New 2nd hand PC

bargainboy

Hi folks i bought a HP PC for my daughter so she can learn about PC's. it is 3 years old and runs on XP. I want to totally restore it as if it had never been used problem is i never got a windows CD with it I will quite happily go and buy one if it gets the PC back to its original working state. there are lots of errors with it and it is running very slow, can anyone help me with this procedure.

fatnbald

Hi
Get your win XP cd and insert it into the drive, then shut down and restart the PC, it should boot from the Win XP cd and give you the option to reformat the drive for a new XP installation, after that it is just the region and language options etc that are required for the set up - can take about 40 - 45 mins usually.

jem16

Is the licence sticker on the side of the PC? If it is can you borrow an XP disk from someone?

Once you have the disk, you can boot from the XP disk and choose "Install". At that point you will be asked if you want to format the hard drive. If you choose yes it will reformat and then install Windows XP afresh.

imho

bargainboy.Borrow someones Window xp disc. to reinstall .Then when you have to put the numbers into register it,you should have the numbers on the tower.
Or else you can just do a " repair" of windows.If you look in google for windows repair you find out how to do it.

amcluesent

>i bought a HP PC <

If you are using a generic XP install CD, go over to the HP web-site and get the specific drivers for your model of PC and be ready to install them too.

-TangleFoot-

Have you considered installing something other than Windows?

GreenNotM

bargainboy wrote:

Hi folks i bought a HP PC for my daughter so she can learn about PC's. it is 3 years old and runs on XP. I want to totally restore it as if it had never been used problem is i never got a windows CD with it I will quite happily go and buy one if it gets the PC back to its original working state. there are lots of errors with it and it is running very slow, can anyone help me with this procedure.

A good lesson for your daughter would be to do this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=310741 the malware sticky - it may speed your pc up.

Then look in the threads for speeding up, defragging the disk, optimising the paging file, correcting drivers, reg cleaning. If you want to install windows fresh do it into c:\windows.test\ - then you can duel boot and explore.

If it is an ex-corp pc then the disks will be available somewhere un-opened have you looked on the disk to see if the install files have been copied there and are already on it ?

HTH

sco0ter

Can you tell me the Model number of the PC... Some HP computers come with restore partitions that a program like norton ghost can access and restore the comp to its defaults..

sco0ter

In fact ... heres a list of things to try...

Some HPs that ship with Microsoft Windows XP do not come with recovery CDs. They use a hidden space (partition) on the hard drive to store the recovery information

WAY 1

Recovering the system from the Windows XP desktop

Disconnect all peripherals and internal non preinstalled devices from the PC, except the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, All Programs, and then HP Tools.

Select HP PC System Recovery. The Recovery screen will appear with the question Do you really want to start HP PC System Recovery?

Click Yes, to continue the recovery process.

When the Recovery screen appears, click Next, and then click Yes to perform a normal, non-destructive recovery.

To perform a destructive recovery, click Advanced, and then click Yes.

Way 2

Recovering the system without using Windows

Disconnect all peripherals and internal non preinstalled devices from the PC, except the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Turn on the computer.

When the initial blue HP screen appears, press the F10 key repeatedly until a recovery menu appears. The progress indicator that first appears does not indicate that a recovery is taking place. The progress indicator represents the time before the recovery process is started.

When the Recovery screen appears, click Next, and then click Yes to perform a normal, non-destructive recovery.

To perform a destructive recovery, click Advanced, and then click Yes.

After the System Recovery is complete, and the computer starts successfully, update the computer software as follows:

GreenNotM

If the F10 and other options do not show on the boot screen - pop into the BIOS and see if they have been turn off.

Support dept don't like users reading "Press F*" keys at boot time .....:rolleyes:

bargainboy

-TangleFoot- wrote:

Have you considered installing something other than Windows?

no afraid of change just like most other people probably why windows is so big