[†_Moose_†]

I have an eMachines eTower with an Intel Celeron processor, 631 MHz, 15 GIG hard drive and 256 MB of RAM. It's an oldie but a real goodie, and has been an incredibly reliable PC. I bought it new 8 years ago and it came with Windows Millenium OS. About 3 to 4 years ago I added RAM to it and upgraded to Windows XP home edition. It has been great for all these years. Now it's really slowing down badly, freezing up, very slow start ups, etc. Through the years I've downloaded lots of programs and stuff so I want to Bring it back to factory condition (reformat hard drive), then put Windows XP back on, in the hope that it will speed the PC back up and stop the freezes, and start up and shut down faster. I have the XP home Edition disc. My question is, basically, do I only have to reformat my hard drive first, then immediately install Windows XP? Or is there more to it than I'm aware of? I backed up all my documents, pics, music, etc to disc. I'm not in any position to be buying another PC and besides this eMachines has been so dependable. It's definetely not a screamer, as obvious by it's 15 GIG hard drive and 256 MB of RAM (originally only 64 MB), but it serves me very well for what I use it for. So my question is, are there only those 2 things I have to do, (reformat my hard drive first, then immediately install Windows XP)? I realize I'll have a lot of other things to do such as re-installing windows SP-2 or the 3 beta, my anti-virus, windows updates, etc. I just don't want to attempt this until one of you fine experts here would be so kind as to let me know if I'm going about this in the correct and safe way. Thanks in advance, and Happy New Year to all.

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A good read for this is this website.

http://www.petri.co....dows_xp_pro.htm

XP installs exactly the same as PRO.Personally i would delete the partition, repartition , format the partition and then install XP. Make sure you have the right drivers for your hardware. Look in device manager for the software version numbers( or letters) and make sure you can find the software and download it to burn to a CD first.

Geesh tho, that is a pretty old computer. You may not be able to find the drivers for it.I just sold a Pentium 4 2.4 system for $100 to a young girl that can only make payments to me. Sure is a lot easier than what your trying to do.

Anyway, if you can get the drivers for your hardware then you go ahead and set your BIOS to boot from the CD first and slip a XP CD in the cdrom drive and restart the computer, and off you go.

SRX660

[SRX660]

A good read for this is this website.

http://www.petri.co....dows_xp_pro.htm

XP installs exactly the same as PRO.Personally i would delete the partition, repartition , format the partition and then install XP. Make sure you have the right drivers for your hardware. Look in device manager for the software version numbers( or letters) and make sure you can find the software and download it to burn to a CD first.

Geesh tho, that is a pretty old computer. You may not be able to find the drivers for it.I just sold a Pentium 4 2.4 system for $100 to a young girl that can only make payments to me. Sure is a lot easier than what your trying to do.

Anyway, if you can get the drivers for your hardware then you go ahead and set your BIOS to boot from the CD first and slip a XP CD in the cdrom drive and restart the computer, and off you go.

SRX660

[†_Moose_†]

Thanks SRX660. I am disabled and $100.00 is a big deal to me so my options are limited. If I can find the drivers, I can them burn to disc. I think I can handle this, though as you say it all depends if the drivers are still available. Thanks again for your help and I'll let you know how it all turns out. Cheers!

[Broni]

Use DriverMax: http://www.innovativ....com/drivermax/ (free) to backup your existing drivers.
The above program will let you reinstall all drivers after reformat.

Whar eMachine model is it?

Edited by Broni, 26 December 2008 - 10:23 PM.

[†_Moose_†]

Hello Broni and thanks for the information and the link. In answer to your question, my PC is an eMachines, Model 633 ids, an oldie but a goodie

[Broni]

Yeah, unfortunately eMachines site has all specifications for Windows ME only, so you'll have to rely on DriverMax.

[†_Moose_†]

Thanks Broni, I appreciate all of your assistance. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

[Broni]

You're welcome
Happy New Year to you, and Elmo.

[†_Moose_†]

I've had a few comments about "psycho Elmo" so I've decided to change to something a bit more "generic" Take care!