Tips for reinstalling XP Pro on W3J

After converting the drive on my W3J from FAT32 to NTFS I started having the standby lock up issues mentioned in this post.

I also wish I had read this post before I converted to NTFS to avoid the 512 byte cluster issue.

I've decided to grab my own copy of XP pro to reformat and reinstall. Before I do I was wondering if anyone that has done this can offer any tips, advice, gotchas, etc that I should be aware of before I start.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

What I did was that I made two partitions in my new drive.. I've allocated about 15GB (more if you plan to install a lot of programs) for Windows alone in partition1. I then made the rest for the 2nd partition and this holds all my music, games, videos, and work documents. This way.. even when I want to reformat Windows later.. I don't have to erase all my media.. all I have to redo is the 1st partition. It also makes reformatting a lot faster.

Another thing to note is.. when reformatting.. DO NOT choose the option for "Quick".. just do the normal install when setting up Windows. Using the "Quick" option has led to some weird issues down the road for me and other forum members as well.

 

thanks for the tip, ledzepp.

I'm planning on reformatting when i get a minute or so. Boards are over for a year, so I may have a little time to do it.

 

I was doing some reading on the partition issue the other day. Some tips I picked up were that you might want to add another small partition, say 2GB, and set the swap files there, so you don't have to worry about that with defragging. Also, it can yield better performance (if possible, put it on a drive other than the one you access for files and programs, or split it amongst drives, but that is extremely difficult to do with a laptop). Also, some people prefer even splitting their files and music and such from their games and programs, which is also seperate from windows. That makes backups, defrags, and scans quicker for each section, plus protects them more. Just a few thoughts.

 

I want to do this, but I hate the idea of buying a new copy of XP when vista will be out in 5 months or so...assuming microsoft doesn't delay it further.

Then again, OS's are usually crap when they're first released thanks to driver issues, so I may take the plunge and buy a new copy of XP now...don't know

 

I don't think you need to buy a copy of XP if you have recovery CDs and/or a serial number on the bottom of your computer.

1. You might try to make an XP installation CD out of the images on the recovery CDs. There was at least one guy on this forum who succeeded using the tips on http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/wxp/ .

2. You might use a normal XP kit with the serial number on the bottom of the NB. (How you get hold of such a kit is not my business :roll:

I haven't tried any of these yet, and am unsure about "how legal" they are, but it might worth a try. Rather than spending 100+ USD/EUR on a new XP system...

 

As for using another copy, I doubt that would be possible. I discussed this in another thread and one person posted a link to a very informative site about Windows Activation. I would recommend that you read the thread and the attached site for more info.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=63639

Also, what would be very helpful to those doing a clean reinstall from their own copy of XP would be a list of drivers and links to get them. On my current laptop, I only use two drivers from HP's site and they are for non-standard hardware. I know some people think it causes instability, but with my HP I haven't had any problems with them.