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Windows XP Pro Reinstall/Repair – When and Why?


LarryAllen

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I’ve been curious for a while by many references advising XP users to try a “Reinstall” or even suggest a “Repair” when they encounter a problem or have installed new hardware or software which potentially was causing a problem. I’ve even seen Forum users (here and elsewhere) asking each other how often they do a fresh install as if this is a daily exercise for some. Exactly why are these procedures performed?

In my specific circumstance, I am entertaining going to an XP or Dual Core Opteron and in most cases one of the finishing touches suggested in Forums is to is to run a “Repair” after the installation of the new chip.

My concern is this. It seems to me that a Repair “Might” and a fresh Reinstall “Would” necessitate the reinstallation of all of my other software resident on the “C” XP boot drive; my further concern is that I have other software installed on additional drives but accessed via XP on the “C” drive ("Programs" directory) and it would seem that this mapping would get destroyed.

So I guess this is a multi-part question:

1) Am I going to have to do a Reinstall or Repair associated with the chip upgrade; and

2) Am I going to have to reinstall all of my software that is referenced through XP (e.g. the “Programs” directory on “C”).

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:blink:

new chip? what chip?

as for reinstallation, sometimes a BSOD, sometimes a program is so incompatible that the only way to fix it is to do a complete installation. thats why lots of people will constantly back up programs and software...reinstallation is almost inevitable with XP. it'll last so long, then it just needs to start over.

if you were referring to the motherboard, theres a lot more that needs to happen.

what chip are you talking about?

Edited by bonestonne
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bonestonne – will be either x2 4400, x2 4800 or Opteron 165. I’ve been advised that the x2’s will require installation of both the AMD Dual Processor download and the Optimizer followed by a Windows repair. I have received no similar advice as regards the Opteron relative to downloads or “repair”, e.g. it’s PnP – curious given it’s dual core as well.

As to the “repair”; do I have a risk of loss? I have XP redundant on the second drive but if a repair is req’d to run the new chip, the redundant version won’t be any good, e.g. the backup would be rendered worthless by the chip update. Bottom line is that I’m backed up to the maximum but what good is it if chip renders all unusable? PS – I’m not referring to data, which I know will be OK, and is for the most part located on other drives.

The frequent “new/fresh” install requirement seems unacceptable. It’s hard to believe that this is a requirement although I would concede that the installation gets glommed up over time due to accumulation of garbage (partial deletion of installed software, Internet garbage. etc.) – however, this is my fault not XP’s. If the purpose of a fresh install is to just eliminate this, I can live without it; prior to beginning to backup and restore frequently I lost my OS hard drive; it took literally weeks to bring XP and my software packages back up to the point of the loss – I would not knowledgably do this again via a “fresh” install.

Thanks, LarryAllen

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if you're going to swap your processors, unless im mistaken, a fresh install is the easiest way to fix it.

a fresh install lets you start over, least chance of a corrupt file causing a large problem.

a repair would to basically the same, only doing the least amount of damage to program files.

if you have 2 hard drives, heres my suggestion:

Back up everything you have on a slave hard drive, pictures, music installer files, documents, you name it. if you're really picky, you can even save you're theme and put that in there. just keep it organized, you'll thank yourself if you don't have to go rummaging around to find something.

take that other hard drive you have, after installing your new Opterons or whatever you choose, do a clean installation of windows XP, WITHOUT THE SLAVE DRIVE IN THE COMPUTER.

when the installation is complete, turn off the computer, put in the slave drive [make sure its set as slave too] and there you have it, you're entire computer is at your fingertips.

its the way i can run Windows Vista or Windows XP with the same playlist. just save it, swap hard drives, boom. my slave drive may only be 40GB [and filling fast] but i've got a 60 to swap it with if i really need to.

also having everything on a slave drive is better than backing it up on CDs or DVDs. everything is right where i need it. that is, until they create a 40GB DVD :lol:

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bonestonne, as I mentioned, I am already redundant with other drives. My BIOS allows me to select which ever drive I want to boot from (I have XP installed on both SATA drives). My experience has been that when I change and boot from another drive, if I have made hardware changes, this is immediately picked up. So it seems to me that if I do a reinstall on one drive the other drive will not pick up the change, what I’d end up doing is going from drive to drive to access my software, e.g., all programs existing on the original drive would be lost due to the reinstall; they would still exist on the second drive but I would have to go to it to access. Thanks, LarryAllen

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You started off with a general question of frequent repair/reinstall but then talked about a very specific scenario of changing the chip.

Programs that require installation write to the registry and create shortcuts so a repair or reinstall would destroy these. You cannot expect the Setup routine to detect what else is there in other partitions. PnP hardware detection is different. Programs that don't require installation usually survive a reinstall.

Not everyone does frequent reinstall/repair. I don't.

If you feel it's a pain to build everything up after a reinstall due to malware, then why not use Ghost or other imaging prog?

Edited by Takeshi
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If you do a repair, you are reinstalling windows over the original installation. Then your old registry is merged with the new registry so your shortcuts, settings and programs remain intact (mostly. I have seen some losses, but they are usually not severe.)

It sounds like your upgrading your cpu, which probably means your replacing the motherboard. If this is the case, do as bonestonne suggests about backing up, then format the drive and do a completly fresh install. Never try to save the old os when replacing the mb. :no:

However, if your just upgrading the cpu wothout replacing the mb, I wouldn't worry about it. I have never had a prob with just putting in a faster proc.

Finally, when you have finished reinstalling all of your software, making any tweaks, it's all just as you want it, run disk cleanup then defrag. Then use Ghost or other imaging software to make an image. Then, whenever you want, it's easy to roll your computer back to its pristine, just installed condition. :thumbup

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Takeshi and jheiibeck – thanks to you both! Takeshi, when I say I have redundant XP installs on both SATA drives, I meant just that. I create via Ghost, so we share the same thought process but the question goes back to the reinstall or repair destroying or damaging software on the same drive as XP; I wouldn’t want to Ghost an old image back after a reinstall/refresh – granted I’d get the software back but it would also overwrite the repaired XP.

However, jheibeck, if I’m reading you right; I’m not apt to lose my software with a “repair”. No, I’m definitely not replacing the MoBo, just going to a dual core processor, same 939 socket; so a “repair” should be OK?

Thanks again all!

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I have never had a prob with just putting in a faster proc.
No, I’m definitely not replacing the MoBo, just going to a dual core processor, same 939 socket; so a “repair” should be OK?

If you are just replacing the cpu and leaving the the mobo intact then you wouldn't need a repair or reinstall.

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LarryAllen: my reference to Ghost was directed at this comment:

The frequent “new/fresh” install requirement seems unacceptable. It’s hard to believe that this is a requirement although I would concede that the installation gets glommed up over time due to accumulation of garbage (partial deletion of installed software, Internet garbage. etc.) – however, this is my fault not XP’s.

and not about ghosting after a repair/reinstall. Of course that's nonsense.

Now we finally know your query is really about whether repair/reinstall is needed after upgrading the CPU of the same socket and without changing the MoBo and not about frequent reinstall in general. We can just concentrate on the real issue.

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