problems after install

Helo..i have just installed vista but had a power cut halway through and it hasnt gone acording to plan.Its up and running but i seemed to have used 32 gig of c drive and windows wont update giving error 80245003. i feel i should just start again but not sure how to reinstall to wipe all current data. many thanks for any replies

 

Do you have a friend who would install your drive as a slave in their machine?
If so, use Disk Manager to delete the entire partition on yours ,reformat.Thank your friend andput your drive back into your machine.
Start with a clean drive.

 

Or, slap in your Vista DVD, when it gets to where to install, delete the partition and then format it. Should go in smoothly after that.

 

thanks ..but i only know one person with sata and hes hard to get hold of. Will it be obvious what to do if i put vista disk in regarding deleting partition etc. Im a bit naive when it comes to this sort of thing. :-o

 

Yup, easy as pie. I'm installing Vista right now so it's fresh in my mind. once you get to the screen where you have upgrade or advanced options, take the advanced. Format the drive and away you go. You mentioned SATA drive(s), there's no problem unless they're in a RAID configuration which needs a separate disk, but I doubt you need that. You can't hurt anything by trying ATM. I'll be online for a couple of hours so if you get stuck, then just post and I or someone else will answer.

 

thanks for your help
install went ok-ish.. update froze after 16 out of 86 updates but restarted pc and all went ok pc is running well...but i wonder why computer has used 50 gig of my c drive even though i have deleted the windows old folder and have only installed vista and norton. thanks for any replies

 

There might be a ton of temp files leftover. Have you unhidden Windows files yet? Click on Computer/Organize/Folder and Search options/View and click on the radio button to 'Show hidden files and folders. Also uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files.' Then you'll see everything. Have you emptied the 'Recycle Bin'? Do you have any $uninstall files. Clean out temporary files.

My Vista X64 took up 22GB and I find that high.:-D Oh, instead of that stupid WU download the full SP2, burn it and install that way, then you'll only have a few updates to grab.

EDIT: You didn't format the drive first eh? I think the quicker option for you is to format the the drive first and then install again instead of all the gobbleygook I just posted.

 

Something else nags at me, did you change your BIOS to boot off the CD first? I think that's why you had a windows.old file created. I'm slow today.:-o

 

I dont think i changed to boot from cd...the weekend got a bit blury with all hassle/frustration + bottle of wine to celebrate it working:-D ...i know i follwed your instructions yesturday but forget if i just put vista disk in while pc was running or if i put it in then restrted pc.....i had to change boot prioity a few times over weekend....would i have got install screen up if i never changed boot prioity? I will check boot prioity after dinner...i dont suppose i can check without restart and going into bios ???

 

You'll have to restart to get into your BIOS. You would have gotten an install screen either way but you booted to your installed Vista instead. Back to square one and hopefully there won't be a need for square two.

 

Iv checked as you said...it boots from disk and i dont seem to have temp files, unless i just cant find them:-o i went from search tab to look for them. i got 11.5 gig of windows 2gig hiberfile.sys 2.3gig pagefile.sys and 2.5gig nvidia driver folder and a few small folders....i only found couple uninstal files.I explored windows and didnt see double copies of files..recycle bin is empty looks like i can only account for about 18gig so there is 30gig of files i cant find

 

Go to Start/Control Panel/Folder Options.
Click on View.
Go down and check
1: Show Hidden Files and Folders
Go down a couple more and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files"
Click OK your way out.
Remember to hide all again when finished.

 

I done that i can only find about 16 gig but if i right click -properties on local disk (c) it reckons iv used 52 gig and also if i click start-computer its 52 gig used