[325isbimmer]

First off I've searched this but haven't found the relavent information I'm looking for. Chances are I've looked or searched in the wrong places. If you guys can just point me in the direction to the info I'm looking for that would be greatly appreciated.

I've heard I need to boot from disk then format, to do a clean XP install when do I format and how.
Also, I'm going to be getting more RAM very shortly, probably tomorrow, and I think this is the majority of the slow, lagging problems I've been having with the laptop (only 256 now) and I was wondering if I should hold off on the re-install untill I put the new RAM in there or does that not matter.

 

[Rich-M]

Technically it doesn't matter, but I would wait until you install the ram anyway.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

 

[325isbimmer]

Thank you Rich, I had just found that article minutes ago before you posted... Isn't that the way things ussually work, you find the answer after you ask the questions.

Always appreciate the help here on these forums though...I'm guiding my laptop through the setup right now. I'll let you know how it turns out

 

[Byteman]

Hi,

Your computer may have this utility> did you run it and make a CD, if it had that feature?

http://support.dell.com/support/top.../en/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dn=1091713

You probably do not want to format ALL the partitions> as the Recovery runs from it's own, hidden one...

However, if you DO HAVE the correct Recovery software disk(s) then they should create whatever they need to,
even on a blank, brand new hard drive....usually.... There can be pitfalls!

If yours came with it's own Recovery CD or DVD, then read up, and follow what your User Guide has about doing a Full System Recovery, I have included where the User Guide can be downloaded, in case you dont have a copy. (Usually it is installed, on the computer, in Start>All Programs>Dell> System Recovery (or similar)

Be careful, as you can actually start the process while still IN WINDOWS!

Is this your model http://www.dell.com/content/product...n_e521?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz&~tab=servicetab

Usually there are two types of Recovery you can do, right from within Windows, there should be a Dell entry or ten in

Start>All Programs, then you should find something along the lines of System Recovery>

There should be a User Guide on the system, look through the Programs entries.

If that is your model, read about reinstalling how to and what to, here:

http://support.dell.com/support/top...t/product_support/en/product_support_central?

the operating system, Media Center Edition 2005? use that link, to download the user guide, unless you have one...that should contain directions to run a full system Recovery, which is what you want to do.

From there> http://support.dell.com/support/sys...aspx?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz&~cat=6&~subcat=41

That's the official Dell stuff, they also have a step by step tree type thing you can go through, that will tell you the directions to reinstall, but it is very time consuming and can be confusing.

Download the manual, print out or save to CD> very handy if you have another PC there that you can view the directions on in case you run into a snag.

 

[325isbimmer]

Byteman,
I really should have been more specific about the computer I was refering to. The reinstall is for my LG LS50 notebook. I just got the dell that you see in my sig and so far it seems to be running great. ALthough, I have been contemplating doing a clean install on that too because of all the junk Dell preloads from the factory. so your information for the dell wont go to waste. I'm bookmarking this tread. I'll see how the install on the laptop goes first though.

which right now it has me a bit concerned...its been stuck on installing devices with 34 minutes to go for the past half hour...could this be a problem...

EDIT: i just manually powered down the laptop and then restarted and windows seems to have taken off from where it left from. reading the directions on the earlier link (paul Thurrott) I was not given the choice to format my hard drive (which i think needs doing) can I only format if i creat a new partition. if so how do i format the old partition.

 

[325isbimmer]

SO the reinstall just finished. It looked like a fresh clean install of XP but then as I sent My Computer to Desktop and had a look inside noticed the C: Drive had only 17 gigs left. My Documents have been cleared but program files were still all there from before.

I'd like to start fresh without all those programs!? what did I do wrong?

EDIT: seems I answer my own questions pretty quickly. I redid the boot from disk and figured out how to delete the existing partition and create/format a new one.

Although im curious; How big does one partition need to be just to hold the OS system and then allow the rest to be for saving everything else into? or maybe 3? one for OS, one for Programs and Program Files and other for everything else?

Looks like I found my answer again.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/hard_drives.htm

 

[325isbimmer]

UPDATE: SO after much reading on the net I reformatted my hard drive into 3 partitions. a 10GB for the OS, a 10GB for Program Files and 20GB for Media, Downloads, Etc...I finally got all the drivers and utilities loaded and I'm working on getting all the windows updates. Everything seemed to work well and I don't have all the Junk that came preloaded on the laptop over a year ago.

Since this seemed to work so well with the laptop I'm contemplating doing a clean install of XP MCE on my new Dell. But i have a few concerns. The Drive has already been partitioned into a few divisions, one very small 55MB FAT(EISA config), the 228GB Sytem, and a 4.64GB FAT32 (im assuming the recovery image)
I've read that OEM system recoveries aren't as good or thurough as something like Norton Ghost. So I'd like to format the whole drive and repartition with a FAT32 section just for the recovery image and then probably another 3 like my laptop. My cocern is will this void the 1 year warranty on my comp or is that just the support side of it? I'll still be covered under the hardware warranty right?

I just want a nice clean install of XP MCE without all the preloaded Dell "bloat" but i don't want to run into problems later on with voiding the warranty.

I'm stuck on the "don't fix it if it ain't broke" catch

 

[Rich-M]

Most pc makers bail right out of the software issues anyway and claim no warranty on that. But no doing that would not change anything if they will honor software.