Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

Community Manager

 • 

56.9K Posts

 • 

232.1K Points

9804

October 11th, 2004 21:00

FAQ - BOOT TO THE WINDOWS XP OPERATING SYSTEM CD

I hear this alot, "I want to remove all of the Dell installed software. How do I format (erase) my hard disk drive and install a clean copy of Windows XP?". I know this is on the CD boards but I think it is useful.

(I)
* Remove any/all external devices (printer, scanner, camera, joystick) from the computer except the mouse & keyboard
* Insert the operating system CD into the top CD drive
* Restart the system
* Tap Delete or DEL to enter setup
* Right arrow to Boot
* Down arrow to Boot Device Priority [press the ENTER key]
* Down arrow to CD-ROM
* Press the space key or the (+) (-) keys to move CD-ROM to the top of the list
* Press the F10 key to Save and Exit
* The following message appears: Press any key to boot from the CD
* Press the [Spacebar] to boot to the CD
* Go to II

2400, 4300, 4500, 4500S, 8100, 8200
* Remove any/all external devices (printer, scanner, camera, joystick) from the computer except the mouse & keyboard
* Insert the operating system CD into the top CD drive
* Restart the system
* Press CTRL+ALT+F8 to specify a particular boot device (CD-ROM)
* Press the number for CD-ROM [press Enter]
* Your system will now boot to the operating system CD that you had inserted into the top CD drive
* The following message appears: Press any key to boot from the CD
* Press the [Spacebar] to boot to the CD
* Go to II

2200, 2300, 2350, 2400, 3000, 4400, 4500, 4500S, 4550, 4600, 4600C, 4700C, 4700, 8250, 8300, 8400, XPS1, XPS2, XPS3
* Remove any/all external devices (printer, scanner, camera, joystick) from the computer except the mouse & keyboard
* Insert the operating system CD into the top CD drive
* Restart the system
* Press F12 to enter the Boot Menu
* Press the number for CD-ROM [press Enter]
* Your system will now boot to the operating system CD that you had inserted into the top CD drive
* The following message appears: Press any key to boot from the CD
* Press the [Spacebar] to boot to the CD
* Go to II

(II)
* The Windows XP Setup screen appears
* [press Enter] to setup Windows. The Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen appears
* Press the [F8] key to accept the license agreement. The partitioning screen appears
* The hard drive is already partitioned by Dell as NTFS, [press Enter] to continue
* You should see, the hard drive already contains a copy of the Windows operating system, a Caution screen appears. Press the key to continue. The format options screen appear
* Choose:
- Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick)
* [press Enter]. The Caution screen appears if you select to format the hard drive
* Press the key to format the hard drive. The setup program will now erase the hard disk drive and copy files. This will take several minutes, please wait. After the files have been copied, a message appears and notifies you that the computer will be restarted
* Press the [Enter] key to restart the computer or a timer will count down and restart the computer automatically
* When the computer restarts, the following message appears:
Press any key to boot from the CD. Do NOT press any keys!!!

* The Windows XP Setup window appears. Many devices will be detected during this process. This will take several minutes, please wait
* Once this process is completed, the Regional and Language Options window appears
* Click Next
* The Personalize Your Software window appears.
* In the Name: field, type your name. Optionally, you may type your organization's name into the Organization: field
* Click Next
* If you are installing Windows XP Home Edition, the "What's your computer's name" window appears
* Click Next to accept the default selections
* If you are installing Windows XP Professional: The Computer Name and Administrator Password window appears
* Type a name for this computer in the Computer Name field (or you may accept the default)
* Type a password in the Administrator Password field
* Type the same password in the Confirm Password field
* Click Next to continue
NOTE: If you have a modem installed in your computer, you may be prompted to type the area code for your location
* The Date and Time Settings window appears. Click to select the appropriate time zone for your location from the Time Zone field
* Click Next
* Depending upon your network configuration, you may be prompted for additional information regarding your network card (such as the domain name and workgroup name). If you are unsure of these settings, contact your Network Administrator or accept the default selections. Typically, just accept the defaults. After all hardware has been detected and the files have been copied to the hard drive, the system will restart. When the computer restarts, the following message appears: Press any key to boot from the CD. Do NOT press any keys!!!
* Once the Desktop appears, eject/remove the Operating System CD from the top CD drive
* You may be prompted for user information. Type the name of any additional users that will be using the computer
* Click Next to continue

After installing the operating system, you need to install the drivers and software for the system. Dell provided you with many software CDs, insert them one at a time and follow the prompts that appear. Windows XP provides native driver support for many hardware devices that may be installed on your computer. These devices may not require updates or driver installations; however, for optimal performance Dell recommends you install the most current drivers available for your system. To help you install your drivers and related software for your Dell computer, view or print step-by-step instructions from the Dell Software Reinstall Guide

* You should install the Intel Chipset driver first:
* Go here:
http://www.dell.com/
* Click Home & Home Office
* Near the top, under Service & Support, click Downloads
* Enter your Service Tag number
* Click the arrow
* Select All, your operating system, and English
* Click Submit
* Download and install one or both of these (some systems only have the first listing):
Intel Series Integrated Chipset
Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility
* Once done, you would then install the video card, sound, modem, and nic drivers. Some of these items might be fully installed when the Intel Chipset driver is loaded so check the device manager for any yellow bangs. If you see a bang, load that driver


DELL-Chris M (old account)

#IWork4Dell

No Responses!
No Events found!

Top