Reinstalling XP on a Dell

[Whickerman]

I want to reinstall XP on a Dell Vostro 1000. Have the two discs here, great so far. I did this once some time ago and cannot find the guide I had to the sequence of driver installation - can anyone give me a definitive sequence?

[ChuckFickens]

it will make no difference what order you install most the drivers.

Chipset is always a good idea to start with and the modem probably won't install until after the audio drivers, but other than that alphabetical is as good as any if you really want an order.

[ChuckFickens]

a little further advice. get your anti-virus on there as soon as you've done the install (preferably before you go online with it) then keep running windows updates until there are no more (about 3-4 times) then get on and install all your programmes and as soon as you've got all your base programs back on it do a hard drive defrag.

Also watch out for unneeded toolbars and extras when installing anything.

[ChuckFickens]

OH, and don't use the drivers on the CDs, download all the latest ones from dells site before starting (or on another computer) burn to CD and use those.

Flashing the BIOS to the latest one if a new one is available while you are at it all wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[AlBags]

Also, it may well pay to make sure XP is updated to SP3 at the earliest opportunity .. as Service Pack2/3 add lots of drivers and support for later devices.
If you add Service packs this will cut down on the Windows updates you require. Being Dell, I would assume that is not an Athlon processor .. If it was, you need to add the AMD patch before updating to SP3.
Flash BIOS if you're brave .. after installing motherboard drivers and before anything else .. in case it fails.

[ChuckFickens]

To be fair about the "if your brave" part RE: the BIOS, I did have my first one fail on me for about 10years today...

It was a pain to sort out! :)

[AlBags]

Usually easier to replace Mobo : )

I usually have a look at manu. website to see what bios updates achieve exactly. Sometimes are not worth doing unless they fix an issue you have, or to enable a feature/memory improvement/graphics.

[Whickerman]

Cheers guys