Ok, so I reinstalled last night using the Compaq QuickRestore CD that came with the machine (my computer was barely usable last night). For some reason, it seems to have just installed a bare-bones Wndows XP, instead of loading it with all the Compaq bundled software. This is fine, and not a big issue, but on the first few boots, the mouse/clicking was acting funny. Clicking on the Start button would hang for a long time, or double-clicking an icon on the desktop would yield no result. Eventually, it opened things. I rebooted, and then it seemed to work fine. I noticed on startup that there was a box called SysPrep that I'd never seen before, something about reseal, audit, and doing these things after I tested/installed the software. Does anyone know why I'm having these little issues?
sysprep is a utility used to automate the Windows installation process in a pre-determined way, which is useful when you need to set up a number of identically-configured computers. It appears that's what Compaq is using on your restore CD.
Sysprep has a wide range of capabilities and options, but depending on how Compaq chose to program/configure sysprep on your particular recovery disk, it may or may not do things like automatically load bundled software applications. In your case it sounds like you'll have to reinstall the applications manually.
It also might not have configured all of your hardware/drivers correctly; I'd have a look through Device Manager to make sure all of your hardware components are correctly identified and report themselves to be working properly.
I'm thinking I might have to do another install. Last time, Compaq walked me through everything, and said because my HD was bigger than the one that originally shipped, we had to do some special things during the install. I don't remember much, but we had to do some pressing of the Num Lock and Caps Lock keys, and there was a way to insure that all the bundled software was put on the drive.
If Compaq can give you the magic keystrokes to modify the installation process, then yes, going through it with them again sounds like the thing to do.
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