How to do a fresh install of windows on laptop

[sagooding]

I have an old laptop an hp mini 1101 and it only has 1 gb of ram right now. i plan on upgrading it to 2 when i get a chance.

However right now i want to reinstall windows xp on it. i am choosing windows xp over windows 7 because windows 7 requires alot of ram.

Can someone help me to reinstall windows xp on this laptop.

My fear is that a fresh install of the operating system will erase the drivers that the laptop needs for sound and other much required things.

Can someone help me with the driver problem i have a cd with windows xp on it.

 

[me 1]

There are drivers available at hp for your laptop for xp, so there shouldn't be a problem at all.
Just look here
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?prodNameId=3962962&locale=en_us&taskId=135&prodSeriesId=3962961&prodTypeId=321957
They even have separate pages, for xp profesional or for xp home. (depending on what xp cd U have)

If something happened to your xp, (like file coruption) U can also try a Repair Install first (this usually leaves your personal files intact)

For a fresh install:
The first question is, do U have your personal stuff saved? Because a fresh install means formating the partition (usually C) to install windows. (so, back up your data first, on usb sticks, cd/dvds, or if U have other partitions, or another hard drive U can keep your personal files in there.)

(somethimes, U need to put hard drive drivers on your xp cd, depending on what hard drive U have)

U need first to get into the bios and change the boot order (by pressing del or F2 at startup)
Put the CDRom as first boot device, and save changes.
Restart, and press any key when U see the "Press any key to boot from cd..."
Enter the setup, F8 licence agreament, be carefull to format the partition U want to install windows on and start setup.

After setup is done, and U go into Windows, first U should install the chipset driver (the Intel chipset download it from the link I gave), then touchpad , video, sound drivers, (from the same link and other stuff if needed).