[friedpooodle]

Now this is pretty broad, but I just need help. My computer (Windows XP Home SP2) has gone nuts and I think everything would be better just to start clean. So I want to reformat everything on it. I already have a problem, the setup disc that usually comes with the computer is not available because it was preformatted and never came with the disc. Can I solve this by simply just buying at new one at Best Buy or something? Continuing on, I would just like to know simply how to reformat everything, and boot it through the new setup disc I will buy. Also, I would like to know how to create a partition so that maybe I could have a main one (Windows XP Home) and another one (dabbling with Linux/game harddrive). Can someone give me a step by step? Please don't just send me a website telling me what to do because that might be adding steps, taking important steps out, or doing other things of the sort.

Also, how would this effect my dvd-rom drive and cd-burner drive. I think I have the setup disc for the dvd-rom drive, but I might not have it for the cd-burner. Could I just get that online beforehand?


THANK YOU A MILLION TO WHOEVER HELPS ME OUT!!!

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make and model of PC?

You may have a hidden recovery partition

[gerryf]

make and model of PC?

You may have a hidden recovery partition

[friedpooodle]

If I do have a recovery partition, where might that be?

Also, I have no clue what you meant by "make and model of PC?" Please reply!

[gerryf]

It will be hidden, accessed by possibly a key combination, but in order to tell you that key combination, you need to say what company made your computer and the model number

Like, Dell Dimension 2400

[friedpooodle]

Dell Inspiron 5000

[gerryf]

Ok, no hidden partition on that.

So, rough steps
load with windows98 bootdisk
use fdisk to delete all partitions
boot with windows xp disk,
Let it set up the partition (default will be for the entire disk, but you can set it smaller)
let windows format
let windows install
enjoy

The hardest part is using fdisk to delete the partitions...you will delete a NON-DOS partition...and that's not hard...just follow the prompts

[friedpooodle]

I appreciate this much, but do you think you could take that a little slower?

1. Is a windows 98 bootdisk free and where can I get one.
2. What is the 98 disk gonna do? how do I do it?
3. For fdisk, how can I get to DOS after loading the 98 disk?
4. I pretty much understand the rest of it but I'm gonna need you to go more in depth on setting up the partitions. I have about 75 gigs, so I'm gonna want the main one for XP Home to be about 65 and have the other 10 for tinkering.

Also, is this going to work after just buying a new XP Home disk from best buy? And how is this going to effect my dvd and cd-burner drives as I asked before?

[BePro]

[I appreciate this much, but do you think you could take that a little slower?

1. Is a windows 98 bootdisk free and where can I get one.
2. What is the 98 disk gonna do? how do I do it?
3. For fdisk, how can I get to DOS after loading the 98 disk?
4. I pretty much understand the rest of it but I'm gonna need you to go more in depth on setting up the partitions. I have about 75 gigs, so I'm gonna want the main one for XP Home to be about 65 and have the other 10 for tinkering.

Also, is this going to work after just buying a new XP Home disk from best buy? And how is this going to effect my dvd and cd-burner drives as I asked before?]

1. Win98 boot disk should come with Windows 98. If you do not have any computers with win98, then go to your friends. If you know of a computer that is running win98, you can create a win98 boot disk.

On a PC running Win98:
A. Get a blank floppy (the usual 3.5" 1.44MB)

B. Go to Control Panel. Open Add/Remove Items.
Select the "Startup Disk" tab, then click "Create Disk" button. This will create a Win98 boot disk for you.

What it does: This disk boots the computer and gives you a DOS command Prompt. This disk also contains FDISK.

2. When you boot the PC, you should see the command prompt. Type "FDISK".
It may ask you a question about anabling large disk support, type "Y".

FDISK will load. You have 4 selections. Type "4" to see the current partitions on your disk. Remember what partitions you have. Then press Esc.

Now choose 3 (Delete Partitions). Select the type of partition you want to delete, as you remembered the types of partitions you had. You may get a message saying "X" partition must be deleted before you can delete "Y" partition or something like that. Delete the partitions in the order they ask.

After you have all partitions deleted (Check this by using option 4, view partitions), choose 1, create partitions. It will go through a varifiy scheme. After it gets to 100%, it will ask you if you want to use the maximum space. If you choose "Yes", you will have only one partition, (C:\) and thats it. If you choose no, it will ask you to type in a size for the first partition. Thats where you choose 65000 (65 GB). After that, it will ask you for the size of the next partition. If you only want 2 partitions (C:\ and D:\) then type in the remaining space left, probably going to be like 9998 or so.

After that it might do another varifing test, then it will say you must reboot your computer.


Now for the tricky part. Whether this will work with the XP disk you buy depends on what type you buy. If you get the "Upgrade" version, you MUST have a operating system already on your computer. This means you cannot boot from the disk and setup XP.

To get the maximum results and best clean install, it is easiest to buy a "For PCs without an operation system" version of XP.

The fun doesnt end there either. Since you have a "Name Brand" laptop, more than likely this will occur:
--------------------
You successfully perform a clean install of WINXP. But now your screen resolution is minimum and you only have 16 colours to choose from. Also, you have several yellow ! in your device manager.
--------------------
This occured because often with name brand PCs and notebooks the drivers for the components are special and WINXP does not normally support the devices. WINXP will install generic drivers for everything it can.

To fix this, you must go to the Dell site and get drivers for your model of laptop.

Be forwarned! If the laptop is your only computer in the house, it is possible that your modem or ethernet card (NIC) wont not have drivers installed after you install XP, so you wont be able to get on the net to get drivers. Be sure to have a backup way to get on the net for drivers or download them and save them to a CD or whatever before you FDISK your drive.

The website should have all of the drivers you need. This is the only downfall of installing your own XP form scratch instead of using one from the manufacture of your PC. But you will not get all the unessasary software that wastes space, so its better in the long run if you ask me.

If you need something explained in more detail, ask away

[friedpooodle]

I am soooo very sorry. I made a mistake if this makes a difference. I'm using two different computers right now and Dell Inspiron 5000 (laptop I'm using right now) is not the computer I'm going to be reformating. The one I will be reformating is an IBM PC. I'm not exactly sure what model it is. It does say NetVista on the coverplate of the harddrive but that might not be it.

Sorry for the mistake. Please post an updated reply for what I will have to do differently.

[friedpooodle]

Is there somewhere I could download the 98 boot disk? I can't find one anywhere.

[friedpooodle]

Sorry for all the posts, but I just keep thinking of new things. Would the setup be the same If i wanted to switch to XP Pro after the reformat?

[friedpooodle]

IS ANYBODY OUT THERE??!?!??

I found this website where you can download the 98 boot disk. I think. Should I use then when I'm installing the 98 boot disk for reformating my computer to XP Home/XP Pro (still undecided)? Here is the link so you can check it out if it's legit or not:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm