Re-Installing XP

Hey
I've done it before and i cant really figure out why this is happening, but when i try to reinstall xp to give my laptop a complete do over, it gets to the point where its intalling and when it gets to some (32?) stuff and explorer related things it pops up saying it can install them (once comes up with around 30 similar messages with differnt files straight after that)

any ideas?




cheers

 

Just exactly what error messages are you getting, did you completely reformat your hard drive and start from scratch? Is this the laptop maker's reinstall disk or a Microsoft XP install disk? Any additional info will help.

 

just the typical "cannot install file (name of file) ok, retry, cancel" type thing
and its the disk that came with the laptop
the weird thing is, after this all happens, when its done the laptop acts as though i never did anything and all my orginal files and everything are as they were before I tried re-installing XP

 

sorry, this forum seems to lack a post editing option, further info is it is a Dell inspiron 1501 laptop, currently on SP3 but the disk is SP2

 

Since you have SP3 installed, your Windows SP2 disk will not overwrite any newer version files, hence your error. Back up all of your data, music pictures documents etc, then format your hard drive and resinstall windows on a clean hard drive. This will work wonders for you.

http://lifehacker.com/software/wind...nd-install-windows-xp-from-scratch-157578.php
When done reformatting, copy all of the drivers and other goodies that you downloaded and reinstalled onto a CD or DVD disk and label it "Doomsday Disk - February 2009" and store it in a safe place so that the next time you reinstall windows all of your programs and drivers are in one place. If you upgrade or change a ton of stuff, make yourself another disk and replace the older one with a newer version, hope this helps.

 

Oh man good thread, I have been looking for a thread like this.

 

awesome, its basically telling me what i've always been scared of trying out XD
(I never had clear instructions)

well if i somehow screw it up you'll know
so its definately because its upgraded? not because there could be sothething up with the CD, i mean i dont wanna format this and then realise I cant actually do it

also this will get rid of any virus's right? (I have a zafi.b worm whih is proving harder to get rid of than i can explain, I have sought advice for it but nothing has been helpful)

lastly, the COPY ERRORS as i now know they were now were mostly in the start (bar? i know what the start bar is, I cant remeber if it had its own intalling section thats all, it was something to do with start) section with about 19 mins left on "installation" and thanks, you obviously guessed it was just repairing (its all i knew how to do)

Thanks so much!

 

^in above post i put "trying out XD" because of the link that came with it for some reason it makes it look like i was scared of trying out the related definition, in fact it was just a simple emoticon thing^

also how come I cant find an edit post thing here? is there actually none or am i blinder than i thought? lol

*Edit* noticed it ater double posting, sorry

 

you found it

 

now talking to you from my freshly reinstalled computer ^^

one issue tho, before hand it was a bit sluggish and is still even though it wasnt before a few months ago, i mean seriously like, i type and i finish typing before the computer does

whats going on there

its xp SP2 now with practiaclly no programs on it with a gig of ram and an AMP semphon processer Dell inspiron 1501
to get rid of the sluggishness was the main reason i wanted to do this, slightly disappointing ya know?

 

I assume you already installed all the Dell drivers for the laptop (BIOS, Chipset, Video, etc...).
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&ServiceTag=&SystemID=INS_PNT_1501&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

What anti-virus program are you running? When you press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and look at the processes tab, which processes are using the most CPU (other than System Idle Process)? You can click on the word "CPU" to sort it.

 

just system and task manger are using any CPU other than the idle thing

basically nothing seem out of the ordinary

And yer, AVG the free one

 

Avast is less of a resource hog than AVG
www.avast.com

 

i dont get that though because it was never like that with avg before, just after a system restore kinda buggered up a few months back:S