January 21, 2009 09:06PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,869 : Amagansett, New York |
I've got a desktop I need to wipe and format the hard drive and load a new OS (XP windows), is this a hard process and is there a place on the net that will give me good instructions, or can someone here run me through the process? please.
I also have another question; my two lap tops came with four cds for reloading the computer if anything should befall it, just one is the XP and the rest are for other software, right? One is an IBM and the other is an acer. Regards and thank you, Rick |
January 21, 2009 09:30PM
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Admin
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 600 : Portland, OR |
First make sure you back up everything you want to keep. Then make sure you have the serial number for your copy of XP. Unless your computer is significantly different, you should be able to do the following:
Turn the computer on. Put the XP disc in. Restart the computer. When the computer turns on there should be a screen before the XP loading screen that has the computer brand or something. this is called the BIOS screen. somewhere on the screen there will be some text that says something like "boot options", along with an F-key to press in order to select that option (on my Dell it is F10). A screen will appear asking you "where would you like to boot from?". select the CD drive, and the XP installer should load. at this point you should be able to tell it to do a clean install and it will format the harddrive before installing the OS. as for your second question, the CDs should have a description on them. it is likely that one of them is XP and the others are software or drivers for certain components.
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January 22, 2009 02:02PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,869 : Amagansett, New York |
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January 22, 2009 02:08PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,869 : Amagansett, New York |
Oops (smooth Rick), should have scrolled that down a touch first, anyway, my reply is in there Daniel! and Thank You again I'll give a closer look at those load CD's and see if I can make some sense out of them; both laptops came with four each but I'm pretty sure they are just numbered....nothing else. |
January 22, 2009 06:38PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 255 : Heber City, Utah |