Format PC

redrum217uk · Post by **redrum217uk** » February 6th, 2007, 11:38

Hello,

Yet another question from the red,

I just installed windows Visa I used to OEM copy and it wouldnt let me upgrade direct though windows, so i booted up from the CD all installed fine, its amazing and all that, but it does not appear to have removed all my old files and it did not give me the option to format when I installed it.

It did tell me it had stored some files in x folder but can't remember what it was and stupid me didnt write it down!

Is there anyway I can format my PC like in the old dos sort of way?? then install Fista fresh?

Cheers

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 6th, 2007, 11:41

Sounds like you chose an upgrade install, rather than a full/clean install.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » February 6th, 2007, 11:42

Tsk, 3 minutes Berk. You're slipping.

redrum217uk · Post by **redrum217uk** » February 6th, 2007, 11:42

OEM didnt give me the option to upgrade you had to do a full install. But half my hard drive is gone and im presuming its cos i didnt format it!

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 6th, 2007, 11:45

redrum217uk wrote:OEM didnt give me the option to upgrade you had to do a full install. But half my hard drive is gone and im presuming its cos i didnt format it!

it might have adopted some of your HDD to a new partition, either use the built in disk manager, or a 3rd party partition management tool.

redrum217uk · Post by **redrum217uk** » February 6th, 2007, 11:51

Its ok I have found the "windows.old" files so i can just get rid of the things I dont want

I still would have liked to format my HDD before I installed tho, but never mind!

Cheers

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » February 6th, 2007, 11:54

You're probably better off to back up the things you want to keep onto a CD or DVD and then do a fresh install with a format if you can rather than an upgrade one. It always makes sense to do things as cleanly as possible I reckon.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 6th, 2007, 11:54

ahhhh

i think i may have just used my brain.

did you try to install from within windows first? if so, did you let the Fista dvd restart and install stuff automagically? (rather than manually booting off the dvd) that'll spawn some weird bastard upgrade thing, rather than a full install.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » February 6th, 2007, 11:56

Dr. kitteny berk wrote: i think i may have just used my brain.

Christ, its only February!

redrum217uk · Post by **redrum217uk** » February 6th, 2007, 11:57

nope it would not let my install in windows I had to going into bios and boot from CD.

It came up with the options full install or upgrade but then said upgrade not available. So i did full, I already backed up my stuff on an external HDD.

Is there NO way to format my pc at all? doing it though windows wont let me!

It dit not give me any options for format the HDD at all

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 6th, 2007, 12:01

easiest way I can think of (given i'm not familiar with the Fista install process)

would be to grab your local friendly windows XP cd, and either letting the install go up until you've formatted, or loading the recovery console and formatting in there (i think this is possible)

Post by **fabyak** » February 6th, 2007, 12:23

I think once you have used your key to do an upgrade, you can only use it to upgrade. i.e. If your PC craps itself and you need to do a full rebuild, you will have to install XP first and then upgrade it

We were talking about this in the office a few days back and I think thats what the bottom line was

[edit] and I have a sneaking feeling that OEM is upgrade only

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » February 6th, 2007, 12:28

Well that's retarded. I've got an upgrade version of XP, and if it doesn't detect an older or current (to XP) version of windows, I just stick my old 98 disk in and away I go. If microsoft decided to change that, it'll be a huge PITA.

Post by **FatherJack** » February 6th, 2007, 12:31

Reinstall. Boot off CD, when is shows the partitions, press D, L (or something) to delete the existing one, then C to create a new one. That should format it.

You can only upgrade if you start the install from within Windows, and can only format if you either boot from CD, or choose not to copy/update install files from within Windows.

cashy · Post by **cashy** » February 6th, 2007, 12:36

I'm with lat here, nuke the fucker. NUKE IT HARD!

redrum217uk · Post by **redrum217uk** » February 6th, 2007, 12:59

Well I'm back!

I booted from my xp disk formatted the HDD then reboot using the Fista DVD!

So that worked! Stupid that Fista does not give you the option to format your HDD!

The only prob I have at the mo is i cant get it to find my x-fi sound card

it can only find the onboard one and when I try to install a driver it says the hardware is not installed!

All the scans i did before said it would work fine.

Any ideas?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 6th, 2007, 13:00

shut down, pull the soundcard. reboot (with card out)

shut down, put card back in (different slot if possible)

reboot.

often helps.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » February 6th, 2007, 13:03

Also, does your motherboard require a "chipset" driver in order for some of the slots to be picked up?

A lot of motherboard use an intel chipset utility and often this needs to be installed before it can pick up other devices.

It's a long shot, but worth looking up your motherboard any drivers/software it requires.

redrum217uk · Post by **redrum217uk** » February 6th, 2007, 13:16

Right after doing some more searching around the creative website I found a driver!

So my sound card works fine!

Well all is good so far I'm well impressed with Fista! Now its time for installing games and seeing how I get on with them!

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » February 6th, 2007, 13:20

Glad thats sorted then. I'll be interested to hear how the games run. What games are you going to test?

Edit: Although it appears that your PC pwns hard all over mine, so the fact that games run well on yours will probably mean precisely nothing for my system.

Hope you're not pulling a sickie to sit and play with Fista!