Step1
If you only have one computer, and it's the one you are currently using to read this web page, before you start this process you must first use your working Internet connection to download, to floppies or other removable media, drivers and other applications you will need to complete the re-load. You can find drivers for many devices at DriverFiles.net and/or DriverGuide.com.
Of course, if you can, backup to floppies or other removable media, all the data you wish to keep from your old hard drive. Remember, you can't backup programs, only data! You will need to re-install your programs from their original CDs or floppies.
I recommend that you do a little more than just re-format your hard drive. WDCLEAR is a free tool that will work on many IDE & EIDE hard drives, and will restore the drive back to a factory-fresh condition. Make a Bootable Floppy Disk and place a copy of WDCLEAR.exe on it.
After you have all the tools, drivers and software at the ready and have backed up all your important data, do the following: Remember, once you start this process it is irreversible, you MUST complete it or you will not have a working computer.
After booting from the floppy, type WDCLEAR and press enter. REMEMBER This will destroy ALL data on your hard drive, and return it to a factory fresh condition.
Step2
1. Set the CMOS so your computer will boot from the floppy disk first. For more information on setting the CMOS see the lower right sidebar.
If your computer does not allow you to change the CMOS to boot from the CD-ROM, it is too old for Windows XP. Stay with Windows 98SE.
2. Insert the bootable floppy, with WDClear on it, into the floppy and boot the computer.
Run WDClear which will clear and write zeros to your hard drive.
Step3
If your computer has more than one hard drive or optical drive (CD or DVD), or your computer has a Zip drive, or a built-in memory stick reader, or anything else that shows-up in the My Computer window as a device, I highly recommend that you disable it/them before you attempt to reload the operating system. You can disable a device by simply unplugging the logic cable or USB cable from the device. See Under The Hood before you open your computer.
For best results you should only have one hard drive, one CD-ROM drive and one floppy drive connected during the XP installation. This will insure that the primary hard drive is identified as C by the operating system.
After XP has been loaded, shutdown your computer and reattach one of the other devices and reboot. After the computer has fully booted and detected the new device, do a normal shutdown and attach the next new device and restart. Repeat until all devices have been detected and installed.
Step4
After WDCLEAR has completed, shutdown the computer, remove the floppy disk, power-up the machine and reset the CMOS to boot from the CD first and hard drive second. Insert your Windows XP CD and reboot your computer.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install XP.
The basic installation of Windows should now be done. Remove the CD-ROM and do a normal shutdown then, restart your computer. During the memory test, get into the CMOS setup and change the boot sequence to boot from the C: drive first.
Windows XP will likely detect many of your peripherals such as video, sound, modem, etc, and install basic drivers for them. Some may not be detected, or if you are installing another version of Windows, you may need to install the drivers for your particular devices. I suggest you check and/or install the drivers in the following order. 1. Video. 2. Sound. 3. Modem. 4. All others.
Step5
Once all the drivers are installed and tested, you are now ready to setup your Internet account and reinstall all your programs and data.
9. After your Internet connection has been reestablished, surf to www.microsoft.com and click on Windows Update, and go through the update process.
10. Before you setup your email account install a good Anti-Virus Product. I recommend kaspersky.
We recommend, as with drivers, that before you reinstall any of your old programs you check with the manufacture of each to see if they have an upgraded version available.
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