Dell Windows XP, reformat

[Hawtsauce]

I got my system a little over 3 years ago and now I want to reformat, I have an XP disk from another computer I don't use anymore and was just going to use it to reformat.

I called DELL and they said I should have a partition to restore it to factory condition, but turns out I didn't. He said I needed the Windows CD that came with it and I told him I didn't know where the CDs where that came with it but had my own XP disk, he said it wouldn't work and that I need their system disk. I thought this might just be BS or a legal issue or something, but when I tried downloading some DELL drivers from the site after inputing my system's code, they saved into weird places like C:\Dell\Drivers, so I'm wondering if it needs a DELL XP install to properly use their drivers.

Anyway he ended up having the XP disk and some programs mailed to me but I'd like to get the reformat done ASAP so I can start worrying about drivers, etc, so I'm wondering if I can just use mine. Also he said to download 1 driver from their site which is a network driver so I can get online and have a technician download the other things I needed, but I think I can figure out on my own what I need from their site.

Also, I'm in a raid0 stripe configuration now, if I reformat should I first delete my raid configuration, and then how easy will it be to set it up again once I'm reformatted?

Thanks in advance.

 

[g-paw]

You can install your copy of XP on the Dell but you'll likely have to activate it by phone, just tell them your mobo died and you had to replace it, 5 - 10 minutes with wait time. As for the drivers, just download the most recent drivers for you machine to a folder of your choice, you'll need your browser set up to chose where you save downloads. When you extract the drivers, they'll be saved to the above Dell/Driver folder, which is fine. I think you'll be asked if you want to install from this location and say yes. There are instructions for installing the drivers on the Dell web site. They're making it a hell of lot more complicated than it is.