New Installing of WinXP (including SP2)

I got from my friend, a used HP/Compaq DC711 running XP Pro with Sp2. It is very well-configured hardware-wise, e.g. lots of disk space, 2 GB Memory.

He had some software and user files (not very important, he said). Maybe in how he installed some of the software, Windows is messed up. However, it can still boot, and go into Windows, get an internet connection with I/E 6, essential doing all the very basic functions.

The machine has 2 hard drives, one 60 GB (original from HP/Compaq), and another working one of 500 GB (he said he got it new, and there is no major files in it, except for some pix and music - which he does not care if they are lost).

In the 60 GB, are the following sources of Drivers:
- Audio.exe
- Graphic.exe
- Brodcomall.exe (for the Broadcom Ethernet connection)

He lost all his recovery disks. Good that I got the COA (key) sticker still on the machine, and a an OEM Disk of WinXP Pro with SP2 (that I can have access to for a few days up to a week, from another friend).

I do not want to have anything left over from his junk software, documents, etc. because he has given this computer to me as a gift.

Now, I am thinking of COMPLETELY INSTALLING WINDOWS XP PRO (INCL.SP2)

Questions:
(1) When I start a new installation of WinXP,
(a) will it recognize the 2 disk drives, and
(b) so will they be reformatted (better), and
(c) if not, will the pix and music files on the 500 GB will still be left there.

(2) At what point do I have to install the above 3 basic drivers.
Please elaborate for me (because I don't think Microsoft would care anymore once I had WinXP up at that stage, the WinXP installation procedure could stop there as successfully completed).

I searched the Internet, lots of articles on how to install WinXP. Very little had been said about when and how to install the basic drivers. My point is that if I can get to the Internet on-line (i.e. get the Ethernet card working, with the keyboard, mouse, sound, and display on a monitor), [of course, I have to configure to connect to my ISP myself], I can then find the other necessary drivers.

Appreciate help from all you good people out there. Thanks in advance.

I'd unplug the 500 gig drive before the new install to avoid getting drive letters mixed up....

Or, I'd install XP on the 500gig drive since its newer and maybe a little faster.

You install XP and then the drivers for the mobo/vid card. Be sure and have the the eithernet drivers handy before the install or you might not be able to get on the net.

Normally HP/Compaq have all of the drivers on their Restore CD or on a separate partition on the hard drive. As you do not have the Restore CD from you friend and it does not appear that you have a partition with what you need you will need to find out exactly what hardware you have on the computer.

Identify the make and model numbers of your hardware. Belarc Adviser is very good at this and I suggest you download and run it.

Once you have identified the hardware go to the HP/Compaq site and download the drivers that you need to a safe place.

Once you have done the above you will be ready to do a fresh install of Windows. As to that second HD, you can keep it hooked in while you install XP to your main drive. Just make sure that you install XP to the correct drive that you want. If you want, you can also disconnect the ribbon cable from the second HD while you do the fresh install of XP. When you are finished just reattach the cable and XP should recognize it.

Please note that the OEM XP disk you are using may not work as it is supposed to be tied to the machine it came with. You should also note that not having your own copy of XP is waiting for trouble as you will need the XP disk for installing certain software or for just doing repairs when Windows craps out on you. You can still buy XP on the internet (Newegg, ebay, etc...). As an aside, you may also want to create a dual boot with Ubuntu Linux so that you can still have a viable computer when XP goes south and you have no XP CD to fix Windows.

When doing a fresh install of XP it will reformat your HD that you are installing to. I suggest using NTFS instead of FAT32 when you format.

Once everything is installed you can then install the drivers that are needed for your hardware which you had downloaded before.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Doc

My thanks to you, Steve and Doc.

Two further questions:
1. Driver for Ethernet Card: The network card is Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet. I got this info by looking under Device Drivers for Network Adapters (My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Network adapters > Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet). And on C: there is the driver software .exe file. Is that good enough ?

2. Purchasing XP from Internet: I have found one from the Internet, locally and at the right price too. It is WinXP Pro (incl.SP2) with COA sticker and Key (never activated, it says). Is that good enough ? Can I make a Recovery Disk from it ?

Appreciate very much your help.