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reformatted xp pc & still need help

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by lmmsnastygrl

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Ok i reformatted my compaq presario pc windows xp. Didn't have enough floppys to back up old system. So now i don't have my word programs back and no disks. Pc is still very slow. My E cd drive no longer works and my f drive when i put a disk in it it keeps opening and i have to close it about 3 times to get it to stay closed. In short i am still having problems Can anyone please shed some light on what i'm doing wrong or not doing right or at all. I am about to pull out my hair. Thanks in advance I really appreciate the very much needed help. Linda

11 replies

by pierrejamme

Are you sure you formatted for NTFS before installing. if so and you used a Compaq restore CD it probably installed a lot of stuff you really don't need. Go to add remove in Control panel and get rid of anything that looks suspicious.
Make sure you have an up to date virus scanner. if you cannot afford to prchase one get a good free one like AVG at:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1
then run msconfig, click on the startup tab and disable everything but AVG. Next click on the Services Tab and check the box "Hide all Microsoft services" and then disable what remains except, you guessed it AVG.
Now how many processes do you have running?

Right Mouse click on "My Computer" on the start Menu and click on "Manage".
click on Device Manager and see if there are any yellow question marks and or red X's on your CD drive.
Report Back,
peter

by hal 9000

Well 48 Running Process is about normal for XP as it is very heavy on system resources so I wouldn't be worrying about that one.

Now for the not so good news when you reformatted the HDD you only wrote to every rd sector so that means that 2/3 of the drive remain unaffected and can crop up again on a clean install doing whatever harm they where doing previously.

What you really need is a utility that wipes the HDD use a Win 98 Boot Floppy and when you get to the DOS prompt change Floppies and run the wiping utility like the one that Seagate has at

http://support.seagate.com/dweula

This is what they call a "Low Level Format" but actually it writes 0 to every sector and makes the drive previous data unrecordable easily and to all intents and purposes you are starting off with a clean drive like a new one so you can not get any cross infections from a new install.

With so little actually working you'll need to do a clean install and do it right this time as you have a Commercial System you should have a Recovery CD which has just the correct Drivers for the hardware involved. For some reason the IDE controller that your CD is on has not been installed or installed properly which is why it isn't working.

So try wiping the HDD and then running the install program with a blank HDD and format the Drive with the installation utility that comes with XP and do the Full format instead of the Quick one.

Lets know how you get on.

Col

by hal 9000

Well I think that I'm ruled out AU is a bit far away and my charger can not breath underwater. :^O

And I'm not allowed in certain parts of the US anyway by my wife as I have a history of buying heaps of stuff for my play toys which has absolutely nothing at all to do with work. She knows me far too well unfortunately. :(

But if I can offer any help from this side of the pond you're welcome to contact me for it, just remember that there is a slight time difference involved.

But if you wipe the drive and start from scratch you should get it working without a problem think of it as a Learning Experience as that is exactly what it is.

Col

by hal 9000

Linda,

As you haven't said if you did go into the BIOS and change things there you'll have to go back in and chose Load Performance Options which will give you the best options and at the same time open the first BIOS page and make sure that the Time & Date are correct. One of the TR Peers who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty while half asleep somehow managed to change the date from 2005 to 2085 which gave him all kinds or error messages when he had Windows Running. It seems that every program was looking for new updates as they where now 80 years behind the currently available updates. Who said Computers Never Lie? ;)

If you have opened the case let me know and I'll work you through refitting things as they should be.

Col

by hozcanhan

linda , if you fooled with the disk/cd data cables or changed any entry in the bios config ( or you lost your bios config for some reason ..you have to get that right first . try to use presarios own "restore" cd . if you cannot while reinstalling ( which I beleive you should again ) change the file system and the partition lengths and instruct to format the drives ..don't use quick format ..

by lmmsnastygrl

o.k. now that we've figured out all the technical stuff, can someone please come over to my house and help me do alll the stuff you just informed me that i should do so i don't copletely blow something up? lol I know that is a really dumb request but doing this myself is what got me where i am in the first place. But if there is a night in shining armor out there willing Pleaese come charging up on your rilliant steed to save my day. It would be so much appreciated and very well rewarded!!!!

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