catmandoza Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 I'm reformatting my computer for the first time by myself, and just wondered if anyone can give me a step by step guide on how to do it. Like what I need to back up (drivers etc) and what I need to do from there on in. Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf68k Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Back up what you can't replace. Usually drivers you can download again. Formatting these days is done a number of different ways, it depends firstly on if you own a copy of XP (or whatever OS you're installing) or if this is a prebuild system and you're using their reinstall disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmandoza Posted September 7, 2005 Author Share Posted September 7, 2005 Back up what you can't replace. Usually drivers you can download again. Formatting these days is done a number of different ways, it depends firstly on if you own a copy of XP (or whatever OS you're installing) or if this is a prebuild system and you're using their reinstall disc. I own a copy of XP Home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magical_trevor Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Back up what you can't replace. Usually drivers you can download again. Formatting these days is done a number of different ways, it depends firstly on if you own a copy of XP (or whatever OS you're installing) or if this is a prebuild system and you're using their reinstall disc. I own a copy of XP Home All you'll need to do is boot from the xp home disk (on both of my PCs you press F12 at the BIOS screen), then when it asks which partition to install onto, delete the partition which xp is currently on (select and press 'd') and make a new partition in the newly unpartitioned space (select and press 'c', I think).. It's pretty obvious once you're actually in the installer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmandoza Posted September 7, 2005 Author Share Posted September 7, 2005 Back up what you can't replace. Usually drivers you can download again. Formatting these days is done a number of different ways, it depends firstly on if you own a copy of XP (or whatever OS you're installing) or if this is a prebuild system and you're using their reinstall disc. I own a copy of XP Home All you'll need to do is boot from the xp home disk (on both of my PCs you press F12 at the BIOS screen), then when it asks which partition to install onto, delete the partition which xp is currently on (select and press 'd') and make a new partition in the newly unpartitioned space (select and press 'c', I think).. It's pretty obvious once you're actually in the installer. What about backing up the drivers? Do I need too? If so is there a Program that can do it for me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magical_trevor Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Well, in my experience, windows xp seems to do a pretty good job at setting up hardware itself, and it's probably easier to just redownload gfx card drivers etc. than backing them up from your current install.. I installed xp on my laptop last week, and haven't needed to install any drivers at all yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmandoza Posted September 7, 2005 Author Share Posted September 7, 2005 Well, in my experience, windows xp seems to do a pretty good job at setting up hardware itself, and it's probably easier to just redownload gfx card drivers etc. than backing them up from your current install.. I installed xp on my laptop last week, and haven't needed to install any drivers at all yet. Cheers for your help squire, will try that tonight or tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmandoza Posted September 8, 2005 Author Share Posted September 8, 2005 Back up what you can't replace. Usually drivers you can download again. Formatting these days is done a number of different ways, it depends firstly on if you own a copy of XP (or whatever OS you're installing) or if this is a prebuild system and you're using their reinstall disc. I own a copy of XP Home All you'll need to do is boot from the xp home disk (on both of my PCs you press F12 at the BIOS screen), then when it asks which partition to install onto, delete the partition which xp is currently on (select and press 'd') and make a new partition in the newly unpartitioned space (select and press 'c', I think).. It's pretty obvious once you're actually in the installer. Having a little trouble with the first step! Booting from the XP disc at the Bios screen!! Any Tips?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf68k Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Go into your BIOS there is an area (it's different for each BIOS maker) that will let you set the boot order. You need to make sure that booting for the CD/DVD drives comes before the HDD. A good boot order for most machines is: Boot 1st: Floppy Boot 2nd: CD/DVD Boot 3rd: HDD If you don't have a floppy drive, then you can put the CD/DVD as the first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cran. Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Back up what you can't replace. Usually drivers you can download again. Formatting these days is done a number of different ways, it depends firstly on if you own a copy of XP (or whatever OS you're installing) or if this is a prebuild system and you're using their reinstall disc. I own a copy of XP Home All you'll need to do is boot from the xp home disk (on both of my PCs you press F12 at the BIOS screen), then when it asks which partition to install onto, delete the partition which xp is currently on (select and press 'd') and make a new partition in the newly unpartitioned space (select and press 'c', I think).. It's pretty obvious once you're actually in the installer. It's not just F12. It could be anything, depending on what BIOS he has. Do this: 1) Press either Ins, De, or any of the f keys, dependoing on what it is to get inot your BIOS screen. 2) Go into where the boot order is. Move the CD Drive up to the top. 3) Save and exit, then restart computer. 4) Press any key when promted and start up the Windows XP installtion. Follow from then, I don't remeber anything from there. It's been a while since i've reformatted.. I know how, just can't think of it from the top of my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmandoza Posted September 8, 2005 Author Share Posted September 8, 2005 All done now chaps, cheers for the help, I now have a healthy clean computer, Just gotta install all my crap again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf68k Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Well don't forget the Windows Patches, your anti-virus and anti-spyware tools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bond996 Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Well don't forget the Windows Patches, your anti-virus and anti-spyware tools And don't forget to do them in the first seconds of your computer having windows on it. If you connected to the internet before installing SP2, AVG, Spybot, Ad-aware, and so on, run full scans in everything, since you are likely infected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
segosa Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 run full scans in everything, since you are likely infected. Unless he has a router. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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