alter HP os

I need help i have a HP pavillion desk top computer with the OS installed and have loads of problems with it as i have no back up discs or xp disc is it possible to clear every thing off the hard drive with something like DBAN hard drive cleaner and install my lovely new windows xp home with sp3 and then put my software in that i want to run not all there stuff and then i wont have the problems i am getting now will the mother board still operate i have no HP drivers for it

 

What OS is installed on the PC now? XP or Vista?

 

it has xp home withsp3

 

There shouldn't be a problem with installing XP. I guess in your first post you meant you have no HP XP disc? Just making sure you have a full installation disc for XP SP3.

I couple things you might want to do. Make sure you have your serial number for your XP disc. Also you may want to get your current serial number off the HP computer before wiping it so you have a copy. Magic Jelly Bean http://majorgeeks.com/Magical_Jelly_Bean_Keyfinder_d2612.html should show you that number.

The other thing is that a standard retail XP installation disc may miss some drivers for your computer. It would be wise to download them from HP now before install so that you will have them available to load if you need them. Write them to a CD or put them on a flash drive so you can get them over to the newly loaded computer.

If you give us the model number of your PC we can make suggestions of necessary drivers. Off hand, I would say Audio, Video and Networking are most important. Once you can get on the internet with the new OS you will be able to download anything else at leisure.

 

thanks sach2 it is a HP pavillion061 system serial number CZB54713X6 GB 540 does this help also when I do the changeover I will have more control instead of HP it has a 200 gig drive with 175 gig hard drive free space will i need to put a patition in also when i clean it useing DBAN will it be totaly clean

 

Yes, I'm leaning towards trying to do a factory restore from the recovery partition as Plodr pointed out. There seem to be several flavors of Pavilion 061 and I have been unable to narrow down your model from your serial number. (Maybe download and run Belarc Advisor to see what it gives you for model number)

A couple of possible complications with a generic XP disc are that you have a SATA hard drive and may need drivers for Windows to even begin an install. Until we can narrow down your exact model we can't back up any network drivers for internet access.

If your recovery partition is still intact a factory restore may be the easiest way forward to give you a fresh start and then simply uninstall any unnecessary or trial version programs. Remember if you use the generic disc you will lose preloaded software like MS Works (unless you have a separate installation CD for that program).

No matter what you eventually choose--I would advise AGAINST using DBan on the HD as that will remove the Factory Restore Partition forever. On a 200GB HD the 5gb that partition takes up is negligible and good insurance. If you decide to load XP from your SP3 disc you will be given an option to delete or format your current OS partition and then install, which is more than sufficient to load XP on a clean fresh space.

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What sort of problems are you having with the PC? Do you have only the original 512mb RAM installed? Adding a bit more RAM should make a big difference if your problems are with sluggishness. A fresh reload of factory settings and some RAM should help a lot and avoid complications from any missing drivers .

Reformatting once a year is a good thing but you want to be prepared for the fact that anything you have stored on your PC and any programs or changes you have made will be gone. Since it doesn't seem to be an emergency think about what exactly you want or are hoping for from starting over and we'll try to let you know what to expect.