Wipe and start again?

HappyIdiotTalk

Minski, I think this is what your looking for:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/wxpinstl.html

If you follow the above you'll be able to do exactly what you want to do. However before you do it:

UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR SAVED FILES, EMAILS, SETTINGS, PHOTOS, VIDEO, MUSIC FILES... EVERYTING! IF YOU WANT TO KEEP ANYTHING YOU MUST BACK IT UP!

BEFORE YOU START MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR WINDOWS XP INSTALLATION KEY IS AS YOU'LL NEED THIS DURING THE INSTALLATION. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS, DO NOT GO AHEAD WITH THIS PROCESS UNTIL YOU FIND OUT WHAT IT IS.

WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED YOU MAY NEED TO MANUALLY INSTALL THE DRIVERS FOR YOUR HARDWARE, SO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHATS IN YOUR PC BEFORE YOU START I.E. GRAPHICS CARD, SOUND CARD AND NETWORK CARD AT A MINIMUM. LOOK IN DEVICE MANAGER FOR THIS INFORMATION (RIGHT CLICK THE 'MY COMPUTER' ICON, SELECT PROPERTIES AND CLICK 'DEVICE MANAGER' WHICH IS ON THE HARDWARE TAB). ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD IF YOU DONT DO THIS, BUT IT'LL MAKE THINGS EASIER LATER IF WINDOWS IS NOT ABLE TO AUTOMATICALLY INSTALL YOUR DEVICES.

MAKE A NOTE OF ANY CONFIGURATION SETTINGS YOU'LL NEED AFTERWARDS, SUCH AS EMAIL, ISP PASSWORDS AND THINGS LIKE THAT. INCLUDE SERIAL NUMBERS FOR YOUR SOFTWARE IF NECESSARY, YOU DONT WANT TO BE REINSTALLING YOUR ANTIVIRUS PRODUCT ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT ITS SERIAL NUMBER/KEY WAS IN AN EMAIL YOU JUST LOST IN THE PROCESS OF INSTALLING XP AGAIN!!! AGAIN ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD IF YOU DONT DO THIS, OR MISS SOMETHING OUT, BUT IT'LL MAKE LIFE EASIER IF YOU HAVE IT TO HAND.

HappyIdiotTalk

LSM wrote:

I've never worked out why you can pay an IT guy a beer but not anyone else!

Someone once asked me to look at their PC because it was running like a dog. So I agreed to take a look.

The machine turned out to be very old (probably designed for Windows 95 or 98) but had XP installed on it. It had very little RAM and a slow processor. It was full of viruses, spyware, malware and all sorts of other nasties. No updates were installed, neither was there any security software. It had not been registered with Microsoft... It was quite simply a disaster area! But their yonng sons school work was on it.

So I proceeded to spend the next four weekends working on it... I say working, it was like a fight! It was horrible. I finally got it working again and gave it back.

For my trouble I got a grudging thanks, because it had taken so long... and that was it.

Believe me a simple beer would have been more than welcome!

LSM wrote:

I would love to have a builder do some work, I've got a bottle of whiskey for anyone wanting to build a house!

Haha! That would be nice wouldn't it.

theCapt

hate fixing friends and family's system, usually end up with a bag of out of date larger and ale, I don't even drink ale. At least it isn't tin baked beans and peaches.

LSM_2

I have exactly the same. Travel 30 miles out of my way to fix a pc, spent 2.5 hours fixing it, throw in a free stick of memory (followed me home from work!) & get a thanks.

They'll learn next when they take it to PC world...Since then I don't fix anybody else's pc! I'm too soft for my own good! :beer:

pchelpman

HappyIdiotTalk wrote:

For my trouble I got a grudging thanks, because it had taken so long... and that was it.

Never again will I fall for this. Friends or not. It's money or nothing now. (Heartless, aren't I?)

kam1nsk1 ... If you would prefer not to reformat then try these steps in our guide here (first 4 posts only) ...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133269

If you have trouble with any stage(s) then make a note of which one(s) you couldn't do, bypass it/them and carry on. Let us know which one(s) you couldn't work through.

After you have done that then post a HijackThis log to this thread and we'll give you some specific advice on what to do to get your PC back to working order.

PCH