Installing a Fresh Copy of Windows XP
Repairing your Windows XP without re-install the whole thing

Install a fresh copy of Windows XP.

First of all, Pop in Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM and get to BIOS setup to configure your system to boot from the Windows XP CD.

How to do that? When you power up the computer at the first screen you will see "Press F2 to enter setup" or "Press delete to enter setup". Follow the instruction to enter setup, you then got to "boot" section to change your boot sequences. Make your CD-ROM to be the first boot device, then change the setting, save and exit the BIOS setup. Your computer will reboot at this time.

At the second screen after reboot, you will see "Press any key to boot from CD-ROM...". Press "Space Bar" to boot from your Windows XP CD.

Then move to next step.

1) Shall we begin? (Image 1.1)

After configuring the system for booting from the Windows XP Home/Pro CD, the Windows Setup screen appears.

At this point, Setup is loading the driver files it needs to continue with installation.

Image 1.1: (2KB .gif)

2) Welcome to Setup: (Image 1.2)

The "Welcome to Setup" screen appears with the option of Continuing Setup, Repair a previous installation, or Quitting.

Press ENTER to Continue Setup.

You may also choose "F3" to Quit and reboot the system.

Image 1.2: (4KB .gif)

3) Windows XP Licensing Agreement: (Image 1.3)

The "Windows XP Licensing Agreement" screen, otherwise known as "EULA," displays the legal in's and out's of this particular software package.

You may press F8 to signify that you agree with the terms, hit ESC if you do not agree and PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN to scroll through each screen. Note: If you do not agree to the terms, setup will quit and reboot the system.

Image 1.3: (10KB .gif)

4) Hard drive partition information: (Image 1.4)

Hard drive partition information is now displayed. This varies with each systems hardware configuration.

If you are re-installing your OS, a previous partition will show. I will choose not to use this and create a new one by pressing D. (If you do not have any partition exist, you may press "C" to create new partitions.)

** At this point, the options include pressing ENTER to Install on the selected partition, D to Delete the selected partition, or F3 to Quit and reboot the system.

Image 1.4: (6KB .gif)

5) Warning screen: (Image 1.5)

After pressing D to delete the selected partition, a warning screen appears explaining the pitfalls of deleting it. This particular screen only appears when the partition selected to be deleted is formatted as a bootable system partition. Other partitions will display the next screen.

I want this to happen, so I press ENTER to continue.

The options include pressing ENTER to continue, or ESC to Cancel.

Image 1.5: (6KB .gif)

6) Confirmation screen: (Image 1.6)

A confirmation screen that displays the logical drive, what file system the partition is currently using, the size in MB and controller information.

Options include L to Delete the partition and ESC to Cancel the action.

Image 1.6: (4KB .gif)

7) No partitions have been previously defined: (Image 1.7)

If no partitions have been previously defined, this screen will be displayed. You may section your hard drive in as many partitions as you wish by selecting C to Create a Partition and then entering in a value less then the total available. Here, I will Create a Partition in the highlighted, unused portion.

Select the partition you wish to install to using the UP and DOWN arrow keys.

Press ENTER to use the highlighted partition and Install, C to Create a Partition, or F3 to Quit and reboot the system.

No partitions have been previously defined

Image 1.7: (6KB .gif)

8) Enter in the partition size: (Image 1.8)

Enter in the partition size in MB within the displayed minimum and maximum. I chose the default or maximum available here.

You may choose ENTER to Create the new partition or ESC to Cancel the action.

Image 1.8: (5KB .gif)

9) Continue to create partitions: (Image 1.9)

Continue to create partitions until all space is used or the configuration meets your requirements. Note: a small portion will be unavailable to partition. This is normal. In this example, it is 2 MB.

I chose drive C: or Partition1 to install the Operating System.

You may choose ENTER to Install to the selected partition, D to Delete the highlighted Partition, or F3 to Quit and reboot the system.

Image 1.9: (6KB .gif)

10) Format the partition: (Image 1.10)

Since this OS supports NTFS, format the partition with it. If you do not, many folder and file security features will be unavailable. Note: If you are dual booting your system, a previous OS will not be able to read the local information. This is a fact with Windows 9x and Me. If you have a requirement to view this partition from another OS installed on the system, do not format it as NTFS. Also, the boot partition must be formatted with FAT32 if you wish to dual boot. I have found no problems accessing a NTFS partition mapped as a network drive from an older OS.

Select what format you wish to use by pressing the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys.

Press ENTER to confirm your selection and Continue or ESC to Cancel.

Image 1.10: (5KB .gif)

11) Setup formats the partition: (Image 1.11)

Watch the progress bar as Setup formats the partition, or get up and get a soda. It may take awhile.

Image 1.11: (4KB .gif)

12) Creating File List: (Image 1.12)

Setup is now figuring out what files to copy over to the hard drive.

Image 1.12: (2KB .gif)

13) Setup copies various files: (Image 1.13)

After the partition is finished formatting, Setup copies various files to support booting from the hard drive and continue on.

Image 1.13: (4KB .gif)

14) Creates various information files: (Image 1.14)

Setup then creates various information files required to continue on with setup.

Image 1.14: (3KB .gif)

15) Press ENTER to Restart: (Image 1.15)

The first reboot and the end of the blue background has arrived. If you are impatient, press ENTER to Restart before the 15 seconds expire.

ENTER to Restart the Computer is the only option available.

Image 1.15: (4KB .gif)

It will take about an hour to complete the installation

Once the installation complete, Windows will prompt to reboot the computer. Remove the CD and click ok to reboot your computer.

Install Device Drivers

The next step is to install drivers for the devices that are on your computer such as modem, LAN, VGA, Audio etc.

1. Find the Utility CD or Driver CD that came with your computer.

2. Insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive.

3. A menu will pop up. Depending on models, the menus will look different. Basically, you will see 10 to 15 items listed in the menu. Click each driver to install them. (You might be asked to reboot each time you complete one driver), just go ahead click ok (or finish). Your computer will reboot and get back to the menu again.

(In some cases, if the menu does not pop up, you will need to install the driver manually. In "My Computer" icon, explore the driver CD, you will see some folders in the CD. Each folder content a driver, you need to install them all. If you are not sure, call our tech support for assistance.)

4. Follow the order from the top to the bottom of the list. Once you complete all items listed in the menu, you need to re-boot the compute one more time. The installation is complete.

5. Right click "My Computer" icon, click "Properties" ->Hardware -> Device Manager, check if there is any red or yellow symbol like "!" or "x". If you see none, you have successfully installed your Windows XP.

Repairing your Windows XP