR33]

When your computer first boots it will say something in the corner like

"press DEL to enter bios"

press the key until it boots into your bios. Then under one of the tabs will be

"boot sequence"

it will probably be something like this

1st Device - HDD

2nd Device - CDROM

3rd Device - None

make the first device CDROM

then save and exit from the bios.

Make sure your xp cd is in the drive then it will reboot, and say

"press enter to run from cd"

do that and follow the prompts. Fairly straight foward.

Thanks more like it!!! Ive also been told I can just get a boot disk and use this.

[kralster]

Yes a windows boot disk could help you.

But you will need a disk drive for that.

You will need one though if you have a non bootable copy of windows xp.

[LatinR33]

Yeah ive got a disk drive, dont computers come with disk drives anymore???? so with the boot disk just put it in restart comp and follow instructions right??

[89_SIL]

I don't include floppy dirves with any computers that i build for ppl these days. No point now with USB flash drives being so common and BIOS's now allowing them to be bootable.

[LatinR33]

Just wondering if you dont have all your discs to install all the appropriate drivers, Anyway to get them from the current unformatted computer? Not to sure i have the drivers for the important things like internal video/audio cards and stuff are these drivers included in the windows xp cd?? Or your pretty much stuffed??

[kralster]

Most of those drivers should of come on CD's with the computer.

Motherboard, graphics card, etc, etc drivers.

Don't worry though cos XP is pretty good at getting up and running.

Then once you connect to the net you can go to the hardware vendors website and download the appopriate drivers.

[HackerX]

Pretty much everything I would have said has been said.

Skip the boot disk and just boot off the cd (assuming it's a legit or at least half decent copy of XP)

If you've never touched the bios then chances are it's already set up to boot from a cd first. Try and just stick the cd, reboot and see what happens, if it goes straight into your old version of Windows then look at changing the bios boot settings.

As mentioned, look at partitioning your drives into at least 2 different partitions. It makes the format & reinstall process much easier in the future.

Otherwise it's all pretty easy, XP shouldn't have any problems getting the system up and running, even if you're missing driver cd's. After it's up you can just hop on the net and download the lastest manufacturer versions anyway.

[LatinR33]

Well would their be anyway that I can tell what I have on the computer in regards to drivers and so i know which websites to go to download just incase i dont have the cd's or documents which tells me what hardware my computer has.

[HackerX]

I'm currently on Win 200 atm and can't remember if XP is different but

Right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager. (Otherwise just look for device manager in System Properties)

Just write down say the following:

Display Adapter (Video Card)

Netword Adapters

Sound Controllers/cards

Everything else XP should have no problems with. After the install, do the same thing and look for any devices with a yellow ! over them. They're the main ones you'll need to find drivers for. That and I'd recommend downloading the latest video card drivers as well.

[LatinR33]

I'm currently on Win 200 atm and can't remember if XP is different but

Right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager. (Otherwise just look for device manager in System Properties)

Just write down say the following:

Display Adapter (Video Card)

Netword Adapters

Sound Controllers/cards

Everything else XP should have no problems with. After the install, do the same thing and look for any devices with a yellow ! over them. They're the main ones you'll need to find drivers for. That and I'd recommend downloading the latest video card drivers as well.

Excellent this would also let me know about the motherboard and all that stuff right.