My little binary buddy has been suffering for a few years, and I have kept him going with chewing gum and duct tape, but, alas, the time has come for major surgery. After having tried almost everything, I am now convinced that the only way that I can ever get this cyber workhorse back to functioning on a level whereby I don't have to constantly fight stoppages is to reformat. Is anybody out there in this forum able to apply his/her knowledge to my individual case? I am somewhat computer knowledgeable, but my experience is limited by the few years of my computer literacy. For what it's worth, here is where my situation lies: This a Compaq Presario desktop (5WV260). It came with Windows Me installed. I later (after much trouble with Me) installed XP Pro and all went well for a year or so, which leads me to where we are now. The only internal stuff that I installed is one PCI Adapter. Also, I removed the 64 MB memory card (chip?) and installed two 128 MB memory cards (chips?). Question: if I ever get to the point where I reformat, do I have to remove these items and reinstall the 64 MB thingy? I gleaned enough from my reading to know to unplug all external hardwares. I have been in the process of backing up all of my data as well as getting rid of extraneous data. A Reformat would take care of all the housecleaning. My cyber companion came with a Compaq Recovery CD. However the label on this CD reads: "FOR USE WITH QuickRestore if Windows will not start or to make an Emergency Diskette 191441-001." There are two files on this CD. They are BIN files. One is BOOTCAT.BIN (2.0 KB) and the other is BOOTSECT.BIN (1.40 MB). I am somewhat skeptical whether this CD has the necessary files for the operation of my little buddy since there is many MB of Compaq stuff residing within, at least according to the files that I have found in Windows Explorer. To keep the questions to a minimum: might this Recovery CD have the necessary drivers for my baby? If not, I can get the necessary drivers from the Compaq/HP website, as long as I can identify which stuff to download -- then there's the inevitable logical question of: but how and when do I install them? I suppose that the last question is: what next or where do I go from here? Post or mail me, puhlease! On behalf of my electronically impulsive 'putin pet, Thanks.
If I'm understanding correctly, the PC came with WinME installed. You upgraded to XP along the way. As far as the restore CD/Floppy are concerned, they're going to be for the WinME OS and will be worthless for XP, which probably natively supports most of your hardware. Secondly, you won't have to switch out hardware to reinstall XP. Just pop in the CD and boot off of it. You can format your hard drive during the setup, which will make the HDD forget there was anything else installed on their in the first place.
Thanks 'Buser: You understand correctly. I have one more question: when do I install the Compaq drivers for XP Pro -- after formatting? Where do I install them to? There will be no Compaq folders after formattting, right?
Back up everything, "my docs", bookmarks, drivers, saved data from applications. and you should be fine. Good luck formatting!
Thanks, everybody. I'll proceed carefully. By the way, I would have responded more quickly, but I've had problems getting my buddy roused and rarin' to go.
I have once dropped my computer from a height of 2 feet. Ram unseated. Reseated the RAM -> no problems.
During most OSes (WinNT/2k/XP and the *nixes) you have the option for some basic partitioning and formatting. Following this, the OS installation will then (drum-roll) begin the OS installation. Formatting is something like what language you speak, like say, English. In order to communicate, the hard drive must be given parameters in which to store and retrieve that the OS can use. It's a little vauge, but I'm hoping you get the drift. Formatting isn't quite erasing. The data is still there, but formatting is like giving the hard drive permanent amnesia. There is software to undo this and/or see around it, but this tends to be with uber-expensive software (several thousand $$). That's why you want to back up, because, for all points and purposes, the previous data on the drive is gone for good. Depending on how old your system is, XP Pro probably supports most, if not all the hardware. If you want to do gaming, you will want to snag the drivers for your video card, as the ones in Windows are just general purpose to get the system going, not for gaming performance.
