So in the next couple of days, I'm going to be recieving my first laptop. And I want to know what steps I would need to take to completely reformat it, set up partitions, install XP Pro and install whatever you think would be the best applications for everyday use. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I also have assumed that it is possible to somehow create a backup file (on DVD, my other computer has a DVD writer) that lets you automatically install all these basic features whenever you reformat the computer (I also have heard this is called a ghost). The big problem I have is that I do not have a floppy disk drive. which I can't help but think may make the process a bit more difficult.
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!
I need to format a laptop and boot as C:drive only don't need windows software. just clean boot disk.anyone know what software to use to format clean c:drive and load to c:drive .
My uncle was given an old Dell Latitude cpi laptop at work. Though, no discs or anything were included and the machine isn't formatted, it loads up to the password entry screen and I can't get passed this because they didn't include a password. Is there anyway to format without having a disk? There's no floppy drive, only a cd-rom.
i have toshiba a100 laptop and when i try to run the recovery CD it starts by displaying "loading ramdisk image". when it finishes the computer just restarts and does it over again..
So I just bought the HP Pavilion DV5 and it came (of course) with Vista. So I rounded up all the drivers I needed and prepared to wipe it and install XP. I have done this before on many computers.However I get an error message after it boots from the CD. I get the Windows setup screen with the blue and the grey bar at the bottom telling you what it's doing. But after that, instead of the menu I get:"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer."It tells me to check for viruses and remove any new hard drives and such.
I have a dell inspiron laptop 1525, and I want to formet it but my DVD is not working so,If it is posible to formet my laptop by using USB Pen drive vorth 2 GB , So Let me tell How to format laptop with USB .
What's the best way to clean the new Ultrabrite laptop...smooth and glossy...screen? I've always used distilled water and a soft cloth on my laptopscreens, but it's hard to make them smear-free when drying, and it's even harder on a glossy screen.
My laptop can't boot itself. When I try boot it, it flashes some error about ntdetect (or something) after the bios splash. And then it reboots on its own.
I've tried to boot from CD (with various software) but then I can't find the C: drive where it should boot (so I could copy the ntdetect file into its place). I could format the whole thing but I got some files that I really needed.. So is there any suggestions from anybody for this problem? Is there a way to copy the files from the hard drive or something.. I'm getting quite desperate with this thing
I have a IBM laptop and has become very very slow lately(although i am not connected to the internet and i rarely use it).I'm thinking of doing a format but when i bought it (a year ago) I wasn't given any cd's.I have a cd from an another Siemens laptop I have for WinXP Home Edition-SP1 (Product Recovery cd-rom).Could i use this to format the other laptop?Will I need a cd for the drives?I have to find a cd or i can download the drives?
I have a Toshiba Portege running Windows XP Tablet Edition. and those of you who own them know they don't have a CD drive.I forgot my passwords and I cannot figure out what they are. I have the files on my other laptop to format it. But the problem is I don't know how to do it without a CD drive.I want to try it from my 1 gig thumbdrive but I can't find a good guide to be able to put it on there and format it.
Why is my XP laptop from Dell will write on CD-R and read it but will not write or format DVD+RW disks? I get a message "disk is not re-writtable" Does anybody have a similar problem?
This is for my LAPTOP,which is separate from my DESKTOP problem I am having.With everything I'm going thru with my desktop, I am wanting to make sure my laptop is in working order, cause if it goes down, I'm screwed.So in following the directions I have been given to check things on my desktop, I've also done so with my laptop.(Note: The SP1 problem has been fixed. However, the problems in Red are still in existence)I have tried installing SP1, however every time I try, I get the "file atapi.sys is open or in use" message. I have even booted into safe mode and got the same error.
how do i clean the hard drive on a laptop and pc, they are both very old and i just want to be sure that no personal information is left before i recycle them.
I have a 3 y old Thinkpad R52 which came with preloaded WXP Pro. After a while, I got recovery discs from IBM and I have created startup and ThinkVantage discs.I have restored my IBM to factory-condition few times before, but now I want to format it to the ground level to get rid of some files which have been piled up in the reserved-preinstalled sector of the hard drive. I just believe that it make my IBM even more fresh than "usual restoration".My question is: can I format my IBM from DOS environment by using startup disc and still use the restoration/recovery discs after that, to install XP and acompanying programs? Is there any body who have done it on any other PC brands; because I think that it can be the same for other makes.
I have an Inspirion 1100 laptop. I cant seem to do anything with it anymore. I used to be able to get MSN Messenger to work and now it wont work at all. Every time I click a link the Can Not Find Page error pops up. SO I figure re-formatting it will help but I have no clue how to re-format it.
I just recently did a reformat and clean install of windows (to get rid of all the dell bloatware that came with my laptop, clean the registry, etc). Problem is, now programs are opening really really slowly. For example, photoshop is taking a super long time to open, it used to be much faster.Internet/Firefox seems to work fine, but in general I can tell something isn't right. I'm pretty confident it's not a virus/malware problem, as I just reformatted, did a new install of windows, and have had zonealarm running from the start (and yes, zonealarm was running all the time previous to the reformat).
I need to get my HDD reformatted with the help of a paid technician.Couple of weeks ago he used the quick format method & asked him if that would make any difference & he said really not.I have the doubts though. I kind of wonder why would Windows then give a choice if there really wasn’t any difference?
Anyway i can download the CD? I m using Xps Gen 5 I got the cd of windows xp, but i get an error trying to format with it... I dont know if its my PC or the CD
my pc died and was fixed by a friend, there are two partitions on the hard drive, what were the C & D drives, the C drive is 29.9gig and has remained unaffected. however, what was the D partition (which is now the H) is in RAW format and windows will not let me format it. i'm not worried about losing anything that may still be on it, but it's 427gig and me little C drive's getting full up fast
I have a advent 9515 laptop and i have lost my recovery disc can any 1 tell me where to get a copy of it that dose not cost a bomb cause i have a virus on my laptop and need the disc.
My laptop died and I removed the hard drive.I hooked the hard drive up to my new laptop via a SATA/IDE cable.I can see the old hard drive in the E drive and it appears that all the contents are there by the size of the hard drive (same as when I had it in the old laptop) but I can only see, actually view, a very small percentage of the drive. My goal: I want to transfer all old music, word documents and photos from old laptop into new laptop.
I would like to format my hd's, to put on windows ME back onto my computer. I lost my windows xp cd, but i have my ME cd. so would someone give me some input on how to format
Ive got a huge problem.I got a Dell Latitude Cpi off eBay with Windows 2000 and the CD. I got a Windows XP CD recently made a new install with it, it had an error so I ran the Update install over 2000. It had another error in the install but I told it to continue with the install. (Big Mistake) Now I have two incomplete installes on my laptop. I can't get on any Oporating Systems.I'll tell you what happens when I turn on my computer: It starts like normal with the Dell screen, then a error. The error says, Memory Read/write failure at 08000020, read 00EF00EE expecting 00EF00EF Decreasing avalible memory.
i just have a question. i need to format my windows xp but i have a laptop and my cd drive is broken. can i reload windows with a USB cd drive? or will i need to load drivers before the system recognizes the device? if i can reload with USB are there any downsides to it?
I have tried numerous times to re-format my hard drive on my XP desktop. Each time I boot from the CD and it goes through the normal process and then the screen goes black. The monitor is still on, there is just nothing on the screen. I have left it that way overnight thinking maybe it is working but it remains blank. No cursor, nothing.
Am trying to clean out cookies, when done I get an index file that says there are 160kb in file that I cannot access.How do I access these to see what is there? It also says another program is usin this file and that I cannot access the file.
