Step by step reformatting

Okay long story short ( I started typing this earlier and my computer crashed..) my computer has been going haywire lately with a puzzling amount of randomness. I'm just about past trying to fix it really because I'll be switching to a laptop for my main computer (for school reasons...) and giving my desktop to my parents to use and such.
So I'm looking at a complete and total reformat, I want to get all my information off now, then reformat it and get it ready for my parents so they wont be dealing with all these crashes of sorts.

What I'm asking is if anyone would like to post a detailed step by step process of what they would do to basically set up a system from scratch after a reformat--all functional hardware, just setting up the software to get things running smoothly. Such as which drivers to install when, recommended software to set up, etc. Think brand new, out of the box, OEM

I'm not an idiot to computers or anything, but I have a habit of winging it and working out the details later, and I'm going to move out for school so I don't want to leave the folks with the working out the details part.

I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, but whenever I've tried reformatting, Windows itself has been the problem.

System:
K7N2 Delta ILSR Motherboard
AMD Athlon 2700+
GeForce 5700 Ultra
Generic optical mouse/usb keyboard

What's there to explain really? Download all the device drivers and save them to a USB drive, or burn them onto a disc, or put them on another parition. Backup and files you want to save the same way. Insert CD, reboot (specify in BIOS to boot to CD first). Press any key to boot from CD. Press F8 when prompted. Screen will come up saying there is an OS on there, hit esc. Ask you if you want to repair current version, skip that prompt. It will then list your patitions/drives. Tab down to the one where Windows is installed. Press D(?) or whichever option is delete. It will ask you 2 times to confirm (on the OS parition anyways). Hit L and so on to confirm. Then it will ask you where you want to setup Windows. You can Choose the drive, or you can create a parition (just specify the size, remember 1000mb = 1GB). Click enter to setup on the drive. Format using NTFS (non quick option). Crack a beer and wait. Once it actually starts installing you need to enter CD Key and a few other options such as time zone, ect. Wait and wait. Once it's all installed install Sp2 and updates. Then proceed to install drivers. Chipset, Video, Audio, LAN, and so on. Confirm there are no uninstalled devices in device manager (you'll know by the yellow "?" next to it). That's it, you're done

That's just off the top of my head how it goes down. There's nothing to it, just follow the prompts and you'll be fine. Unplug any secondary hard drives if you're worried about loseing data from them cause you format the wrong drive (we've all done it at some point ).

Go to www.nliteos.com and download it, download SP2 for offline install from microsoft.com, maybe download other updates since then too (various sources), get BartPE http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Download the latest nforce and dets drivers. Get silicon image drivers for your SATA

Use BartPE to build a bootable XP Live CD ISO and burn it to CD. Use nlite to make a custom XP install CD including all the additional drivers you downloaded and the service pack and other updates for XP you might have. Burn the ISO to disc too.

Use the BartPE created CD to boot from CDROM. Rename the following 3 directories on your harddisk: c:\program files, c:\windows and c:\documents and settings. I usually just add "...old" to the names. Now boot with the nlite created XP install CD and reinstall XP. When it's all done edit youir boot.ini and remove one of the "Windows XP" entries there to avoid seeing the bootmenu every time.

With this method you keep all your data on hdd and don't even need to make a bakcup. When you copied all the data from the old directories you want, you can delete them. I usually keep them around a few months: if I haven't copied out the files I want until then, they couldn't be that importants anyways.

to reforma:

Go to my computer, right click on your local disk, then click reformat.

easy

Right forum

Here's what I do. (I've never bothered making a custom CD, since my reformat cycles are so relatively infrequent.)

First off, I make sure I have--
* My XP CD and COA/keys,
* Antivirus software (preference),
* Any required disk drivers on floppy, and
* Any network driver required for connection to Windows Update.

Generally speaking -- even if you have a custom CD, no person should attempt a reformat without all of the above, in case it hits the fan. Err on the side of caution.

I make sure that the drive in question, if I've used it earlier, has all the stuff I care about off of it.

Startup, insert XP CD and boot from it (normal boot order for me is CD - FDD - HD/RAID). When I see "Press <F6> if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver", if applicable, press and release F6. (I don't recall if you have to have the floppy in at that point, although it's probably a good idea to have it inserted once Setup takes over.) Setup will load files and claim to "start Windows" (read: setting up the setup environment), and then ask you to select which drivers you want to load from the FDD.

Set up partitions as required (Keep it simple stupid is my principle). One giant NTFS works for me. I just don't care that much

Setup will copy files (formatting first as req'd) then ask you to remove all disks from all drives for restart into Windows. Then you get into the graphical setup and it's downhill from there.

Install your drivers, get the lastest virus definitions, install the updates you care about, and carry on.

bobthemoo said:

to reforma:

Go to my computer, right click on your local disk, then click reformat.

easy

Click to expand...

You can not format a disk or partition that contains the operating system. You have to boot off something else first.

I disagree with the one large partition for most cases. Most people tend to just save the file to the HD in My Documents and forget about it. What happens if Windows gets corrupted and you need to format again? You lose all the data or spend hours sifting through it deciding what to copy to a CD or not.

Personally I have a server in my home network, so everything gets saved to it. I back it up regularly, so in the event of any system failure no data is lost. Most people won't have this luxury.

What I would recommend is a two partition scheme. One for anything that is easily recovered, basically Windows and applications. You should have CDs for these things so that when it comes time to reinstall just pop in the CD and you are good to go. The second is for data. Redirct the My Documents folder here by right clicking on the My Documents folder for each user and changing the default location to the other drive. This way anything happens to Windows all of your files are still nice and safe. Only a complete HD failure would have an impact on you, and THAT is why backups are important.

Really if all you have is an OEM recovery CD all of this is moot because all you can do is recover to how they setup the system.

Step by step

• Low Level format on HDD, Killdisk works well and is free
• Disconnect any DSL or Cable connection
• Boot & run Windows Setup preferrably with a slipstreamed installlation disk (set CD as first boot device in BIOS)
• On completion of Windows installation install the correct chipset drivers & re-boot
• Install any other Drivers & Utilities for your systems and re-boot as necessary
• If your running XP make sure Windows Firewall is enabled, Start | Run | type firewall.cpl & hit Enter
• Ensure Automatic Updates are set to Automatic
• Install a reliable AV solution, eg. McAfee or Symantec AV. I don't like the comprehensive suite's just the standalone AV run with Windows internal firewall. Much less troublesome.
• Connect DSL/Cable ect & refresh connections
• Now you may either go to Windows Update or to Liveupdate for you AV, it's your choice but be sure to completely update both before casually surfing around

These are the basic steps for a clean/safe Windows installation. System configuration, backup & recreating settings & favorites from the old system is another story. One other note the system instability could be the result of problem hardware and a re-install may not be 100% the problem. It's a good first step but you may also have to do some other troubleshooting if the fresh OS doesn't solve it for you.

ErikD said:

I disagree with the one large partition for most cases. Most people tend to just save the file to the HD in My Documents and forget about it. What happens if Windows gets corrupted and you need to format again? You lose all the data or spend hours sifting through it deciding what to copy to a CD or not.

Click to expand...

Make backups. Which you do, of course, over your network, which is really how things should be done.

I know it's kinda of an old thread, but i have some questions too about a clean install.
Is it better to update the OS before you install any drivers and such? (ie the chipset driver and gfx?)
If i want to make a image file of the clean install, when is the best moment to do so? After the first boot into OS, install image software and make one? or is it better to install the updates first and make an image? or drivers first then updates then image? or...? I do a clean install once every 4-5 months or so and was wondering what would be the optimal sequence. One of the things i was wondering is, should i incorporate the drivers into my image? There are frequent updates for the chipset and gfx drivers so? what to do?

lucas81 said:

I know it's kinda of an old thread, but i have some questions too about a clean install.
Is it better to update the OS before you install any drivers and such? (ie the chipset driver and gfx?)
If i want to make a image file of the clean install, when is the best moment to do so? After the first boot into OS, install image software and make one? or is it better to install the updates first and make an image? or drivers first then updates then image? or...? I do a clean install once every 4-5 months or so and was wondering what would be the optimal sequence. One of the things i was wondering is, should i incorporate the drivers into my image? There are frequent updates for the chipset and gfx drivers so? what to do?

Click to expand...

I do drivers first. This isn't a matter of choice with most hardware I have: I have to do it in this order to get a network connection to get Windows Update.

I don't think there's any particular order that will minimize your chance of hosage in the long run.

I personally disable automatic update, as I do not ever use the latest MS updates as often they can break as much as they fix, service pack 2 was a prime example of this... I give them two months to mature

UnseenMenace said:

I personally disable automatic update, as I do not ever use the latest MS updates as often they can break as much as they fix, service pack 2 was a prime example of this... I give them two months to mature

Click to expand...

For service packs, they need to change it so that it ASKS and makes CLEAR what it's doing first. Hotfixes shouldn't tip your system over, and if they do, well...we all already know Microsoft sucks.

Once the bugs got ironed out in SP2 it wasn't too bad; I like having DEP.