Clean Install / Pre-loaded" Machines With 2 Partitions
Jan 31, 2008
I was given a brand new Compaq Presario SR1910NX recently (I have 2 other heavy duty computer I use for video-editing, etc.). It is one of those "pre-loaded" machines with 2 partitions (one for OS; other for backup). The operating system is XP Home and plenty of bloatware. I don't plan on doing anything fancy with the machine - just some basic stuff like maybe a music server, check email, I would like to do a clean install with Windows XP SP2 (primarily to get rid of the partitions, bloatware, and upgrade OS).
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May 10, 2008
I decided to help out an older friend upgrade their computer. I had an old tower lying around minus a Hard Drive, and I figured that I could remove my friends Hard Drive from his PC and pop it into my Tower and away he'd go. Well, it didn't work. The PC seemed to boot fine and showed the initial text, but when it came to the Windows XP loading-part of the boot process, the monitor flashed white for a millisecond then went blank and the power light turned to amber, then off altogether.I disabled my ATI Graphics card, then tried again with no luck so I looked in BIOS but couldn't get it to detect the drive which is a Seagate Barracuda 40GB drive.I did however notice that the HD was listed as Secondary Slave. I was able to move it up to Primary Slave by moving the jumper but couldn't set it as Master. I even tried with the jumper removed. In fact I don't recall whether or not there was a Secondary Master there is a DVD/CD Combo drive installed so maybe that was set as Secondary Master? I'm afraid I can't remember.
I then tried connecting the HD to the same cable as the DVD/CD drive with no luck. The HD is an IDE and my original HD was also a Seagate IDE drive. Also FWIW, the last time I used my Tower with an IDE HD installed ( only months ago) it all worked perfectly.After a few hours I called it a day.So, when I returned home I realised that the DVD/CD drive was probably throwing a spanner in the works and I should have unplugged it to see if that would get a result.Finally it dawned on me that my friends internal HD would have all the drivers pertaining to his particular set up (Mobo, etc) but not the drivers for my mobo and maybe that's why Windows didn't boot up.I'm left wondering if it's even possible to do what I'm trying to achieve, or would my friends IDE Hard Disc need to be wiped before installing it into my Tower? I have the ABIT VIA-1.31M driver disc that came with my mobo, but don't really know where to go from here other than to try to install the drivers for my Mobo onto my friends HD before I remove it from his PC and install it in the one I want to give to him ..
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Apr 2, 2005
My company was messed up so I decided to clean reinstall xp pro, my hard drive was split into 3 partition, C, E backup and L photos and bits, at the point of the install were you decide,delete our make partitions, I decided to delete L as it was not needed and clean install onto C, leaving E with my docs and data
The install went fine, when I looked at my drives in admin tools the C is marked boot and E system, I was going to delete E and make new partitions, but because it marked as system, can not delete it.How did I do this and is there away to put it all back onto C, without reformatting
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May 8, 2006
I was just wondering if i could have more then one OS installed on my computer my freind had told me that if i were to create a partition then i can install a different OS on it. But i wouldnt know what to do with this bit of info he gave me i know about partition magic but i feel that doing random stupid things is not a very smart idea so i thought i'd get to know all i can about this
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Aug 28, 2005
I have a large hard disk and a card reader and 2 DVD Writers, It is terrible to use disk mangement tools to create logical drives, format them, rename them and re-assign the drive letters for all the drives.Is there any simple way to create partitions and format them prior to the installation of XP? Just like the old Win98, I can create and format as many as I like.
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Sep 28, 2007
Sometime early next year I will be building a new system. The system will likely have one large hard drive. As of now I will be installing XP Pro. I was curious how everyone else splits up their drive. How big of a partition is generally created for the OS. And do most people partition the remaining space.Now a file architecture question. When non OS applications games, utilities, MS Office, etc.) are installed do most people put then in D:Program Files Or create separate sub-folders for the broad categories and install them in the appropriate sub folder.
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May 12, 2008
So I think I was affected by the SP3 update. I went out and got another harddrive to reinstall on since the other harddrive wouldn't even boot up. I can format the disc and the setup files load and then the system does the reboot. But after it reboots it ask me if I want to install XP and it takes me through the prompts of which drive I want to partition.
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Jun 17, 2008
This one has really got me stumped, and even worse, I need this stuff installed ASAP,So yesterday I formatted/install windows xp pro sp2, I did my usual thing, windows updates, fire fox,Skype. I then tried to install MS Office 2007 Enterprise. I (still do) recieved the following error message, "Setup cannot find Office.en-usdwtrig20.exe. Browse to a valid installation source, and then click OK", allowing me to browse for dwtrig20.exe.dwtrig20.exe IS THERE, the installation works perfectly on another machine of mine!I then tried to install MS Visual Studio 2008 Pro, this time, i received an error while trying to install Visual Studio. It failed while installing "Visual Studio Web Authoring Component". I extracted this component and attempted to install it 'on its own' and it failed.
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Jul 16, 2005
I bought 2 SATA HDDs and would like to set them up as RAID and clean install XP and all the drivers/programs on them. I don't want to use those image drive programs to transfer the old drive to the new drive. My old HDD has XP on it (activated) and I would like to format it and use it for data storage later. Do I need to reactivate after I clean install XP on the new HDDs (same mobo and CPU)? I have NOT plugged the HDDs in my computer yet.
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Sep 6, 2007
I am going to try to do a clean install of XP. When i am ready to get my updates do i download all of them at once then reboot or do i have to get one at a time and reboot after each one?
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Jun 23, 2005
what drivers will I need? ..I have most of the stuff but some of the disks were for my winme OS I think. How do I find out what motherboard I have and what driver I need?if it all goes pear shaped will I be able to put my old master in and get back to square one?if it the Xp install goes fine can I put in my old master as slave and copy the needed files over to the new master? The old master is fat32, so would that be a problem?I only have the winme version of word but my dads laptop has word perfect for xp...could I use this?
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Oct 21, 2007
What would be the easiest way to do a clean re-install of Windows XP without the manufacturer's CD?
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Feb 23, 2010
I am unable to reinstall my HP printer driver and accompanying software and after spending more than enough time trying to remedy the problem, I've decided to reload Windows XP either by a clean install or a reinstall per this thread. I hope to get some advice here.The details that led to the problem of being unable to install my printer drivers and my attempts to remedy the problem are very long and drawn out and may not be relevant to this post or my desired solution, so I will not go through them unless requested. Suffice it to say that I have spent a good 30 hours attempting to remedy the problem, with a good portion of that time spent with free HP Support. None of their "fixes" or any of my own attempts after lots of research have been successful.
I have installed XP several times on several different machines and thus, I'm very confident with a routine install. However, due to a special configuration on this computer, I need some advice.First: Will a reinstall per this thread potentially fix my printer problem? I know there may not be a definitive answer here, but I would just like to get some feedback.If more detail is needed on the problem, I will be happy to provide it.Second: Due to space restraints on my boot drive (18 GB SCSI drive), I moved the Documents and Settings folder to a large IDE storage drive (E:) on this machine. Will I be able to refer to the Documents and Settings folder during a clean install, so that all of the current settings will load? If not, is there a solution for getting the current settings loaded into the clean XP install?
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Jan 28, 2006
In reinstalling Windows XP, I did a full format to erase the old programs. While reinstalling the various programs, Sun Java, it posted a screen stating that a version of this program was present in Document and settings. I thought that the full format would clear this out.but evidently it didn't.
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Mar 31, 2006
Two XP Pro machines on a hard-wire network with SP2. The host computer (A) can see the shared files of the other machine (B), and the B machine can see the files for A. However, when I try to access A shared files from B, I get a message that I "might not have permissions." I'm the admin on both machines.
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Oct 16, 2006
My mom brought me her e-machines computer today with the complaint that Windows won't load.I think it might have a virus.So I hook it up and turn it on and am greeted with the loading screen before it brings up a windows error screen prompt that looks like a DOS screen.It says how there might have been a power failure or a virus or God knows what, but it gives you three options for proceeding.1) Safe Mode.2) Start with the last known good configuration.3) Start Windows Normally.I tried starting with all three options and it starts to do each one and then restarts and takes me right back to the loading screen before presenting me with the same DOS-looking screen again and the same endless three options.
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Jul 27, 2005
get winXP to format my sata drive at bootup, so I can clean install XP again I'm resorting to this measure 'cause XP seems to be hanging during bootup
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Aug 27, 2005
how can I clean my c drive so that I can do a complete clean install of xp pro. I do not need to save any of my files or programs. I would rather get rid of all the bugginess and start fresh.
xp pro is the current OS.
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Sep 4, 2007
Plan to do a clean re-install of my Toshiba Satellite P10 series , I have the disc's that came with the computer IE . Microsoft Works , and two Discs marked Product Recovery CD-ROM, is this everything i need to do a re-install and what order do i use the Disc's , as you may gather i haven't done this before.
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Mar 28, 2010
I had gotten some malware, and despite all my efforts(combofix etc.) I couldn't get rid of it, so I bit the bullet and wiped the partition and reinstalled windows XP professional clean. I have gotten malware before and done this no problem.Now after installing windows XP and installing some drivers, I noticed the computer would lag horribly, I checked task manager and it showed 100% CPU usage. I Checked the processes and it is always showing that "system" is the one doing this. Also windows XP is incredibly slow on boot up, and won't even shut down. Now, I'll state what I KNOW is not the problem.
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Nov 6, 2009
I am working with a small school as IT help (along with other hats). We recently replaced PC's in a computer lab with new IMACs. I now have these older PC's that came preinstalled with Windows XP Home on them. I was going to keep them around to use as back-ups in the classrooms or additions for tutoring,etc. My first question is, since they were used for about 2-3 years in a lab scenario, should I do a fresh install of Windows Xp or just try to clean them up the best I can. (They all are DELL running 797mhz and 512mb RAM.)
If a fresh install is the best option, I have another question.
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May 8, 2007
Its time for me to rebuild the old machine and i started looking for a guide i once saw on here (TG) which showed you the best way to install a clean copy of XP on a new machine.
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Aug 26, 2005
I recently did a clean install of Windows XP but for some reason one of the features I used to have no longer works when previously it did work. I can't set the PC to hibernate. It's not really a big issue I know but it bugs me and I hate being stumped by such an issue. I've tried everything including looking for drivers. XP says it doesn't need a APIC driver yet it's listed under system hardware. Everything else works fine it's just this little thing that is bugging me silly.
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Dec 17, 2008
I was trying to do a clean install with my Sister's PC because she messed it up so badly with adwares, spywares, and what-not.First, I tried to boot the XP Home cd but it didn't work. I don't even know if it's bootable?anyways, then I tried installing from Windows itself, which I later read was something I shouldn't have done.The install was going well, then it rebooted the PC. Now, I see an option to boot the XP cd.Specifically, before, I only had options to boot Windows XP Home and go into the Windows Recovery Console.I chose the XP setup and tried to delete the C: drive, but it said I couldn't. Then, I tried to delete the D: drive, and it worked. I tried once again to delete the C: drive to no prevail. So, I thought I'd restart the PC to see if it would change.And then it happened. It didn't start up with the XP setup option nor does it boot Windows. It just loops inself to the Windows XP Home logo, restart, rinse and repeat.
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Dec 25, 2004
My current situation: C: 1.97gb/109mb free/Healthy System//xp pro installed (stupid me) D: 4.87gb/3.10gb free/Healthy Boot//xp pro installed G: 12.1gb free/Healthy/nothing on it yet. *3 are logical drives on one physical drive
I want to delete all partitions and put everything at C: and install xp on it. How am I able to this? Or do you have any of your suggestions about on how to manage the space. Last time I accidently installed xp on c, and it lagged like hell!
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Apr 18, 2006
I have wanted a new PC for so long, almost 8 years since my last IBM desktop
Well my last child is a smarty and she got a ("full boot") paid scholarship to college for upcoming Sept. So wife said go ahead, I bought a Dell, the PC desktop I have always wanted. Now my question, I have had the Dimension E-510 for about a month, I love it, really, from day I took it out of box just perfect! It has XP's Media OS on it. It also has so much "junk" I'm wondering if I should do a Clean Install of the OS. I bought the Operating System on a CD when I purchased the PC. Am I nuts or should I just leave well enough alone? I didn't get a Floopy drive so I guess I would just Boot with the OS CD in it.
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Sep 23, 2010
I support 2 schools both have the same problem on different machines 1 school uses desktops the other laptops all different makes and models. All XP Pro machines running SP3. Error checking seems to enable me to log on as administrator (right click local c: drive, properties, tools, error checking tick both boxes run after reboot) this is done in safe mode. All windows updates installed (except annoying ones like windows search 4.0 etc) when the problem occurs I get "windows cannot load the user's profile but has logged you on with the default profile for the system. Detail - insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service" followed by "userinit.exe - Application error The application failed to initialize properly (0xc000012d)." then the system hangs and i have to force shut down. This has happened after the error checking has completed, logged in as normal and reboot and the problem comes back! I've ran, MRT (Microsoft malicious removal tool), Symantec, AVG and malware bytes and found a big fat nothing!
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May 10, 2006
Where could I go on my home XP machine to see if the 3 users are using web based email accounts (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.)? I have 3 teenage daughters and I want to be sure I know who they are talking with. Each uses Outlook, also. Would there be files or logs in cookies or another file on the machine?
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Jul 29, 2005
Just clean installed XP for the 3rd flippin time in 4 months. Before I load any programs onto the PC. I would welcome any advise as to recovery programs, utility and back up programs etc. that would be a help down the road in case of trouble. Also a recommendation for a good AV program. I used the free Grisoft AVG program last time around and it created some conflicts for me. I also have a firelight 40 g external HD I can use.
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Sep 10, 2008
I'm gonig to do a clean install of my system, but I need to make sure it doesn't load the sp3... because that screws my cmoputer up, as indicated in the following thread.I just need to make sure I'm doing it right.Do these instructions look good.
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Feb 27, 2005
Just built my first PC from scratch and need to get an OS. Finally decided on getting XP Pro, but I don't know if I need the get the Full Version (usually more expensive) or the Upgrade (which I know you can do a clean install, With nothing on the HDD can I use the 'upgrade' version to do a clean install, or would I need a 'full' version?
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