What have i done?? computer doesnt remember any thing!

[Liam amd.64]

Hi, this is my first post in this forum and i really hope u can help me!
Ok, i'll strt off by telling u what computer i have and then the problem!

The make is Tiny, it has an amd 64 mobile athlon 3700+ processor
2.39 GHz, 1 gig RAM
microsoft windows XP home version 2002 sevice pack 2
ATI Radeon 9600/9700 graphics card



Now my problem is.... I had trouble connecting to a wireless network with my built in wifi, so i decided to use the reload disc that came with my computer to put it back to factory sttings so that i could start a fresh, but it didnt work and said the disc wouldnt work with my system, and something about an ata controller, so i put the comuter back on and then decided to upgrade to windows xp pro that my girlfriends dad had, it sarted initializing and so on and then said couldnt load file "blaa blaa" and then said it could not continue, said i gave up and turned off the computer.

i left it a while and started it again during start up it gave me the option to continue setup for xp pro or use home edition (what my computer started with) and when it came on the screen resolution wasnt right so i right clicked on my desktop and went to properties but this didnt have any of the stuff it used to have because the graphics card wont start on start up it says ati control panel couldnt start no driver is installed or is not working properly, when i turm my laptop on i have to go to device manager and enable it myself. (i then downloaded an ati control panelso i can change settings on my graphics card.)I cant use system resore either it wont let me go back any further then a couple of days ago when i did all this also I cant change my sceensaver either, when i go to control panel, display, all i get is a small window showing themes!
when i restart my computer its like it forgets the changes i have made! What have i done! Any help would be really really appreciated! many thanks!

 

[David Ireland]

Looks like ya messed it up a little bit too much. Looks to me like you will have to reformat.

 

[Liam amd.64]

thanks for a reply, i aint great at computers but know a bit! what would i have to do to reformat it and what preparation would i need to do!ive got a disc with all the drivers i am going to need! ?? anything else??

 

[thebleakness]

If you have the orginal windows disc, put that in and follow the instructions. It should come ask you if you want to formatt the hard drives, do this and all the information on the hard drive will be erased. Install the OS and you should be fine. Im not entirely sure but that is what i did on mine today, wait for someone to either correct me or verify this.

 

[Liam amd.64]

thanks for a reply, im pretty sure i didnt get a cd with it! i do have a product key on a windows sticker on the underside of my computer?? why is that there and how can i use i?

 

[David Ireland]

You either got the cd, or you have a recovery partition. See if there are any options on startup to recover. If not..check my computer to see if there are more hard drives listed than you have. Or, you can go to START--> run and type msconfig. go to the BOOT.ini tab and see if there is more than one thing under [operating systems] if so, make the timeout value larger so you can use the recovery partition.

 

[Liam amd.64]

what is a recovery partition?

 

[David Ireland]

sorry should have mentioned that. A recovery partition is a partition of the hard drive (which is just a part of ur hard drive sectioned off for something) that was partitioned and locked by your computer's manufacturer so that you can re-install windows if there is a problem, ans so they dont have to give you a windows disk.

 

[Liam amd.64]

how do i go about using the partition? one other thing one other thing i noticed last night is that in the directx diagnostic there is a file missing under directx tab, and it wont run one of the tests!

 

[David Ireland]

Thats probabaly another side effect of your larger problem here...i didnt say you DO have a recovery patition i was just guessing...did you do what i said tho?? (go to start-->run and type msconfig...then go to the BOOT.INI tab and see if there is more than one thing under the headings.

Like in mine theres only one thing under both categories.

If you have more than one you have a recovery partition, if not, then you probably don't.

Also, as i said, check your boot-up options for something like restore.