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    Format Dell C540 to Get rid of Windows 2000?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by pbc, Oct 11, 2008.

  1. pbc

    pbc Notebook Evangelist

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    I have an old Dell C540 that I use as a spare laptop. A while back I loaded XP on it (had 2000), but could never fully get rid of Windows 2000. Everytime I boot up I have to select "XP or 2000", even though there is no 2000 on the darn drive.

    Is there anyway I can completely format the drive and start from "scratch" with just XP? I'd like to format and reload all the drivers, programs, etc. to see if I can speed the sucker up!

    Also, I assume that Vista would be too memory intensive for this old laptop and actually slow it down versus XP? I believe it only has 512k max RAM.

    Tx

    PBC
     
    pbc, Oct 11, 2008
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  2. Gregory

    Gregory disassemble?

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    It sounds like you didn't do a full clean install formatting the original 2000 partition. You could fix this issue by removing 2000 from the boot.ini. A clean install as you suggested will of course fix it too, but be more work. If that is what you chose to do, make sure to perform a full format on the C drive (and any other partition that is hosting an operating system you no longer want). The format will erase the boot.ini file and create a new one with only Windows XP. Remember it will erase all other files on the partition as well.

    512 MB of RAM will be unbearable in Vista. Stick with XP for now.
     
    Gregory, Oct 11, 2008
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