Operating System / Software Installation Guide

[Mr Steveo]

osieke

Im pretty handy with a BIOS but I asked RacerX to chime in since hes one of the most knowledgeable Abit gurus I know. Id follow whatever he suggests.

[CrowdAds]

[RacerX]

Originally posted by AHLnut
How ya been RacerX, it's been a while Good to see ya

Hey ya NUT!! LTNS. Its been a day or two hasnt it.

[osieke]

Hey guys,

Thank you very much for the prompt replies. I just went to get the board and I'm about to start the build

With a guide like this, I'm almost certain nothing can go wrong. I'll make sure to make a ghost image when I'm finished

[pesinn]

Can i use this if i am going to use scsi hard drive for my os? or is it something i should do Differently ??

[Mr Steveo]

Originally posted by pesinn
Can i use this if i am going to use scsi hard drive for my os? or is it something i should do Differently ??

As lpng as you set the boot order properly in your BIOS, the Guide should work fine for you.

[poMONKey]

do you need smartgart to disable fast-writes on a gigabyte 8inxp???

**EDIT** i did a fresh reinstall of the ati cat 3.2 drivers, thanks for this awesome info guys!!!! it fixed a bunch of issues... now my card is read as: "radeon 9700 pro" instead of: "9700/9500 series"...

i did not install smartgart this time around, i can change agp settings in the bios, but how do i disable fast-writes ( if they are enabled )????? OR, how can i tell if they ARE enabled so i can shut them down? tia

[Gamer]

Use powerstrip

[poMONKey]

Originally posted by Gamer
Use powerstrip

w0w! powerstrip has come a long way!!! guess i gotta get it... again

[David Rolfe]

Hi Mr Steveo,

I would just like to add my name to the list of happy AsusBoard members who have found your excellent guide to be of grest assistance when carrying out a new install.

I do however have a couple of problems, which I am sure others must have experienced also, and hope that you can help.

I have just completed a new install of Windows XP Home Edition (OEM) which included Service Pack 1, on an Asus P4T533 based system, following you guide carefully.

All went well until I came to the point where I wished to update my Nvidia drivers, and I ran the file which I downloaded from their website. I was then informed that I already had a set of drivers installed, (which had been done automatically as part of the main XP install process) and which I should uninstall first.

This I did, and was prompted to reboot my PC to complete the process, but then without any intervention on my part it just picked up the 'old' drivers again, even though the later ones were already unpacked into a folder on my hard disk.

How can I stop this happening please, so that I start off with a nice clean and tidy setup, with the latest graphics drivers installed?

A second quick question, if I may.

Next time, what is the best way to completely erase all files and data on an NTFS formatted drive running Windows XP, so that I can start again with a new OEM install?

Thanks for listening!

Cheers,

-David-

[Mr Steveo]

Most nVidia drivers will install ok over old ones. I havent used the latest nVidia drviers, so maybe something has changed recently. Are the drivers you are trying to use WHQL certified? The last WHQL certified drivers from nVidia were the 40.72s released last year. So far I have not seen the problem you describe with 40.72 or 28.32 (my favorite )

If this problem persists, you can try the following. Go to www.driverheaven.net . From the front page download the program called "Driver Cleaner". In the download is a read me file with steps for uninstalling nVidia drivers and wiping old drivers off your system. It involves booting into safe mode and is similar to the procedure for wiping ATI drivers. Be sure to follow the directions in the read me file and you should be ok

See if that works for ya.

---------------------------------------------

There are varying degrees when it comes to erasing your hard drive. Theres high level, mid level, and low level formating. Unless youre trying to get rid of a seriously nasty virus, a high level format should be fine.

Just pop your Windows XP CD in the CD/DVD drive. Reboot the computer. When the setup disk boots up let it do its thing. (If you have RAID be sure to press F6 as soon as you see the blue setup screen. You will want to laod the RAID drviers as usual). Assuming youre not using RAID, youll be brought to the license screen.

A few screens after that you will see your physical hard drives and the partitions on each of them. Follow the on screen instructions to delete the partitions. Once youve deleted them, press F3 twice and your system will reboot. Return one last time to the same screen to ensure no partitions remain.

Now find a blank floppy disk and put it in your floppy drive. Press F3 twice. The computer will reboot. Booting will stop when it finds the blank floppy. Now just press the power button on the front of our computer to power down.

Next flip off the power supply switch on the back of your computer to cut all power to the system. Let the computer sit for one to five minutes. This will ensure any data that was sitting in your RAM will be wiped out as well.

Finally, just restart your computer, remove the blank floppy and start from scratch. Be sure to do the full format when prompted and not he quick format.

[David Rolfe]

Thanks for your extremely quick and comprehensive reply. (You must be a very early riser! )

The drivers I was trying to install are the latest ones posted on nVidia's official site, namely ver 43.45, although they do not appear to be WHQL certified yet.

It is possible that these drivers will install quite happily over the Microsoft installed ones, without rebooting, but I was just trying to do everything properly!... it seemed a bit early in the operation to have to resort to third party driver cleaners, however good they might be!

In respect of erasing a hard drive, I was under the impression that once the operating system had been installed from an OEM CD, then a further insertion of that CD would just display a message saying that it would only work with a completely blank hard drive.

Can't be 100% sure of that though, so will try it again, once I have swapped my PC's over.

Thanks again,

-David-

[Mr Steveo]

Originally posted by David Rolfe
Thanks for your extremely quick and comprehensive reply. (You must be a very early riser! )

The drivers I was trying to install are the latest ones posted on nVidia's official site, namely ver 43.45, although they do not appear to be WHQL certified yet.

It is possible that these drivers will install quite happily over the Microsoft installed ones, without rebooting, but I was just trying to do everything properly!... it seemed a bit early in the operation to have to resort to third party driver cleaners, however good they might be!

In respect of erasing a hard drive, I was under the impression that once the operating system had been installed from an OEM CD, then a further insertion of that CD would just display a message saying that it would only work with a completely blank hard drive.

Can't be 100% sure of that though, so will try it again, once I have swapped my PC's over.

Thanks again,

-David-

Ive heard mixed reviews of the latest Detonator drivers. Some people love them, others have problems with them. Since poorly written video drivers can mess up anything from power management to system stability I prefer not to fool with non WHQL drviers. If youre more adventurous than I, you may want to ask what the folks in the Graphic forum think of this new version Detonators.

If you do proceed, I can tell you that many people use Driver Cleaner and report excellent results. Id much prefer to clean out old driver residue (files and registry) before installing a new version when possible.

As for OEM OS CDs, Im not sure who gave you that info but it appears to be incorrect. The only difference between OEM and retail is that OEM has less packaging and you do not get free support from MS. Ive built a number of systems with OEM Windows versions. The method I listed in my last post works just fine for clearing the hard drive and reinstalling the OS. So fret not The method indicated above should work just fine for ya.

[bdj470]

Mr Steveo or anyone,

I really need some help here.

Yesterday I powered up my system. I am using WinXP Pro and as soon as I get past the Logo screen (the screen with the scrolling). I get a BSOD with "IRQ_Not_Less_Or Equal" and it sounds as if my hard drive head park.

Then today it happened again.

It reboots and the same thing happens. The third time it rebooted it went straight into the BIOS.

If I hold in the Power switch to power down then wait and power up again all is fine

My system config is in my sig below.

Can anyone help?

I know this is a little off topic but everyone here is very knowledgeable.

Thanks

[use4browse]

I'm installing per guide, then get to windows update. The update will download, but not install. I lose all that time it took to download. The screen says 100% download but then just sits there. (I've never updated windows , but then I've never built my own before either.)(At least I made it past POST ) This can't be that hard a process, I must be missing something.

[Ec]-[oMaN]

give it time it is installing a load of stuff taht takes time,after you download it just let it sit there have you done that???also progress bars lie alot,sometimes if i install something it will go to 95-99% but then sit there for 5min installing 1% i think not....