Drivers? Help please!

[mcefreak]

Hi, Im new here so...

I want to reformatt my hard drive and install a copy of Windows XP Media Center edition Edition, Im just about to do that, but one thing is holding me back. How will I know what drivers I need to reinstall and were can I get them? Are thier any really important ones? and one called "NVIDIA display driver." Im guessing I'll need that and I check NVIDIA for it, but Im not shur I can find the right one. I have a NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400. Please help me, I really want to do this right the first time, and it is a family computer so I dont want to screw things up. Thanks.

[spokat]

I only joined 5 minutes ago to post about a problem I have, but I saw your post and needed to reply. I don't know if I can be of much service but here goes...
I am running xp home and on my computer under start > my programs > system recovery ...it will give you the option to reinstall programs and drivers. I too use NVIDIA. What you want to do is choose make a backup disc of these programs, assuming you have 'system recovery' in your 'my programs' list.
Now when you install anything new and your drivers don't automatically install, you can just pop your cd in and reinstall from there.
HTH, I am not a computer whiz ...just telling you my experience

[mcefreak]

I only joined 5 minutes ago to post about a problem I have, but I saw your post and needed to reply. I don't know if I can be of much service but here goes... I am running xp home and on my computer under start > my programs > system recovery ...it will give you the option to reinstall programs and drivers. I too use NVIDIA. What you want to do is choose make a backup disc of these programs, assuming you have 'system recovery' in your 'my programs' list. Now when you install anything new and your drivers don't automatically install, you can just pop your cd in and reinstall from there. HTH, I am not a computer whiz ...just telling you my experience

Thank you, that clears things up, but Im not shur how to do backup. I cant find a program called system recovery, is thier a different way of getting thier? I need step by step instructions:lol: thanks for your help

[jbennet]

by the way if you have SATA hard disk drives dont even try to reformat and reinstall unless you know what you are doing. If you do have SATA you will most likely need driver floppies and a floppy drive

[spokat]

You would only have a system recovery if you have a d: recovery drive. System recovery is found under start, then ALL programs, sorry a typo earlier on that but I guess you caught my drift.

I can't really be of further assistance to you , since you don't have it. I've had this computer almost a year and I only recently discovered I could make a backup of my drivers. Thank God I did because a few days later I accidentally deleted my d: drive and now my 'system recovery' has gone bye-bye.

only thing I can advise is to go to driver website to download. If you know what kind you have then just follow the instructions in their drop down menu.

you also may need your sound card. Find all info about what you have under start > run > dxdiag

someone will come along soon I'm sure that knows more than me. so sorry.

[jbennet]

what pc is it anyway?

i know on the dells you hold down control + f11 when they boot and it recovers the OS from a hidden partition

[spokat]

well that kind of answers my post even tho you're replying to him........I actually do have a rebuilt dell and I am off to try out what you said

*fingers crossed*

[jbennet]

if you did anything to the MBR or the partitions it wont be able to recover btw (ive killed umpteen with linux and vista)

hold down control + f11 and hammer them from powerup onwards. you should arrive at a (symantec?) screen where you can click to reinstall your os.

this is how it is on my d5150 from last xmas

[spokat]

not to be a dumass but what do u mean by hammer them? do i continually hold them down or do I pound them? sorry for the threadjack.
my dang keyboard quits working when computer powers up...I don't get it...if you have any replies to me about my dead dell will you do it under my post dead computer? I hate to threadjack.

[jbennet]

by that i mean hold down control and tap f11 repeatedly at the same time until it takes you to the recovery screen.

if they keyboard isnt working i may know why. is it usb?

older pcs dont like using USB keyboards so dig out a ps/2 one if you have a port available

[spokat]

yep sure is a usb keyboard. tyvm you've been most helpful. Nothing is fixed yet, but I will switch keyboards on it tomorrow to see what happens. ty!

off to bed now............