reinstalling XP

Question

I want to completely reinstall Windows XP on my Dimension.

Now the computer came with an XP installation disk, but not a restore disk like most computers do. Will this one completely erase XP and restart from scratch? Or will I have to reformat my hard drive first? If this is the case, how do I go about reformatting?

Thanks.

joyabird · Answer

The installation disc is all you need. Make sure you can boot from the CD:

Start your computer with the XP CD in the disc drive, on the Dell logo screen press F12 to get to the boot menu, then select your CD rom as first boot and press any key to boot from CD.

Print out the instructions in the link below first though.

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

da_vipa_man · Answer

Thanks for the help. That is exactly the information I needed.

gryjhnhpe · Answer

The supersite link assumes Clean Install status so doesn't include step to delete exiting partition at step 5 to achieve Clean Install status.

You this link & select XP Home or PRO then method , ie: Used Hard Drive , Multi_Page has text & large pictures of Clean Install.
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/

Use this link for Clean Install of XP , if you click on Pictures they Expand for easy view
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html (Delete existing partition at step 10b for Clean Install)

or use this link ( *** Delete existing partition at step 5 for Clean Install ***)
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

Clean Install deletes existing partition (like FDISK) & Formats HD during Install of Windows XP from XP CD.
Set BIOS to use CD-ROM as 1st boot device usually by pressing F2 during boot (startup).
Re-start Computer & when message "Press any key to boot from CD" shows do it & let subsequent messages "Press any key...." time out to Windows setup.

joyabird · Answer

Gary is right, depending on your machine you may need to hit F12 or F2. On my Dimension it's F12 to enter the Boot Menu, F2 to enter the Bios Setup.

gryjhnhpe · Answer

@joyabird wrote:
Gary is right, depending on your machine you may need to hit F12 or F2. On my Dimension it's F12 to enter the Boot Menu, F2 to enter the Bios Setup.

On my Inspiron 1100 if you press F12 to enter the boot menu you then get the option to select the boot device , ie: CD , so then you doesn't have to set BIOS to boot from CD as 1st device.
BIOS setup is still available by pressing F2 on 1100 on some Computers you press "Del" key to enter setup.

da_vipa_man · Answer

Well, thanks to all of your help, Windows XP is reinstalled, and my computer is working a lot better. Thanks guys!

axiom21 · Answer

If you do have any problems in the future and need to reinstall xp, you would want to do a clean reinstall. I always advise people if they don't want to run into the same problems, they perform a clean reinstall. So just incase and for anyone who wants to reformat their hard drive and do a clean reinstall, I'll give you the step by step instructions. Now you will loose all your data unless you save it to disk first. Erasing and reformatting your hard drive will get rid of all the crud that would normally be there after doing a basic fast reinstallation of xp. So the steps to reformat your hard drive:

1. diconnect from the internet and disable your internet connection.

2. insert the Dell Deminsion Resource CD - Drivers & Utilities.

3. restart your computer and when it first starts up again, hit F12 or F2 in some cases.

4. you should be given choices then.. now select #4 - Open a DOS

5. D:\csd> should appear

6. type the word "debug" and hit enter . avoid the quotation marks and period

now type the following. If you notice the first part is already showing, then type the remaining; such as if it shows -F already and you are to type -F 200 L1000 0, then only type the 200 L1000 0 not the -F if it's already showing. Now here's the following which should appear on your screen .. just follow it and type what's required:

-F 200 L1000 0 (hit enter) 0 is the #, not the letter

-A cs: 100 (hit enter)

254D:0100 mov ax,301 (hit enter) *there's a space between the mov and ax,bx,etc

254D:0103 mov bx,200 (hit enter)

254D:0106 mov cx,1 (hit enter)

254D:0109 mov dx,80 (hit enter)

254D:010C int 13 (hit enter)

254D:010E int 20 (hit enter)

254D:0110 (hit enter again)

-g (hit enter)

Program terminated normally.

Now you will want to take out the Dell Resource CD and put in the windows XP cd and restart your computer.

Now you will be reformatting your drive. Just follow the steps it tells you and the website someone above in this forum suggested would an excellent site to use for the step by step with reinstalling xp: winsupersite dot com.

When you've completed the step by step for reinstalling xp, you will want to install your drivers. There's a specific order you need to do that in:

First restart your computer and insert the Dell Drivers & Utilities Cd:

1. Install Chipset Drivers then restart

2. Install Video Driver then restart

3. Install Audio Driver (which may be on the creative Cd instead) then restart

4. Install Network Driver (on the Dell Drivers & Utilities Cd) then restart

5. Install the Modem Driver (which is usually on a diff cd) then restart

after that, I would check for all windows updates.

Message Edited by axiom21 on 01-23-2004 08:47 PM

Windows General

reinstalling XP

Was this post helpful?