System Restore, and Hard Drive Reformat

[HitMan]

How do I do both?  I'm using Windows XP Home.

[Dusty]

System Restore - Start>All Progs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore then select the Restore point you want.

Hard Drive Reformat & Install XP - See here

Is there a particular reason you want to do this :-?  If it's because you have a virus or two then you should use another option to get rid of them..

Good luck

[HitMan]

Is there a downside to system restoring?  I think I might have  one or more faulty RAM sticks.  But I don't know.  I get a blu-screen, but it goes away in less then a second and my computer reboots.  I got this computer like 3 days ago.  I have done everything but system restore, and reseating the RAM.  I am worried about reseating it because I mihgt cause static and kill it off, which could kill the warranty.

[HitMan]

Nevermind, I don't have a Windows XP disk.  It came installed with my computer.  My computer has been working fine the past like 5 hours, but it hasn't done much.  I think it will be okay.

[MASH]

Try running a memory test from a diskette or from a CD just to put your mind at ease. When data corruption starts it can cause problems for the future.

Static should not a problem as long as everything is disconnected and you touch the bare metal casing with your left hand and hold the power button down for ten seconds before touching components.

Your clothing and the environment you are working in should not be capable of producing static either such as nylon and other synthetic materials.

You can also run the manufacturer's hard-drive diagnostic test to see if there are any faults and run-

chkdsk /r

-from Windows for the same purpose.

With a new computer these are all good ideas as there may be displacement of hardware parts in transit and the computer may have been on the warehouse shelf a lot longer than on the retailers shelf, so it pays to run tests which run over the full surface area of the drive platters.

If you do find errors in memory, or bad sectors on the drive, you should refer to your warranty.

[ch1046]

[MASH]

Nevermind, I don't have a Windows XP disk.  It came installed with my computer.  My computer has been working fine the past like 5 hours, but it hasn't done much.  I think it will be okay.

If your computer has the facility to make a restore CDR(s) or DVD from a hidden partition or FAT32 partition on your hard drive you should do this at the first opportunity.

This computer had a 5 GB hidden partition and some new computers have a 15 GB FAT32 partition. The latter will show up in Disk Management.

The former may be determined by mathematical calculation if you know the nominal (or decimal) size of the hard-drive from which the binary size may be calculated and any apparently missing space, other than the numerical size reduction, caused by formatting will most likely be a recovery partition.

E.G. A 100 GB hard drive will be 93.13 GB (binary) after formatting.

[ch1046]

[Backdated]

If this is a new computer and you're getting bsods and shutdowns, take it back and demand that it's made fully functional or replaced.