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flyer1
07-03-2007, 03:48 PM
ere it is chaps , i have a lap top loaded xp pro on it but ts not a guinuine copy so no t getting updateds , it had xp on before the computor is now running really slow and has a mind of its own its a dell d600 latitude , any way i was wondering if erase the whole hard drive is it easy to re load i only have the drivers and utilites sytem soft ware and a windows xp disc is this all i need to reload it or is there an acual system disc i need , i use window washer and and it has a bootable disc to erase hard drive but dont want to do it and find im stuffed , some one erased my other lap top and its never worked since thanks in advance

peelaa
07-03-2007, 05:34 PM
This is what I did the first time I wiped my computer an its not that difficult. Run a program called belarc, this will tell you what programs you have on your laptop and give you the product keys for them. Download windows xp from somewhere try and get corporate edition as this does not need activating and you will get all the updates (make sure you get a product key with it). Set you pc to boot from cd in the bios (enter bios usually by pressing del or one of the f keys as your system boots). Put your xp cd in and reboot your laptop you should see a message saying press any key to boot from cd (if you cant find the any key give up at this stage). A series of drivers will load then you will be presented with a screen saying press r to repair or enter so setup xp. Press enter and you will be presented with another screen showing your hard drive capacity. Select your hard drive and press d to delete (warning all data on the selected hard drive will be lost). I'M not sure of the exact keys to press next but its something like enter to continue then L to confirm. You should now be back to the screen showing you hard drives and it should say something like RAW partition. Press c to create a new partion then press enter. Finally press enter on the partition you created to setup windows xp and enter to format using NTFS (not quick) then follow the on screen instructions. You will need to install all your drivers so be sure to download them from the dell website before you do anything. After you have completed this your laptop will run much quicker, I couldnt believe how quick mine became the first time I did it. This may not be exact as its off the top of my head but I do this quite regularly.
Good luck!

flyer1
07-03-2007, 06:35 PM
thanks for that think i did this last time but did not erase hard drive and didnt know what buttons or area to select when installing new thanks

peelaa
07-03-2007, 06:51 PM
If you delete the partition then format it I am quite sure it will wipe the hard drive, I have done this many times. After deleting the partition create a new partition that is the area you select.

evilclive
07-03-2007, 10:20 PM
i have a lap top: loaded xp pro on it ...

its a dell d600 latitude

I have a Dell laptop that came with a genuine Dell Windows XP Pro OEM CD. If you PM me your address, I can post you a CDR.

Microsoft themselves have made a generic key available, to allow you to activate XP Pro on a legitimate OEM computer (as opposed to a homebuilt one). Since you have a genuine Dell computer with a Dell BIOS, Microsoft give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you still have the copy of XP Pro that came with the computer.

See: Preserving OEM Pre-Activation when Re-installing Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/oempreac.mspx)

flyer1
08-03-2007, 08:05 AM
no i havnt i bought it off a m8t who works for bsi and it was 1 of the test 1s dell sent them , so got no discs for it i bought the utilites disc off ebay , but can allso down load drivers ect from dell , thanks pm sent

y2krog2000
08-03-2007, 08:49 AM
If you talk to dell on live chat and tell them that you tried to use the built in system restore and it didnt work they should send out the drivers cds, xp cd and any programs that were with it you can chat to dell here by putting in the service tag on the bottom of the lap top Hardware Chat (http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/emea/shared/support/chat/en/hardware_chat?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs) I got all the cds free just before christmas.

Or you can just download all the drivers you need from here Drivers and Downloads (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd) This is what I use because the cds they sent out requires you to install a few things that arent needed, if you get the version of windows thats on the sticker on the laptop you will have a genuine version of it and will be able to update and register if needed.

flyer1
08-03-2007, 08:58 AM
as i said the lap top came from bsi and was meant to be destroyed
but found its way out of building , and sold to me i get the tag no when i go to dell online but cant ask to many questions incase they realise it was meant to be destroyed after testing

y2krog2000
08-03-2007, 09:02 AM
Just download the drivers from the link it will only take a couple of minutes or if you know anyone with a dell drivers cd then ask them for a copy of it because the one I got sent out does a lot of different dell laptops.

flyer1
08-03-2007, 02:20 PM
just tried live chat and it does not cover my system

flyer1
08-03-2007, 03:49 PM
can any 1 tell me how to make screen bigger as just turned on and screen has shrunk to about 4inches by 3inch totaly lost

Dossermac
11-03-2007, 07:25 PM
If your laptop has a DVD drive then go search (torrents,Newsgroups etc)for Titan2 or Nemesis4
This is Windows XP corporate that has been modified to install ONLY what your pc needs with no need for any activation codes as well as having a huge list of other neccessary programs your are likely to install afterwards (Nero,Dvdshrink,msn,PsP9,Mirc,ghost to name but a few)!

evilclive
12-03-2007, 04:13 AM
can any 1 tell me how to make screen bigger as just turned on and screen has shrunk to about 4inches by 3inch totaly lost

The screen may be in a lower resolution mode (such as VGA = 640x480 pixels.) If it's an old enough laptop, the technology to anti-alias TFT screens wasn't at all good back then, so instead the screen would be letter-boxed in the middle of the display.

Right-click on the bare desktop, select Properties, go to the Settings tab, and change the screen resolution there.

flyer1
18-03-2007, 01:03 PM
thanks sorted now and thanks for the disc much appreciated

tummyinuk
18-03-2007, 01:40 PM
I would use Nero Ghost... it does the job pretty well..

evilclive
18-03-2007, 06:10 PM
I would use Nero Ghost... it does the job pretty well..
To copy the contents of one partition or complete hard disk to another, I boot to a Linux live CD and use the dd command. It has the advantage of being free.