need help wiping a computer clean and starting over

[knownote]

I've got an older computer, a dell dimension 2300, and I want to use the dell windows xp reinstallation disc to just start over because after these past few years, I need to just wipe it clean and start fresh with it.

I put in the reinstallation disc, which lead me up to where it chooses which hard drive/partitian to install windows to. Problem is, it wants to install it OVER the existing OS instead of wiping it out.

Do I need to wipe clean the C drive before I use this disc? If so, is there any place that gives me a step by step guide as to how to do this? I search the dell site, but only found articles pertaining to problems reinstalling, and didn't find any step by step guide to wipe out everything and start over.

Any help would be great!
thanks!

[drfsupercenter]

Do this:

Put the XP CD in. Boot from the CD, and accept the liscense agreement. When it asks you to select a partition, click on the key to DELETE the partition and say that YES you want to delete it. You will then see your hard drive and "Unpartitioned space".

Simply highlight it, press enter, and for formatting use NTFS (do NOT use quick).

That will wipe the drive and reinstall Windows. I learned this the hard way after Dell refused to help me do an fdisk.

[anonymez]

knownote, there's no need to delete the partition-- leave it intact. after that step, you'll come accross the option to format with either FAT32 or NTFS. choose NTFS.

[drfsupercenter]

Oh, well that's just what I did.

[knownote]

knownote, there's no need to delete the partition-- leave it intact. after that step, you'll come accross the option to format with either FAT32 or NTFS. choose NTFS.

When i chose the C drive before, the next step carried a warning 'this already has an operating system, installing two operating systems will cause....blah blah, do you wish to continue anyway'..that's where I stopped. Should I have chosen Yes, and then the next screen would have been what you are talking about?

[drfsupercenter]

Yes, I would have deleted the partition but apparently you don't have to.

[knownote]

now the monitor is acting up...

I got it reinstalled finally...I'll spare you the long story...

Problem is, now xp won't recognize that my monitor can be set for higher resolutions.
In the control panel monitor settings, it only has a default monitor showing and it won't let you adjust the settings any higher than the lowest setting.

Any ideas?

[Chewy]

agp and/or vid driver

[knownote]

not sure what you mean....
The options were there before I reinstalled xp, now they're gone.

[benbryant]

Please check Wibdows Update to download and install the necessary updates for your windows. Go to your graphics card's site to check and download the newer driver for it if any

Regards

[Chewy]

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&SystemID=DIM_PNT_P4_2300&os=WW1&osl=EN

go into device manager and see what else is missing(drivers)

[Kabuchan]

How do you boot from the CD?

[Steve83]

Put it in, & restart the computer. It should ask "Boot from CD?..." during POST. Hit ENTER or Y.

If it doesn't ask you, then you'll have to go into the BIOS & change the boot priority so the CD Drive is before the HD. Mine is set to 1) Floppy, 2) CD, 3) HD, 4) Other. Your BIOS might not have that many options.

[anonymez]

change boot order in the BIOS, move your optical drive to the top of the list

[Kabuchan]

Alright, I'll see if I can handle this. Thanks anon!