New Inspiron 700m Question

[GilletteCat]

Hi,
I just got the 700m and, obviously, need to wipe everything off and reinstall the OS. I posted my question in the OS forum here, but I know you guys have a lot of valuable info on the subject. Please post to that thread to save the forum from spam.
Sorry for the duplication but I need help, and I need it very quickly! :shocked:

 

[GilletteCat]

bump for 'need help'

 

[imported_Kensai]

I don't get it.. Stick in your Windows XP ---- CD and install normally.

 

[manly]

Well documented at Dell.com.

 

[tami]

if you're like me, you'd reformat regardless first. i like to remove the dell-installed partitions (always ensuring that i have the resourceCD handy if necessary) and then to configure the OS my own way.

if you just have the XP Pro CD (not the upgrade), just install it. you'll see the typical blue OS loader screen while it inspects your hardware and ensures that you agree, but that's fine. i'd do a normal NTFS reformat and install right away.

otherwise, just pop the XP Pro upgrade CD inside your current machine and let the computer handle it from there. you should just need to answer a few questions (by clicking "next")

 

[GilletteCat]

otherwise, just pop the XP Pro upgrade CD inside your current machine and let the computer handle it from there. you should just need to answer a few questions (by clicking "next")

Are you saying that I wont get a chance to remove the dell partition and clean up the harddrive in one "swift" blow, because of the Upgrade situation. I do have the Upgrade, hence the question

 

[swaq]

I'm pretty sure the upgrade CD is exactly the same as the regular except that at some point before it starts installing it asks you to put in a full version just to verify that you own a full version and are eligible to upgrade. The rest of the functionality should be the same, there should be any need to do any formatting/partitioning before booting to the upgrade CD.

 

[GilletteCat]

Since dell does not ship any cd's with their systems anymore, do you know how to get the image of the what used to be called 'Drivers & Utilities' and the "Resource CD". Also, what about the installers of the rest of the soft already on the pc. I don't care about the junk intend to get rid of, but what about Dell Media Experience (or whatever its called) and Pain Shop Album, and maybe some other useful pieces of soft, that I might have reinstalled if I had such an option. So, do I

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: GilletteCat

otherwise, just pop the XP Pro upgrade CD inside your current machine and let the computer handle it from there. you should just need to answer a few questions (by clicking "next")

Are you saying that I wont get a chance to remove the dell partition and clean up the harddrive in one "swift" blow, because of the Upgrade situation. I do have the Upgrade, hence the question

you'll only be able to do that if you do a complete reformat. you can also run fdisk and just delete the partition, but that may make matters more complicated.

what i'd do is this:
boot off CD, delete all partitions, create new partition and install winxp home on it. (create whatever other partitions you may wish to have here as well, but i'm guessing for your case, that's not applicable). after winxp boots and finishes updating your settings, pop in the xp pro upgrade CD and follow the prompts to install the upgrade.

you can call dell to request the XP CD as well as all of the diagnostic CDs for your 700m. i believe it now costs $10, but they may have made it free again after everyone started getting angry.

 

[phantom309]

Normally I just wipe the drive and do a fresh install, but there really wasn't that much crap on my 700m. Not really worth the effort to blow everything out and reinstall the OS and 789,572 proprietary drivers just to get rid of a few programs. I uninstalled the stuff I didn't want and upgraded it to XP Pro. It won't let you do it unless your install disk has sp2, so I had to slipstream that in and create a new XP install disk. It runs fine.

 

[GilletteCat]

It won't let you do it unless your install disk has sp2, so I had to slipstream that in and create a new XP install disk. It runs fine.

What did you mean by this?

I have a retail box with win xp pro sp2 UPGRADE (if this info is important). Are you saying that when you do the upgrade, you do not reformat and reinstall the os completely? If so, does the upgrade process influence the installed apps at all? How to get rid of the Restore partition, if choosing this route, it's 5G, you know? The restore that is occupying it is totally useless after you upgrade the os to a different one, since the only thing it can restore to is Home, and who'd want that?

 

[phantom309]

Your install disk will work. I had an old XP Pro disk that didn't have sp2 - so I had to add the SP2 files manually and burn a new install CD with the updated files. Kind of a PITA but I had to do it anyway because my 9100 is the same way.

I believe you can do a clean install from your upgrade disk if it detects the original Dell install. You can blow out the restore partition during the XP install process - just delete it and create the partitions you want. Of course if you do a clean install you'll have to reinstall all your apps.

I didn't do that - I just upgraded the existing XP Home install to Pro and uninstalled the crapware. No problems at all, and I didn't have to reinstall or reconfigure anything else. You can get rid of the restore partition in Windows, too. Go to Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Disk Management, select the 4GB partition and delete it.

 

[BladeVenom]

Nevermind, I didn't see your second post.