reformat hard drive & reinstall windows XP

Here is a good one.

 

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

 

And here.

 

http://www.djdenham.com/Install%20Procedures.htm

Gold stars and extra credit for getting prepared ahead of time.

 

In addition to the ones above,  the Dell version takes you through step-by-step.   

 

 

I realize you mentioned reading through Dell articles, so apologies if this one doesn't work well for you.  The only advantage of this one is that it includes specific information on installing the Dell hardware drivers once you've completed the actual XP installation.

All the advice given above is great.   But, there is are a couple of things you should do in preparation for this ordeal to prevent problems later. Of course you won't need to do this if you use Symantec's PC Restore, as Bev suggested, but if you are going to do a clean install, first go to the following site and download and install Belarc Advisor - www.belarc.com. When you run this, it will give you an inventory of everything on your computer.  That way you will now exactly what devices you have on your system, so you will know what dirvers you need to make everything work after you have installed Windows.   Once you know which devices you have, you should make sure you have available all of the necessary drivers for those particular devices.  All drivers can be downloaded from the Dell Support site, so you should download the ones you need, including the chipset drivers, as these will have to be installed first, and burn the installation files to a CD-R so that they are ready and available when you need them.

 

Too many people simply reformat and reinstall Windows and then come here to tell us that their video/sound/network/modem etc. doesn't work and they don't know exactly which drivers are necessary for their particular system.  Taking the time to know which devices you have and having the drivers for those devices available before you reformat, will save you lots of time.

 

Good luck,

 

Steve

Excellent advice to use Belarc.  My printout copy (.pdf) is part of my original backup set so that I know where ti is at all times.

Thank you Dave5.

Thank you for your help.