Reformatting PC - How?

GlasgowTitan · 3 Jun 2007 at 08:58

Hey folks, time you clear everything out and start again, what do I need to remember and any tips on making it easier?

So far I have made a list of everything I want back on so I remember that, and have started burning all my music and stuff to dvd. It was over a year since I put the pc together so I cant really remember how I went about installing everything, such as processor drivers and the like.

Basically I'd like to know how to actually format in the first place as I have never done it before and once Windows is installed what I need to do in order so I can get up and running again.

Cheers

edit: Forgot to add its windows XP and my Opteron is overclocked, will I need to go through all the overclocking stuff again or will it stay at what its at?

lee87 · 3 Jun 2007 at 09:31

Formatting and installing XP is really easy. In the bios set the first boot device as the cd/dvd drive then boot from the xp disc.
Go through the install instructions till you get to the partition table part. Just delete everything on this section (if you are deleting the whole hard disk). Then choose to install XP on the upartitioned memory and then Full NTFS format.

When xp is installed I install the chipset drivers first. Then just go installing drivers for your graphics card and sound etc. Then everything should be set up and working.

You won't lose your overclock for your cpu as this is set in the bios. If you oc'd your graphics then you will lose it.
There is no drivers for the cpu. If it's dual core then get the optimiser from the amd site.

GlasgowTitan · 3 Jun 2007 at 09:35

lee87 said:
Formatting and installing XP is really easy. In the bios set the first boot device as the cd/dvd drive then boot from the xp disc.
Go through the install instructions till you get to the partition table part. Just delete everything on this section (if you are deleting the whole hard disk). Then choose to install XP on the upartitioned memory and then Full NTFS format.

When xp is installed I install the chipset drivers first. Then just go installing drivers for your graphics card and sound etc. Then everything should be set up and working.

You won't lose your overclock for your cpu as this is set in the bios. If you oc'd your graphics then you will lose it.
There is no drivers for the cpu. If it's dual core then get the optimiser from the amd site.

Thanks for that, chipset drivers, thats the disc that came with the motherboard right?

Also I remember something about a 64bit driver or something for the opteron (its a 148 or 146 I think) that I had to download last time...?

Ta

lee87 · 3 Jun 2007 at 09:43

Yes the chipset drivers are on the motherboard disc.

I think the only cpu driver is for cool 'n quiet to work. I might be wrong as I haven't checked in over a year.
I've never installed any drivers for my X2 3800+ before and it works fine.

TheVoice · 3 Jun 2007 at 09:57

Don't install drivers from discs - go and get the latest versions from the relevant websites instead. At least then the PC will be more up-to-date.

Richdog · 3 Jun 2007 at 10:07

TheVoice said:
Don't install drivers from discs - go and get the latest versions from the relevant websites instead. At least then the PC will be more up-to-date.

Yeah agreed, download ALL relevant drivers for your system before reformatting and keep them handy for when the format is complete.

Munky1080 · 3 Jun 2007 at 10:21

There is a GREAT guide on tweakguides.com that tells you the perfect way to get your windows XP system installed and set up correctly. I highly recommend you check it out; I've been building computers for over 10years, and it even gave my a bit of insight as to the correct way to set up XP.

GlasgowTitan · 3 Jun 2007 at 10:55

Munky1080 said:
There is a GREAT guide on tweakguides.com that tells you the perfect way to get your windows XP system installed and set up correctly. I highly recommend you check it out; I've been building computers for over 10years, and it even gave my a bit of insight as to the correct way to set up XP.

Hey, thanks for that, have looked on there but I can't see a guide to installing windows, I looked under All guides, Games guides and system guides! Do you know where to find it?

Cheers

TheVoice · 3 Jun 2007 at 11:17

It's here:
http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

Very good guide - I've also used the XP one before when setting up a new/formatted system, lots of good advice there. It's a long guide, but a simple flick through it will get you the main stuff.

Having just got Vista, I'm glad to see there's a Vista guide on there too. Will definitely be reading that later.