D620 fresh install of XP problem encountered

Greetings!

I'm helping someone make a clean install of XP on the latitude d620. I managed to install XP, and when I tried to install the drivers using the Dell Resource CD, the laptop gives an error and refuses to load up the CD.

Prior to the installation of XP, there was the page about the partitions of the hard drive. 1st one was 71 MB, 2nd one (C drive) was labeled recovery and about 2000 MB, and the 3rd partition was the one I reformatted. Should I have deleted all the partitions, including the recovery and the tiny partition, and combined all 3? A virus had infected the computer and it might be lurking in the recovery partition..

 

71MB? That sounds a little fishy...

If I were you, if you have the OEM XP CD, not just a recovery CD (and there're no personal/business/etc files on the drive that haven't been backed up), I'd delete all three partitions and create a single partition out of all free space, then reinstall XP on that.

Also, welcome to the forums

 

Hello unlimitedx,

the first drive is definitely the DELL Recovery Partition which usually cannot be seen in Windows. I wouldn't recommend deleting it, maybe just update it with a newer version from the DELL download section. As for the other partitions, just delete and reformat them using the WinXP tool just before the installation starts. ... You can try the Hiren's Boot CD (bootable) which has various programs such as partitioning tools, virus scanners, etc. which in your case you'll need. ... and find yourself an original Windows installation CD Make sure it's untouched and clean.

Good luck!

 

I think it's doubtful that the virus hit the other two partitions, but if you don't need them, there's no real reason not to get rid of 'em. I always get rid of 'em by default.

That may be a hardware fault with the optical drive or with the driver CD... have you tried downloading and installing the drivers from Dell's support site instead?

 

Hmm... strange thing is I do see the recovery partition in windows. It's the C drive. And the one that windows installed in is the D drive...

 

OH NO!

I just did a fresh install of XP again (combing all partitions), and the resource CD has failed. Here is the message:

"There was an error launching the ResourceCD program:

Only part of a ReadProcessMemory or WriteProcessMemory request was completed.

Please ensure you are running this program from the Dell ResourceCD."


Is there any way I can install what needed drivers to get the laptop up and running? The dell website is confusing.

 

Try calling dell tech support and asking if they can send you another copy of the driver CD for your particular machine. It's a small ask, so it should be relatively easy.