Topic: help reformatting

[princeofdarkness]

hi everyone i am on my grandads pc and he has a virus he is currently using windows 98 and once reformated will be using xp but i would like to know how to go about reformatting and will i have to reinstall graphics card,sound card,motherboard etc.. because i do not think we have all of the disks... he definately wants it reformatted because his pc is full of rubbish!

note: could you please tell me in steps how to reformat

thanx in advance PoD

[Sandra]

Hi PoD  
Xp will format it as it installs.
Go into BIOS, usually by hitting DEL after the post beep on start up.
Change the boot device sequence to boot from CD rom as the first or only option.
Follow the instructions on screen, it will ask you if you want to format FULL or QUICK in FAT32 or in NTFS, whichever format you decide on doa ful format.
If the drive is over 32 gig then XP cant format it in FAT 32 unless you partition it into 32 gig or less.
You will need to reinstall all the drivers, graphics and soundcards etc but XP may have a lot of them built in so you may not need the original driver cd.
Dont forget to go back into BIOS after XP has fully installed and reset the boot sequence.
I hope that this helps  

[princeofdarkness]

thanx it does but im not sure if we have all the disks... do i need a boot disk as well?

[princeofdarkness]

will all the bios settings be wiped out? i have the graphics card driver,sound card driver and mainboard driver and i also have cable modem usb driver but do i need that because he runs broadband?   thanx in advance PoD

[Sandra]

You dont need a boot disk, as setting the bios to boot from CD wil allow it to boot from the XP installation CD itself.
It wont alter the BIOS in anyway at all. apart from the boot sequence that you will have to manually change and then change back.
Depending on whether XP has the correct drivers for the cards and modem, you may or may not need them seperately.
When you install XP make surethat any extra peripherals, such as modems, cameras, printers and scanners are disconnected until after you have installed XP fully, then connect and install them one at a time.
XP should detect the new hardware and install its own drivers or ask for them if it doesnt have them  

[princeofdarkness]

ok thanx your the best  

[Tony]

I had a Win98 Compaq bought September 2000, and when I did a compatability check for upgrade to W2K/XP it turned out there was hardware compatability issue's.

So I would advise you check that XP drivers are avaliable for Grandpa's hardware by checking online using http://members.driverguide.com/index.php

[Simon]

It's worth bearing in mind that XP may well object to some drivers, saying they are 'unsigned', but you can override that, install the driver anyway, and most of the time it will be OK.  It's only very old hardware that possibly won't be compatible.

[Tony]

It was very old hardware in that Compaq Simon.

12 months after purchasing it in  Curry's it was a bag of smelly fish, hence I vowed to build my one PC's from then on. Sick of buying Bill Gates OS and programs, over and over again via rescue disks [not transferable to another PC] Hell charging anybody once for W98 is bad, charging them twice is bloody disgusting.  :tony: