[star_topology]

Can it be done?
I'm currently trying to reload a friend's Dell laptop.
Kazaa, among other things have completely trashed this under-one-year-old laptop, which is running Windows XP. Also, his CD Rom drive even goes in and out of service. As it stands, I am unable to reformat using the restore CDs he supplied me.
Needless to say, he is concerned about his music, but I told him if he wanted a working laptop, he'd probably have to lose the music.

I started out by trying MsConfig and uninstalling a lot of unnecessary software, but there's still too much slowing down the system.
I've attempted the System Restore, but it does not acheive desireable results. Plus, I'm not too familiar with reformatting laptops (using fdisk, etc.) because I am unfamiliar with opening them up and tinkering with the connections.
So is there anything else to try except give it back to him and tell him to call Dell? Any suggestions?

[killians45]

opening and tinkering on a format?? I guess you could do a PXE type install by going over a network (peer 2 peer) that or use an external cdrom.

[star_topology]

Thanks for the idea of an external cd-rom. I had forgotten that I had an external cd-rom that I could use in this situation. I was able to reformat the laptop, but upon re-installing the drivers from the Dell Driver CD, there is an SM Bus Controller remaining in the Device Manager. Rather than installing everything off the CD, can anyone direct me to what I should be looking for?

[killians45]

need MBD chipset drivers.