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    formatting a new laptop

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by dolphinsrok, Sep 17, 2005.

  1. dolphinsrok

    dolphinsrok Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello all. I bought my hp zd8000 2 months ago (p4 2.8, 800mhz fsb on an intel board, 512ram, wireless b/g, bluetooth, plenty of ports, etc). Since I bought it I stripped a few gigs of garbage off this machine. Now I'm thinking of formatting it with a copy of xppro that I own. It currently has xp pro, but the reason for formatting is to clean out the rest of the hdd and hopefully gain some more speed because for a p4 2.8 it runs ok, but I think it should run a little quicker. I am concerned however with all of my card ports, bluetooth etc working. I want to make sure everything still works. I have all the cd's with drivers etc, has anyone out there formatted a new hp? any suggestions?
     
    dolphinsrok, Sep 17, 2005
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  2. csxpilot

    csxpilot Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am going to go out on a limb with this response. I do not own a HP Laptop (yet, its on its way right now), but as long as you have all of the driver CD's etc. you don't have anything to worry about. I have seen something about a reserved portion of the hard-drive to something like quick-play or quick-tools, dont delete that.
     
    csxpilot, Sep 17, 2005
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  3. dolphinsrok

    dolphinsrok Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was thinking of writing zeroes to the drive to clean ths puppy out all the way.
     
    dolphinsrok, Sep 17, 2005
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  4. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    I doubt you need to wipe the HD but do make sure to get all the drivers before you do the install. Personally I just removed the programs I didn't want and did a thorough registry cleaning, using RegClean, RegCleaner and CrapCleaner. That way I was able to keep the ones I did want, like PowerDVD and Roxio.
     
    olyteddy, Sep 17, 2005
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  5. daacon

    daacon Notebook Evangelist

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    Exactly - ensure you all the drivers you need (Video / Sound / etc ) there is probably some HP CD's that will have all of that - if not get online and download them for your hardware.

    Check the HP site they may have all the Utilities / Drivers that came with your machine (Acer has this).

    Did that exact thing numerous times to my old Dell and twice to the Acer 8104 and everythng works (Acer supplied a utilities cd with drivers - others I downloaded after the fact online for newer ones) - even without the drivers XP will likley have some sort of driver for your hardware.

    Might want to consider a full backup beforehand in case ya know dooooooooooooh I deleted that file / doc / spreadsheet :) or even beter image the drive so you can 'change your mind' in the event the results are not to your satisfaction

    Good luck
     
    daacon, Sep 21, 2005
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