Calling Computer Guru's

[MX]

I am about to reformat my HD on my laptop, and install a different version of XP.

I had issues with my firmware before on my optical drive...and after a lot of searching got it updated.

Now my question is;

can i just copy my Drivers folder on my current install, and add it back after the new install.

I am going from all the pre-added stuff on a dell windows xp media to a XP pro....

this will mean that I have to reformat and remove the symantic ghost partition that is used for a normal restore....

Tim

 

[Tiger]

In my experience, the answer to this is no. The drivers need to actually be reinstalled, just copying the folder to a CD then back to your hard drive won't work. At least it certainly never has for me. I'm an IT Support Specialist for an ISP so I've done this several times and always had to reinstall the drivers manually.

 

[Wolfie]

The files have to be registered properly. Your best bet is to grab your handy dandy flash drive and download the obvious from your manufacturer's web site onto it. Chipset, video, network and sound will usually be enough to get you back up and running. Anything else, you can grab later.

 

[Gawl]

The files have to be registered properly. Your best bet is to grab your handy dandy flash drive and download the obvious from your manufacturer's web site onto it. Chipset, video, network and sound will usually be enough to get you back up and running. Anything else, you can grab later.

Exactly, just copying over the folder will not register the drivers properly. Download them all ahead of time either from dell (you mentioned dell so I'm assuming its a dell) and store them on a flash drive or cd. Once you do the fresh install you can install your drivers manually from the cd/flash drive you saved them on.

 

[nayslayer]

Well i'd backup anything in "my documents" folder first. Then go to http://support.dell.com/ , enter your service tag number and get every driver you need. When you reformat drive you may want to leave the utility partition that dell put on. It's usually will be around 30 megs. You may want to consider creating a seperate partition that you would only use for "my documents" that way you will never have to worry about moving data off drive. You would just format the os partition, not the partion created that would contain your docs. Good luck

 

[MX]

Thanks guys, I did the install last night, and will be working on getting it finished today.
everything seems to have gone well, at least I did not Brick it.....

I got the drivers from the dell site and flashed them, like mentioned.
I also thought that reformatted the whole drive, but I get a choice between the old and the new OS when I start up......?

The lappy seems to be running much better now, and I have a ton of free space. I still need to upgrade the RAM, but that will wait until after the first of the year.

Tim

 

[nayslayer]

Well I guess you didn't repartition the whole drive and the partition table is still there. It's not a big deal at this point..get it next time..lol. Don't forget the windows updates

 

[collegestu]

You could have threaded the new SP and drivers into the XP Pro disc. The only problem is that it can be time consuming and building a iso file, extracting, adding, then building again. It is more for experienced users, but the great part about it is that any time you use it, your machine will have all the updates you inserted automatically, rather than having to install sp1-3 every time. Not to mention you can insert your cd key so that it will not to be inserted every time and you would have to wait every time.