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| rowing upstream |
not to advance is to drop back.
Having successfully re-installed Windows Vista on the Vostro laptop, I was determined to re-install Windows XP on the ten-year-old Dell Inspiron laptop. I had all the discs and started the process confidently.
The first hurdle was at the set-up page that asked where the program was to be installed. I knew nothing about disc partitions and, mistakenly deleted the existing partition as there wasn't enough space to run set up on it. All seemed to have gone well and, having restored the wifi. card and connected to the internet, I thought I was home and dry.
The following day, however, Windows failed to run. I ran the scan program and discovered that the error was caused by the missing partition. Another re-install (the full, slow, complete re-format) with partition creation was the next step, followed by re-installing drivers and utilities in the order recommended by Dell's online support (found while searching using the Vostro laptop.) Not reinstalling in the correct order may have been the cause of the first failure.
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| reboot |
Once the drivers and utilities were in place, the laptop needed a reboot for all the new stuff. Another problem I hadn't twigged during the first attempt was that that Windows XP needed the latest Service Pack installing before it would run properly and install AVG virus protection software. It was quite a steep learning curve but one made smoother by the confidence gained when dealing with the Vostro and Vista.
Apologies for the mixed similes and metaphors in this entry.
