I can't tell you anything about your drivers because I know nothing about
your system. Many drivers may already be on the XP CD, you might want to
check the websites of your various hardware manufacturer's for the latest
drivers. Be sure you have all the setup disks for all your applications as
those will need to be reinstalled. Be sure you are well backed up (you
only need to backup your data, you should have installation disks for your
applications) in case there is a problem from which you are unable to
recover. NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact,
if something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to
start over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed
up, you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.
Below is step by step information for formatting and reinstalling:
Be sure your system is set to boot from the CD. If you are not sure, when
the system first boots you usually see message about how to enter setup or
something similar and tells you to hit a key, sometimes it's del, sometimes
it's esc, just hit the key. This takes you to the system bios, you need to
navigate to where the boot sequence is set, put the CD-ROM drive first in
line.
Place the XP CD in the drive, save your settings and exit. The system will
reboot and should boot from the CD. If you see a message to hit any key in
order to boot from the CD, do so.
Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.
Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.
The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.
