I want to completely wipe my HD & reinstall XP !?!?

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Ptath-59

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Greetings,
This is my first post.
I have a HP laptop that has become infested because it was run without any kind of virus protection. I want to completely wipe the disk and do a clean install of XP.
I have not done this sort of work since the first version of Win2K or RedHat 2.X

I first went to a cmd window to start FDISK but no luck. Is FDISK no longer available?
I booted into the bios but did not see anything there to help.
After some Googling I went to My Computer/Manage/Disk Management but I'm not sure where to go from there.
I want to completely format the hard drive and start with a clean build.

Guidance?
Suggestions?
Budweiser?
 
Just insert the XP disc and follow the directions. When it asks you where you want to install windows to, click on your current HDD and choose Delete, confirm by pressing L. Then you can choose to install on there. Format as NTFS and all is well.

I forgot to mention make sure that boot from CD is set to boot before your HDD in the BIOS.

BTW
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:
 
thanks,
when i put the disk in and click on setup i get a message that the OS is a newer version and does not give me an option to start the install. obviously this is not the disk which came with the system. is there a way around this?
 
format Harddrive and re-install win xp

I was looking for help when I saw your post! There may be better ways but I'll share my experiences with you.
I use a windows 98 boot disk because it allows you to enable your cd rom after formatting. You will also need a disk which has the format file.
Go to your cmos(start computer and hold delete button down). then go to advanced setup and look for 1st bootup drive. Set this to A drive.
Then put your 98 boot disk in and reboot. When it boots up to A prompt, put the disk in with the format option and type in "format c:". When it finishes formatting, reboot. It will ask you whether or not you want to boot with the cd rom enabled or not. choose yes.
Since your harddrive has already been set up, you shouldn't have to partition your drive, therefore you won't need fdisk.
Once this is done, put your xp disk in and, at the A prompt, change to your cd drive. Then type in setup(or install if it requires so.
once it starts just follow the directions on screen.

Hope this helps.
 
it is not possible to launch the windows xp installer from a dos prompt. he needs to boot to the XP installation cd. what's more is the fact that windows 98 doesn't support NTFS, and he should use that with windows XP. nothing can be done using a windows98 boot disk, he needs to boot to his XP cd.
 
OOPs!

Hey,

Sorry about that. You are completely right. I must have been half asleep when I posted that. When I completely format my drive I have been having to install win 98 first and then upgrade to xp. Is there another way to enable the cd rom without going this route?

Thanks
 
Wow! Alot of info.
I do have a copy of win98 but don't really want to go that route. This is my daughters laptop and of course we can't find the original disc.
blast!
 
Using an upgrade CD, you can install from scratch. During setup you will be asked for proof of ownership of some previous OS. Stick in any old W95 or W98 or ME or W2K CD, XP checks and finds it OK. Then swap the XP-CD back in and continue.
 
OK
I'm not quite sure where i'm at with this puter. initially it was all but locked up.
so my thinking was to format and reinstall.
but i installed PC-Illen antivirus, Spybot, AdAware and CWShredder and have installed all the latest MS updates. the machine is functional, in fact i'm on it now. but it took forever to boot and it's real sluggish.

it's running XP Home Edition SP2. do i need to upgrade
 
XP home sp2 is fine. you may want to consider using another AV software, such as avg free edition (free.grisoft.com), because from what i've heard pc-cillin is lackluster.
 
Well, this has been the most aggrevating experience i've ever had.(with computers)
I installed AVG Free and it tells me "no virus detected"
The machine was still slow and sluggish and eventually locked up. I shut it down and now nothing comes up on the screen.

I'm beginning to hate XP.

If I get something like Partition Magic can I boot off of that and format the hard drive...and then reinstall?

Can I use another Reg Key with XP?
 
There is no need to buy Partition Magic to re-install XP or partition the drive the XP cd does all of that if you can boot to the CD.
You can only use the reg key on one installation of XP.It is not clear what it is you have ,but it sounds like you are trying to install XP with a CD from another machine and use the key from the HP installation.
That will definitely not work. The installation on the portable is probably an OEM license HP owns. I suggest you go to the HP site and find out what it takes (Download drivers,apps,, etc;You Must Do This Anyway) to install your system cleanly.
Their Website will also have all the instruction you need.
Either, Buy a new copy of XP or buying a replacement system disk from them.
 
a quick recap
this is my daughters laptop, she's leaving to go back to college in 2 days. of course she waited till this week to ask me about the bugs in the machine.
i've tried to boot from the disc which came with the machine, but it tells me the current system is a newer version. and there is no product key listed with the disc.
i'm not trying to use another key.

when trying to reboot i can see the bios start up but then the display goes black. if i pressed F1 the display would come up. the system would take about 10 - 15 minutes to boot. but as of last night i couldn't even get the display to come up.

so basically, i've been trying to avoid buying a new OS. does anyone have advice as to where the cheapest place to buy an OS (if it comes to that)
 
Did you try booting to the command prompt to try and force installation from there?see my comment above with the shortcut.
Also usually the disk that comes with perinstalled software on a portable has the Key right on the disk,and you don't have to type it in .
Last when you got the message that the windows version was newer,was there anyway to override and install anyway type of option.
I have seen oem disks on Ebay pretty cheap usually you get a mouse or some small hardware per lisense agreement.Maybe there are some resellers in your town that do the same.

P.S.There are Linux version thsat run from a cd that can format the drive.Knoppix is one , There is a app that will format the drive to fat32 you can convert to NTFS after Windows is loaded,if you want.
 
Crazier things have happened...but not too many

After a days rest from this enigma I thought that I would try everthing one more time.
This morning I stuck the OS disc, which came with the machine and was able to boot, format and doa clean install.
I guess the problem was between the keyboard and the chair. I dunno.

This is XP SP-1. can kany of you give me a dump on advantages/disadvantages of SP2 ?

Oh yea, thanks for all of the input I learned alot
 
but now.....

Ok, the laptop is working great, except...when I boot I can hear it spinning but nothing comes up on the display until i touch F1

any clues anyone?

i looked throu the bois but i'm not too savvy with that
 
That's strange. You never changed the output of the screen to an external device did you? Meaning pressed a function key like FN + F8 to toggle between Laptop screen/VGA monitor/both.
 
zephead said:
it is not possible to launch the windows xp installer from a dos prompt. he needs to boot to the XP installation cd. what's more is the fact that windows 98 doesn't support NTFS, and he should use that with windows XP. nothing can be done using a windows98 boot disk, he needs to boot to his XP cd.
Click to expand...
Thats not entirely correct.

You can start the XP install from a 98 boot floppy by selecting boot with cd support. Then at the prompt type <cddrive>\I386\winnt.exe and it will fire up.
The problem with doing this is smartdrv.exe isn't installed so it will install at a snails pace, to fix this you can either download smartdrv and put it on another floppy, or you can insert your 98 or Me disk at the prompt and run <cddrive>\Win98\smartdrv.exe substitute 98 with 9x if its a Me disk.
So what you want to do is do the smartdrv.exe thing first, then insert your XP cd.
Note: This will work with XP upgrade cds too, it doesn't need to be full install.
 
i've seen that attempted before. and when i saw it, the installation failed before the setup program could finish loading. alas, there is no certianity in windows...
 
Ptath-59 said:
This is XP SP-1. can kany of you give me a dump on advantages/disadvantages of SP2
Click to expand...
Sp1 = fast and sleek, Sp2 = bulky and sluggish .. supposedly more secure, lots of updated files (network, net, etc.), though it's known to break a few programs (in the past) ..

Basically imho if you haven't got a third-party firewall, packet monitor, antivirus, regprotection etc., keep your Winblows up to date ..

If at least you've turned off the "dangerous services", tweaked your system with: xpantispy, powertoys tweakui, are running a firewall (Kerio 2.1.5 still best 4 me), and antivirus (McAfee 7.03 PRO best 4 me because offline updates are possible), you could stick to Sp1 because it is "faster"; and no stupid comments please ;)
 
i (and other tech i've met) have an especially lowly opinion of mcafee on account of it's lack of protective abilities. that plus the security vulernability of SP1 would lead to some problems, i imagine.

i would reccomend keeping windows updated for security and reliability reasons.
 
zephead said:
have an especially lowly opinion of mcafee on account of it's lack of protective abilities
Click to expand...
Ok cool. But what then? Norton, AVG ? I don't think so :( What would be the right antivirus then? One that includes email and office (especially) protection? In your opinion?..
 
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