How to Reformat my PC

[steve lawson]

Hi all.

After unsuccsessfully trying to stop my PC from locking up, see my post Computer locks up on Page 3 09/30/09 I now want to reformat it, hoping that this will rid the problem once and for all.

I have an XP Disk and am hoping that if I put it into the Drive it will prompt me on what to do next in order to reformat. Is this assumption correct? If not, then what is the correct procedure.

Many thanks.

Steve.

 

[Droogie]

-make sure you back up anything you want to keep.
-put the disc in the disc drive, reboot your PC
-it'll ask you to press any key if you would like the boot from CD, do so.
-you will be taken through the installation process, and that's all there is to it.

 

[steve lawson]

Thanks for that Droogie. I thought it was something like that, but wasn't sure.

Thanks.

Steve.

 

[kimsland]

Here is a step by step howto do a clean install of Windows XP (including large pics)

Microsoft's Windows XP Professional Repair Install step by step (* Including Delete Partition)
http://www.windowsxpprofessional.windowsreinstall.com/sp2sp3installxpcdoldhdd/indexfullpage.htm

Microsoft's Windows XP Home Repair Install step by step (* Including Delete Partition)
http://www.windowsxphome.windowsreinstall.com/sp2sp3installxpcdoldhdd/indexfullpage.htm

* Warning deleting the Partition will remove all User data and Windows system files

 

[steve lawson]

Hello again.

I have now managed to reformat my PC but am still experiencing some problems. The Mouse is now jumping about when I move it and the Monitor is breaking into Blocks. I asked at Work and the general consensus was that I needed to update my Drivers for the Mother Board and Grahics Card. Once again, I don't know how to do this.

The Mother Board is marked up as P4V 8000-X

I can only see 1 Card and assume that this is the Graphics Card, the Monitor is connected to it. There is no detail etched onto the Card apart from ASUS, but it as 4 sticky labels attached.

HP P/N 5188-5456 C72S013-04891

5.72
22.62.10

S/N: 72C0AI2422345

0 0 0 C725013-00314-60-C1CHU0-CD3 0 0 0

Can anyne offer any help with this information.

Many thanks.

Steve.

 

[schw32m]

Did this board come out of an HP system? If so what was it? If the card has an hp part number and you can get the ID for the system it came out of you can find the drivers for it from HP for the card and the drivers for the MB.

The vid card is an HP GeForce 7500LE DVI VGA S-Video 256MB PCI-E 5188-5456 and the MB is going to have either an Intel 945 chipset or an nVidia chipset.

MB is probably an Asus.

If you have the system model number. IE HP Pavilion or Compaq Presario (it will have a model number like this a4550p or something like that). Finding the exact specs is really easy if you go to HP and enter the model number.

 

[kimsland]

All HP Drivers can be found HERE

 

[schw32m]

All HP Drivers can be found HERE

HP's online driver detective only works if you are running Internet Exploder BTW.

 

[steve lawson]

Thanks Guys, I will try this tonight after Work.

This Site is brilliant for help and advice.

Steve.

 

[tasha1133]

don't forget to back up your files.. goodluck..

 

[jibachabili]

i think there may be a drive disk for the motherboard
do you have one ?

 

[Droogie]

open up your control panel. click on system, click the hardware tab. finally select device manager. anywhere you see a little yellow "!", right click and choose "update drivers"

 

[steve lawson]

Thanks for sticking with me on this Guys.

Ihave tried updating the Drivers through Device Manager, but no luck.

Unfortunately I don't have any Disks for this Computer.

The HP Driver Site isn't finding anything when I run a Scan.

Steve.

 

[schw32m]

Thanks for sticking with me on this Guys.

Then you are going to have to identify the product yourself and download the drivers. If it is not in the original case then look at the third picture. You should see a number similar to the A7V-VM I circled. If you plug that number into a Google search it should come up with the proper ID of the system it came out of.

If it is still in the original case then here is the way to do that courtesy of HP:

You computer may look different but this is more or less how you do it. Once you have those, you should be able to go to HP, look up the proper driver page, download and install the drivers yourself.

The case will have the nameplate and a service sticker someplace on it.

if it is no longer in the original case you identify the MB this way:

 

[kimsland]

Try this driver for your HP (compaq) PC: (Video card driver)
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software8/COL19679/pv-51915-2/sp35073.exe

By the way is yours a > Compaq Presario Media Center SR2029UK by chance?

 

[steve lawson]

Hi Guys.

Kimsland, thanks for the Video Card Driver Link. This as made a definite improvement to the performance of the Machine, smooth movement of the Mouse and faster schrolling up and down of a Page.
However, when I look at the Device Manager, I still have the exclamation marks next to the:
Multimedia Audio Controller.
System Interrupt Controller.
Video Controller VGA Compatiable.

When I initially did the Dowmload, the resolution of the Monitor went very small and then the Computer Locked up. When I rebooted, the resolution went back to normal and everything is now much smoother.

My PC isn't a Compaq Presario Media Center SR2029UK it is a ASUS QuipTrack but I don't know if its made up of original parts.

Schw32m, thanks for the Photo's to help me identify my Hardware. After this post I will have another look inside, to see if I can get more info.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to this Thread.

Steve