restore an me.pc

[bronners]

could anyone please tell me how to restore a 6/7 yr old m e pc.its been packed away for the last 4 yrs and still works but i would like to restore it to its as new state if thats possible.i have the origional m e installtion disc with product key, graphics card disc, disc for the dvd rom, cd rom driver for dos (on a floppy), and another disc with a load of stuff on it which it says are all optional apps.i was wondering if anyone could tell me what i need to do to restore it and in which order i need to run the discs that i have.there is nothing on the pc that i need so i`m not worried about losing everything or if i muck it up if it`s no good after it can go in the bin,. if i manage this i would like to restore my laptop which i know is a bit different plus all i have for it are the backup discs i made when i first bought it.any help gratefully received

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

You need a Startup disk. If you haven't got one, put a floppy in the drive and do this:
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Startup Disk > Create Disk.

You now need to boot the PC from the Startup disk. Your PC will probably look for a boot floppy before booting from the hard drive. (If it doesn't, post again and I'll try to guide you through changing the BIOS so that it does). With you boot floppy in the drive, restart your PC. Assuming that the BIOS is set in the usual configuration, you'll see a DOS boot-up screen, instead of Windows. Select the option for 'minimal boot'. When you see a flashing cursor, type 'C: format' (without the quote marks) and press 'Enter' You'll be asked to confirm that you want to format the drive. Select 'Yes'.

Once the drive has formatted, restart your PC again, still with the Startup floppy in the drive. This time select 'boot with CD support'. Watch your screen and it will tell you which letter has been allocated to your CD drive. It will almost certainly be E (and not D as you're probably used to seeing).

[Buenchico]

Put your Windows CD in the drive and type 'E:setup' (without the quote marks) and press 'Enter'. From now on Windows almost installs itself. Simply follow the on-screen prompts. (Since your mouse driver won't be installed initially, any selections are made by using the arrow keys and pressing 'Enter').

Once Windows has been installed, you may find that your screen is set to the lowest possible resolution and it can't be changed. You might also find that you've got no sound. Don't panic, it's only because you've not installed the drivers yet. If there's a disk associated with your motherboard, insert it into the drive. It should auto-start. Just follow the on-screen instructions to install the drivers from it. Then use any other disks, one by one, to install the drivers from them.

Once you've installed all necessary drivers, you can start installing the software. Simply select what you need, insert the disks and follow the on-screen prompts.

Chris

[bronners]

brilliant just the answer i was looking,thanks very much chris
brian

[ACtheTROLL]

Bu .... that's Bu .... tiful
well remembered