Going to install fresh
 

My 630m hangs for 75 seconds on the welcome screen right after the
Windows startup music sounds. I don't know what is causing it. I did
logging and the file shows that it is looking for the same drivers
over and over but Google searches didn't help much.

So, I was considering doing installing fresh without the bloatware and
this is a good time.

Basically I think what I need to do is:

- Download the current drivers to CD

- Boot from the install disk which may give me the option to wipe out
my main partition.

- That will install a fresh copy of Windows

- Install drivers.

Does anyone know if I can use an install disk from a different
computer. If I would want XP Media Center on a laptop that currently
has XP Home, can I use the other computers install disk?

Journey

Going to install fresh
 

Hi Journey,

I can't answer your question but I have a couple of my own.

Why aren't the drivers on the install disk provided by Dell?
How do you know which drivers to download?

Clark

"journey" wrote in message
...
My 630m hangs for 75 seconds on the welcome screen right after the
Windows startup music sounds. I don't know what is causing it. I did
logging and the file shows that it is looking for the same drivers
over and over but Google searches didn't help much.

So, I was considering doing installing fresh without the bloatware and
this is a good time.

Basically I think what I need to do is:

- Download the current drivers to CD

- Boot from the install disk which may give me the option to wipe out
my main partition.

- That will install a fresh copy of Windows

- Install drivers.

Does anyone know if I can use an install disk from a different
computer. If I would want XP Media Center on a laptop that currently
has XP Home, can I use the other computers install disk?

Journey

Going to install fresh
 

"journey" wrote in message
...
My 630m hangs for 75 seconds on the welcome screen right after the
Windows startup music sounds. I don't know what is causing it. I did
logging and the file shows that it is looking for the same drivers
over and over but Google searches didn't help much.

So, I was considering doing installing fresh without the bloatware and
this is a good time.

Basically I think what I need to do is:

- Download the current drivers to CD

- Boot from the install disk which may give me the option to wipe out
my main partition.

- That will install a fresh copy of Windows

- Install drivers.

Does anyone know if I can use an install disk from a different
computer. If I would want XP Media Center on a laptop that currently
has XP Home, can I use the other computers install disk?

Journey


- Legally no.
- Practically, probably no.

MCE is different from Dell's version of Home and Pro in that it isn't BIOS
locked and will still require a proper key

Going to install fresh
 

They never are. They'd have to cut new disks daily.

You just download the latest ones from support.dell.com

"Clark Martin" wrote in message
.. .
Hi Journey,

I can't answer your question but I have a couple of my own.

Why aren't the drivers on the install disk provided by Dell?
How do you know which drivers to download?

Clark

"journey" wrote in message
...
My 630m hangs for 75 seconds on the welcome screen right after the
Windows startup music sounds. I don't know what is causing it. I did
logging and the file shows that it is looking for the same drivers
over and over but Google searches didn't help much.

So, I was considering doing installing fresh without the bloatware and
this is a good time.

Basically I think what I need to do is:

- Download the current drivers to CD

- Boot from the install disk which may give me the option to wipe out
my main partition.

- That will install a fresh copy of Windows

- Install drivers.

Does anyone know if I can use an install disk from a different
computer. If I would want XP Media Center on a laptop that currently
has XP Home, can I use the other computers install disk?

Journey

Going to install fresh
 

Uh, Tom. My MCE DVD will install on ANY recent Dell without a key.

Mike


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
.. .


MCE is different from Dell's version of Home and Pro in that it isn't BIOS
locked and will still require a proper key

Going to install fresh
 

Really. Mine won't. How interesting. I might have to try it again. Mine
is from my Inspiron 9300, so perhaps it was because I tried it on a desktop,
but.....

Tom
"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Uh, Tom. My MCE DVD will install on ANY recent Dell without a key.

Mike


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
.. .


MCE is different from Dell's version of Home and Pro in that it isn't
BIOS locked and will still require a proper key

Going to install fresh
 

Mine too!

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Uh, Tom. My MCE DVD will install on ANY recent Dell without a key.

Mike


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
.. .


MCE is different from Dell's version of Home and Pro in that it isn't
BIOS locked and will still require a proper key

Going to install fresh
 

Yes, you can use whatever install disk you like. There is nothing special
about Dell hardware that would require a specially prepared install CD/DVD.
To save some time, consider partitioning your harddrive and storing all your
drivers on a partition other than C:. That way, you have everything you'll
need on first boot. One more thing: it's always best to start by installing
your chipset drivers, before anything else. On all my machines, Windows is
the only thing I have on my C: drive, in order to simplify the
reformat/reinstall process. Doing this means you never have to worry about
your personal files and data, if you need to do a last minute
reformat/install.

-phil


"journey" wrote in message
...
My 630m hangs for 75 seconds on the welcome screen right after the
Windows startup music sounds. I don't know what is causing it. I did
logging and the file shows that it is looking for the same drivers
over and over but Google searches didn't help much.

So, I was considering doing installing fresh without the bloatware and
this is a good time.

Basically I think what I need to do is:

- Download the current drivers to CD

- Boot from the install disk which may give me the option to wipe out
my main partition.

- That will install a fresh copy of Windows

- Install drivers.

Does anyone know if I can use an install disk from a different
computer. If I would want XP Media Center on a laptop that currently
has XP Home, can I use the other computers install disk?

Journey

Going to install fresh
 

While that is true, Dell CD/DVDs usually have some drivers slipstreamed.
For example, their SP2 CD has the SATA drivers so you don't have to press F6
and install from floppy.


"Phil" wrote in message
...
Yes, you can use whatever install disk you like. There is nothing special
about Dell hardware that would require a specially prepared install
CD/DVD. To save some time, consider partitioning your harddrive and
storing all your drivers on a partition other than C:. That way, you have
everything you'll need on first boot. One more thing: it's always best to
start by installing your chipset drivers, before anything else. On all my
machines, Windows is the only thing I have on my C: drive, in order to
simplify the reformat/reinstall process. Doing this means you never have
to worry about your personal files and data, if you need to do a last
minute reformat/install.

-phil


"journey" wrote in message
...
My 630m hangs for 75 seconds on the welcome screen right after the
Windows startup music sounds. I don't know what is causing it. I did
logging and the file shows that it is looking for the same drivers
over and over but Google searches didn't help much.

So, I was considering doing installing fresh without the bloatware and
this is a good time.

Basically I think what I need to do is:

- Download the current drivers to CD

- Boot from the install disk which may give me the option to wipe out
my main partition.

- That will install a fresh copy of Windows

- Install drivers.

Does anyone know if I can use an install disk from a different
computer. If I would want XP Media Center on a laptop that currently
has XP Home, can I use the other computers install disk?

Journey