things to check before myt re-install(2)

[Goffy84]

Right here goes,
I have:
2 XP MCE disks
motherboard driver
graphics driver
usp driver
power dvd 6
Frontview vfd driver
Mouse and keyboard driver


1) Is there anything else i need to have in front of me before i start
2) do i need to do anything perticular to support my 200g sata hdd?
(i've just found a sata drive on floppy but i dont have a fdd!)

any thing else i should know before i go ahead?

[Skunkpipe]

You don't need a SATA driver - you need to set the SATA to IDE mode rather than RAID in BIOS setup - all should be detected fine then

[lisag]

How did it go?
If you haven't already started yet, what I do is create a foler called 'Clean Install' on a second partition on my hard drive (or the other hard drive) and download all the latest drivers/codecs and put them in there. I never use drivers off the disc, as there are nearly always more up to date ones on the manufacturers website.

So, format and start the clean install from the windows discs (remembering to swap them over when it comes up with a vey confusing message)
Install the up to date mobo drivers, sound drivers and graphics card drivers,
Install anti virus and get the net connection working
Go online and get all the windows updates / anti virus updates
Then install all other drivers / apps
Fire up MCE, configure it and you are sort of done!

lisa

[Goffy84]

just about to start it now, thanks for the run down lisa. i tried a windows repair from the disks on the recomendation of the guy who built it as a last ditch ffort before the full format, solved nothing so here goes...

i'll download all the up to date drivers and save them to a cd before i start so i have them to hand after

[Goffy84]

when i was going through the re-install it wouldn't let me delete the existing partition on the hdd because the set-up files were on it. i installed a fresh version of windows over top the old 1 without formatting the disk, installed all the drivers and now have a working media center again.

not quite what i had planned as i still have lots of junk on the disk but it will do for tonight, just glad its working again.

if (when?!?!) i try it again, how do i do the formatting bit (kinda the important bit when trying to remove lots of junk)

Thanks for the help getting me this far, Ben

[lisag]

Hi, you don't delete the partition, just point windows set up to the partition that windows is installed on and format it using the NTFS file system (not quick do the full format).

Well done on getting it working again though

lisa

[phunkey_monkeh]

The reason you couldnt delete the partition is because you started the Windows reinstall from within Windows.

If you booted from the cd you could have then deleted the partition.

[lisag]

Oh, yes I didn't think of that... you need to boot from cd - may need to change the boot priority settings in the bios.

[Goffy84]

coolo, thanks. i tried to boot from cd but im using a wireless keyboard which wouldn't let me "hit any key" when told to make it boot from cd. i'll borrow a wired 1 and try again

[Goffy84]

i did the fresh install last night with drivers, updates and a fresh ripping of 25cd's and a much higher bit-rate than i've used before. Took 3 hours all in.

i'm yet to use an add on decoder. im planning on trying pure video again but im coing to wait for norton ghost to come through then i'll experiment with several different trial decoders untill i find the one i like the most.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me restore my system this far, now it's working again im going to keep it a plain and simple as possible, but there are a few things i kinda need to add, and want to know which methods to use to keep the system running smoothly.

i need convert recorded tv into either standard media files or divx/xvid so that i can watch them on my Archos portable video player. i used Arksoft's Crunchie from the Aussie media website. is this ok to use again? Also any xvid/divx codecs that are safe to install as i have a lot of archived video in these formats

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by bengoff

i did the fresh install last night with drivers, updates and a fresh ripping of 25cd's and a much higher bit-rate than i've used before. Took 3 hours all in.

i'm yet to use an add on decoder. im planning on trying pure video again but im coing to wait for norton ghost to come through then i'll experiment with several different trial decoders untill i find the one i like the most.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me restore my system this far, now it's working again im going to keep it a plain and simple as possible, but there are a few things i kinda need to add, and want to know which methods to use to keep the system running smoothly.

i need convert recorded tv into either standard media files or divx/xvid so that i can watch them on my Archos portable video player. i used Arksoft's Crunchie from the Aussie media website. is this ok to use again? Also any xvid/divx codecs that are safe to install as i have a lot of archived video in these formats

why dont you put them on DVD ?
if you sue nero vission express you just drag your recorded TV files into it do basic menu and click record it then converts the files to either an mpeg4 dvd or regular dvd for you.

[lisag]

I am using ffdshow now for divx/xvid, works seamlessly with MCE and you can tweak the post processing settings if you have the urge!

lisa