Refrormatting desktop

I have had this desktop for just on two years now and have been experiencing an increasing number of glitches. I am going to reinstall Windows and wondered if there is any info readily available to guide me through the process.

I have a WD External HDD (500GB) which I use to back up My Docs data, and have checked I have all application CDs (printer, scanner, Nero, PowerDVD etc) but my main concern is if there are any other foreseeable issues I should know about prior to the reformat. (eg Someone I mentioned this to yesterday advised his reformatted PC did not recognise the USB ports).

If you're using XP or newer, you shouldn't have any problems with USB ports not working. However, not much else may working depending on the OS and age of the computer. Before doing anything, I'd look into downloading all drivers available. Assuming it's a prebuilt machine from say HP or something, the drivers should be available for download at the manufacture's site. Sometimes they have drivers for various hardware versions (say different video cards) so now's the perfect time to take note of your hardware before formatting.

thanks for that, it is less than 2 yrs old, and was purchased as a "box only" from a local store that they make up. how do I identify the make and model of my mobo (without taking the pc apart preferably).

these are the cds I got, I presume I load them after reformatting. do I load the two graphics accelerator drivers cd's.

Those disks would probably suffice, but you probably want the latest drivers... The easiest way would be using software such as CPU-Z. It should tell you the model of your board. Most everything else should be located within Device Manager.

Hello BigPete56,

If you have all the device drivers saved in a different HDD then you are set to reformat your PC. Don't worry with regards to the detection of the USB device for your WD External HDD. I'm sure that it will be detected immediately once you have finished reformatting and installing the Windows XP OS.

Thanks,