PC help 2

Shoka

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I'm going to sound really thick asking this, but here goes:

How do I wipe my PC and re-install windows?
 
Put the WinXP CD in your CD-ROM drive.

Restart the computer.

Make sure it boots from the CD (if not, set your BIOS's boot settings accordingly)

Let XP go through its setup, then choose the option to install Windows. Make sure you delete the previous partition(s) and then create a new partition(s).

Go make some coffee and let it run :)
 
Originally posted by Squirrel God
Put the WinXP CD in your CD-ROM drive.

I've got win ME - does it make a difference?

Originally posted by Squirrel God
Make sure you delete the previous partition(s) and then create a new partition(s).

?????????:confused: ??????????
 
Originally posted by Shoka
I've got win ME - does it make a difference?
Whoops! Sorry :blush:

Still works the same but there are no partitions as such (none that you need concern yourself with anyway).

If there's an option to format the hard disk then let it do it. If not, then boot to a DOS prompt from Windows and type:

format c:

That should wipe the hard disk and then you can install ME by booting from the CD :)

You should really consider upgrading to Win2000 or WinXP though. ME is an awful OS - you only realise just how error-ridden, unreliable and slow it is when you start using Win2k or XP (Win2k was the first decent OS that Microsoft produced IMO).
 
Originally posted by Squirrel God
Whoops! Sorry :blush:

You should really consider upgrading to Win2000 or WinXP though. ME is an awful OS - you only realise just how error-ridden, unreliable and slow it is when you start using Win2k or XP (Win2k was the first decent OS that Microsoft produced IMO).

I'm assuming you never played with NT? The best for corporate systems for years. Most places are still using it over XP or 2000. I hate NT since I've used XP but, as I use (and support) it every day, 5 days a week, I know NT quite well, and it's not that bad. OK, no USB, but hey, it's an old OS!

I'm using XP because I wanted to upgerade from 98 and refused to use ME 'cos it was that bad. It went on my system and came off again within 20 minutes. Been using XP since September '01 with no major glitches at all! :)
 
Originally posted by minimad
I'm assuming you never played with NT?
You assume wrong ;)

Originally posted by minimad
The best for corporate systems for years. Most places are still using it over XP or 2000. I hate NT since I've used XP but, as I use (and support) it every day, 5 days a week, I know NT quite well, and it's not that bad. OK, no USB, but hey, it's an old OS!
NT is good when compared with 95, 98 and ME; but pales in comparison to 2k and XP for reliability and feature support. 2k almost made the BSOD disappear completely - and let's be fair, even then, it only really comes up when there's a hardware failure :) Businesses don't upgrade because they've learned to live with the flaws of NT (although it's taken 6 SPs to "heal it") and there's the "better the devil you know" attitude as well. Upgrading would cost them money too.

Originally posted by minimad
I'm using XP because I wanted to upgerade from 98 and refused to use ME 'cos it was that bad. It went on my system and came off again within 20 minutes. Been using XP since September '01 with no major glitches at all! :)
ME was a step backwards if you ask me. I've had all versions of Windows installed on my home and work PCs from Win3.0 onwards (brought up in the land of DOS however :D), EXCEPT for Windows ME - I think I'm not alone in choosing to avoid that one as you have demonstrated!

For some reason, Microsoft introduced that "auto management" stuff so that the OS would defrag the computer in the background while you worked and perform other "tidying" tasks. End result: computer grinds to a halt. Memory management was appalling as well, but then that's much the same as 95 and 98 - constant reboots needed to free up resources that should have been freed up by the OS. The longer you use 95/98/ME, the worse it gets! As you know, that's not the case with 2K and XP at all :)
 
Originally posted by Squirrel God
I've had all versions of Windows installed on my home and work PCs from Win3.0 onwards (brought up in the land of DOS however :D),

How about CPM ?
 
Originally posted by Ian J
How about CPM ?
Unfortunately not, but "ancestor" of DOS anyway so I don't feel too dismayed at that. Had a play about with DR-DOS many moons ago though.
 
Argggh

I'm having a major nightmare.

I've formated the hard drive. but I cant get the CD rom to work.

I can't get into the bios to change it either.

Can some one help me before I smash the damm thing up.
 
I also found ME to be the most stable OS I have ever run (have had all of them from 3.1 to XP as well).

Can some one help me before I smash the damm thing up.

Do you have a Windows system floppy disc? This is the best way to install ME.

When you say you cannot get into BIOS do you mean it wont work or that you do not know how? You usually press delete at startup - sometimes it is a different key such as F9, but usually it is delete
 
Originally posted by Shoka
Argggh

I'm having a major nightmare.

I can't get into the bios to change it either.

press Delete on start up.
 
It's not delete on mine. It's a laptop and It is on f1+function.

It just wont open it?
 
Do you not have a boot disc for the laptop? What software/discs did you get with it?
 
Didn't get anything with it, I got it from a computor fair. with nothing on it. The floppy and CD drive are interchangeable.

So when I boot from a boot disc, it asks continue with CD support if I select that option it replies by saying no drive found and does not install the driver?
 
You don't want to be booting from a boot floppy disk. You should just be able to boot from the CD on startup. The CD will contain all the drivers.

What's the brand of laptop mate? Maybe we can find out the BIOS entry key combo for you with an internet search.
 
Dell - Latitude CP

All this just for broadband to work:mad:
 
The boot up sequence. Make sure the CD is specified as the first boot device and the hard drive as the second boot device. (CD might be listed as removable drive)
 
I cant cvhange anything because of the password

Is there a way of bybassing the password?
 
Oh lord!

I think the only way is to remove the CMOS battery on the motherboard and wait a certain number of hours for the power to drain (not sure how long but could be days ?). Then all the settings will be reset and the password will be gone.

Unless you can get in touch with the bloke you bought it from and ask him the password.
 
Done that he does not know.

It was like that before but I got it to install.

Before it just went straight into a dos prompt, but now it asks for a boot disc.
 
I've just had an Idea will it work?

If I copy the boot disc onto a cdr and put that in the cd drive on startup?

The floppy and CD drives are interchangeable and the cd is spinning in the cdrom drive when it is in the laptop. Would that work?
 
Originally posted by Squirrel God
You don't want to be booting from a boot floppy disk.

I beg to differ :D - this would be by far the easiest way to install Windows (if you had one).

Originally posted by Shoka
it just went straight into a dos prompt

If you can get to a dos prompt it is simple to install - you just need to access your cd-rom drive and run setup...

cd\D (where D is the letter of your cd-rom drive)

setup
 

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