Hardware And Networking

In this post We are going to tell you how to do Windows XP clean installation. The procedure is simple and there are lots of pictures to help you understand it and do it your own.

 Ok let’s see now how to do a Windows XP clean install. Clean means that the OS will be installed from scratch and not as an upgrade from a previous OS.

 Everything else is just following a setup wizard.

Insert the Windows XP install CD in the DVD/CD ROM.

In order to launch the Windows XP setup you have to set the computer to boot from the Windows XP install CD. You have two choices to do this.

The first, which is more typical, is to enter in the BIOS and change the boot priority.

The second is to bring the boot menu which is showed by pressing an F-key during memory test. When the computer performs the memory test look down at your display and see which F-key brings the boot menu. Just select the CD-ROM option and you are good to go.

 To enter the BIOS, restart your computer and press the “del” key during the memory test. When you are in, go to the “Advanced BIOS Features” and find the boot priority setting. Set as first device the CD-ROM. Then go back, save and exit. Now when you start up your computer, it will first look if there is a bootable CD or DVD and if there is nothing on the drive it will continue booting from the HDD. The BIOS environment  will look like the following picture.

Ok now we are ready to launch a Windows XP clean install. As the computer finds the bootable medium in the DVD/CD ROM it will prompt you to press any key to boot from the CD. Just press a key and wait for the Windows XP installation to begin. What you will see next is showed in the following picture.

In first seconds the setup gives you the choice to add third party SCSI and RAID drivers. If you have created a RAID array then you have to install these drivers from a floppy disk in order for your hard drive to be detectable. These are advanced tips that we will cover in a later article. Let’s continue to our normal Windows XP clean install for now.

After a while you will be prompted to accept the Eula and continue. Next you will have to select a partition where the Windows will be installed. Look at the next photo.

On this screen you can create, delete or format partitions. If your hard drive is brand new then you may have to create the partitions and then to format them prior selecting them to install Windows XP. You can do all these through this screen. Create a Partition .

Now we are going to select a partition to perform a Windows XP clean install.

The installation continues with copying the necessary files. After this it will restart the computer and the installation will continue from the hard drive and in a more beautiful interface.  If you have changed the boot priority from the BIOS, now you can enter again and revert it back as it was previously. After the system restart you are going to see the next screen.

The installation continues and you just have to follow the wizard. You will be prompted several times to select some regional, language and user settings. We will see them all.

As you see there is a progress bar that show you when the installation will be completed and the action that is currently performed.

On the above menu you have to select the date and time and also your time zone. Select the one that apply to your region and press next.

Now it’s time to enter some settings about your region and language. Click on Customize to set your Current location and Language settings. You will see the following tabs.

Select your Language and Location.  Be careful, these settings are not for selecting the Windows XP language. As clearly showed there “this option affects how some programs format numbers, currencies, dates, and time”. Sochoose your spoken language here. Don’t afraid if you select something wrong as all of these settings can be changed later when the Windows XP clean install will have been completed.

On the Location menu just select your country and hit OK.

Now if you want to install extra keyboard languages, click on the Details on the previous Regional and Language Options form. This will look like the following picture:

Select you default input language that will be used when you start windows. Click Ok and then next to continue with the installation.

The next thing that you will be prompted is to enter user details:

Simply enter your name here and press next. In the next form enter a name for your computer. The computer’s name cannot be the same with your name.

Enter an administrator password if you want. If you leave it blank then Windows will not ask you for a password during logon. If the computer is going to be used also from other people then it may be better to set a password. But this is clearly your choice. Press next to continue

Some network options. What you see above are the defaults. Unless your computer belongs to a corporate network you are not going to enter something different here. Click next.

Now installation continues and you will not be prompted again. A restart will follow and then Windows XP will start for the first time.

After the last restart you will see the above screen. Windows XP operating system is preparing to run for the first time. You may have to select some few options here but are all very easy to follow.

Congratulations you just performed a Windows XP clean install! Now you are ready to use your new operating system. Did we say ready? Ok you have to dosome extra work now like to install the drivers of your devices but this is another chapter.

We hope that you found this guide easy. As you see there’s nothing difficult to it. The installation is an easy and intuitive procedure and does not require any special knowledge. Try it and see for yourself.

Windows XP Clean Install Summary

•        Insert Windows XP install CD into DVD/CD ROM

•        Select CD-ROM as the first boot device from the boot priority sequence in the BIOS or from the boot menu.

•        Start the installation and select the partition that you want to install Windows XP.

•        Enter the details that the setup wizard will ask you during the installation.

•        Wait till the installation completes. That’s it! You just completed a Windows XP clean install!

The computer Motherboard or shortly MOBO is one of the most important part of the Personal computer (PC).It is a hardware of the computer installed inside the system unit(CPU).This MOBO hardware act as the main board or the central or core assembly of the computer system unit. In other words inside of the CPU case there are a lot of other hardware's connected to the MOBO, namely: Hard Disk Drive (HDD), CD/DVD ROM, USB Card reader, FDD Drive, processor, RAM, LAN card, Wireless LAN card, USB expansion board, VGA Card, and the Power Supply Unit (PSU).These are all types of hardware's inside the system unit of the Personal Computer.

Computer motherboard designed to take advantage of the most demand application of a program. Just like the movie games as high innovative applications of computer programming. As the form factor of motherboard as a series of versions of the MOBO from AT, ATX, BTX, LPX, and NLPX. Compatible words being broadcast, that's why it is the MOBO will synchronize the speed of processor, RAM, and Video Card (VGA). Unlike only if the MOBO is built-in through the Input/output ports.

So, let’s talk about the Motherboard parts and function to enable you to familiarize the parts and function. This is the most practical approach of the technician. (See the picture above).

1. I/O ports- This is located in the rear panel of the CPU, this use to connect the outside hardware or peripherals of the computer.

•          PS/2 ports- These are used to connect the mouse (green color) and the keyboard (purple color)

•          DB 25 female connector (printer port)-This is use to connect the impact printer, one of that the DOT MATRIX printer, ex. the Epson LX 300 +

•          DB 9 male connector (Serial or com1 port)-This use to connect a serial device of the computer, such as the serial mouse and external modem.

•          VGA port (built-in)- This is use to interface the DB cord of the monitor screen or to connect the monitor screen of the computer. The fastest video card versions are based on the standard of the VGA slots, ex: the AGP and PCI’e card.

•          USB 2.0 × 2 ports- These are the ports of the USB devices of the computer. Attached externally of the system unit, one of that are the USB flash drives. As of now the versions or speed of the USB are the 1.0 and 2.0 compatible.

•          LAN port- This called as Local Area Network of the computer. This is use to connect the numbers of node or workstations (PC) to form a local area network of the computer with in their area. Using type of communication media such as the network switch and router.

•          Audio Port- This is use to connect the speaker, mike, and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) device of the computer.

2. ATX Power connector(4 pin)- This is use to connect the 4 pin of the power supply unit(PSU) .This is separate of the 20 or 24 pin of ATX power supply to provide DC voltage of computer processor.

3.  Processor’s ZIF Socket- Part of MOBO use to hold the processor or CPU chip (Zero Insertion Force).The compatibility of the socket depends of the computer processor type. Such as the AM2 socket of the AMD and the socket 775 of the Intel company.

4. Memory slot (DIMM) - This is called as Dual Inline Memory Module, this is the slot of computer memory or what we called RAM. The memory slot depends of the type of the memory. Such as the PC 133 SDRAM and PC 400 SDRAM-DDR 1.

5. ATX Power connector (24 or 28 pin) - A group of connector of the MOBO. This is separate of the 4 pin power assignments. It provides a DC power output to the system board (SB) from the output of the Power Supply Unit.

6. Name of the Vendor- this is the manufacturer name. This is important to know the manufacturer or vendor. So you can download through the internet site the driver software of the MOBO.

7. CMOS/BIOS BATTERY- In this part, the CMOS/BIOS battery is hold, so that it can provide 3 volts direct current/voltage to the CMOS IC. To preserve the BIOS settings of the computer. Such as the time module, hardware information and settings/parameter, etc.

•          CMOS-Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor

•          BIOS - Basic Input/output system. Is a set of a program stored in CMOS IC, use to preserve the BIOS configuration of the computer

•          CMOS BATTERY PART NUMBER- lithium dry cell CR 2032 3 volts.

8. IDE connector (Intergrated Drive Electronics)- This connector is use to connect the IDE cable of the HDD(Hard Disk Drive) or CD/DVD ROM to the Mother Board IDE.

9. Front panel connectors(F-Panel)- This is use to connect the Power LED,HDD LED, Power Switch, and Reset switch of the computer system unit(CPU).

10. SATA connector-This is Serial Advance Technology Attachment. The new standard of the IDE connection array of the computer HDD (SATA HDD) to the motherboard system.

11. CMOS/BIOS jumper- This is use to disable the BIOS default setup. Such as to disabled the 

supervisor password of the BIOS.

•          How to disable password before the BIOS setup

•          Turn off CPU

•          Change jumper to clear

•          Remove the CMOS battery

•          Reinsert the BIOS battery

•          Change jumper to normal

•          Power up computer

•          Press “del” or “F2” to enter BIOS setup.

12. USB connector (header) - This is use to connect the USB port of the front panel USB 2.0 x 2 port.

13. FDD connector- The connector of the FDD cable through the system board. Normally 

there are 34 pins out of it to connect the 3.5” 1.44mb Floppy Disk Drive.

14. PCI slots- a part of the computer motherboard use to connect the I/O cards of the computer. Such as LAN card, WIFI card, USB expansion card, and sound card.

15. Motherboard Version number- here you can get the version of the motherboard driver software. So that you can download it exactly to the manufacturer website.

16. CMOS/BIOS IC- This is the type of BIOS IC being use by the computer MOBO.A set of a program being installed in this IC to preserved the BIOS configuration settings of the computer. Such as the speed of the CPU chip and RAM, etc.

17. AMR slot- This is the AUDIO Modem Riser. Being use to demodulate and modulate the analog audio of the computer.

18. PCI express slot- A part of the computer that hold the computer video card (VGA), the PCI’e card. The latest and the fastest card being installed and most compatible with 3d and 4g gaming of the computer. The old video card type is the AGP or Accelerated Graphic Ports and 

the standard of the PCI’e.

19. North Bridge IC- Is a passion name as being north of the PCI buses or the PCI slots of the MOBO. The true name of the north bridge is MCI or Memory Controller Hub. Assigned to manage and control the computer memory before the processing of the CPU chip.

20. South Bridge IC- Is a passion name as being south of the PCI buses or PCI slots. The true name of the south bridge is I/O Controller HUB (ICH). It is a type of microchip task to control all the Input and output devices of the computer. Such as the keyboard and mouse. And the monitor screen of the computer that commonly found at the rear back of the CPU or system unit.