Computer Help...please...!

[Karol]

Okay guys,

I can't figure this out...PLEASE HELP!

My kids have an AMD machine that I setup originally for them (built it...okay!)....BUT, since then I haven't touched it.

After a year or two of them downloading programs, installing crap and doing "whatever," they managed to make the thing run slower than a turtle and now I need to format!

Okay, it is Windows XP....so how the heck do I format the darn thing? I tried running a new install of XP....vwalah...I ended up with TWO XP'S...not good!

So, I'm sitting with two Windows XP systems on one computer and none of the old files are gone!

I went to the web to look for a bootable disk with CD Rom that had all the old Windows 95/98 features so I could format the CD...but I am obviously only getting bits and pieces of info to make this actually work right.

Any help is seriously appreciated! I just can't get ONE version of anything that will help me format the machine and install ONE XP on it....

Thanks for any and all help for someone who is just not "getting it" these days...

Email me please if you can at klucan@earthlink.net

Thank you!
Karol

 

[Simply In The Red]

Are you trying to format the drive so that you end up with a clean disc with nothing but Windows XP on it? I had to do that to a drive with an install of Windows 2000. If you have another computer, you can install the drive to be formatted into that computer as a secondary disc. You can then use that computer to format the drive (by right clicking and choosing format) clean and into the file system format you want. After that is done, remove the clean drive and reinstall back into your kid's computer. It should be ready for a nice, clean install of Windows XP. Hope this helps. :shade:

 

[Karol]

Interesting...that requires moving things with screwdrivers & opening the machine...ugh! Not my cup of tea this time. I hate doing that stuff anymore! Last time I did that was with their machine and I fried the motherboard the first time! Last time I opened it was to add some insulation because AMD machines are a bit noisier than Intel...the new ones are supposed to be much better.

I do have a second drive on that machine...the BIG drive as I kindly refer to it...about 120 GIG vs. the original 40 GIG....Can I do something that way?

My big problem is understanding what files I NEED to format and then making sure the machine reads the CD Rom so that I can take the clean drive and install XP....for some reason, this is beyond me right now...

I tried going into the DOS prompt and extracting the necessary files ...but they don't exist on an XP machine. All the format and sys files just aren't there....stupid Microsoft! Confusing those of us that remember the HARD WAY to do things..now it is so easy it's complicated!


Karol

 

[loungelizard]

go to your C: prompt, type "format c:" follow directions to erase disk, when you put your win xp disc in the cd drive and reboot, it should pick up xp and will allow you to install. (note you may have to boot using F8 to go to C: prompt)

good luck,
ll

 

[KMA]

You simply need a bootable version of Windows XP CD. One of the set up steps is to reformat your drives and set up NTFS.