After Installing xp is there a set order to install things like 1.direct x drives, 2.display drivers, 3.chipset drivers 4.xp sp2 5.Active X to garentee a more successful/reliable running of xp The simplest solutions are the best and they are often save you money

OS 1. Chipset drivers and integrated drivers 2. DirectX 3. display drivers 4. service packs & updates (from CD) 5. firewall 6. SPacks,etc.if not available on CD. 7. updates and IE7 if desired 8. imaging program 9. create image 10. AV and spyware progs 11. Burning software The first 7 are the most important. Below is a link to someone elses ideas on this. http://tweakhound.com/xp/installxp/... I recommend partitioning and using at least three partitions. The first being the OS and core files. I have used primary/ extended with logical drives. I have recently rethought this idea. The next system I setup will use 3 primary partitions. That way you have more flexibility.

My order of installing after Win XP SP2 is: Motherboard drivers. Audio & video drivers Digital TV card drivers Printer & scanner drivers Firewall. Antivirus. Winders updates. Java Jre 6.0x Webscheduler. Firefox. Thunderbird. Then whatever software I need...

Wombat Latest graphics cards need to have directX 9 or even 10 installed prior to installing the video drivers. That is why I had that at the front.

DirectX 9.0c is in Service Pack 2 why install it again. I also do not have the latest upmarket video card either, I have a nVidia 6600... I do not need DirectX 10 because I said I was running Win XP SP2.

Wombat, you are correct, assumming one is starting with SP2. The OP mentioned installing SP2 so I assume they are starting with something less. Your order is fine for you.

gr8 cheers for the info i ask as me pc keeps restarting in the middle of playing a pc game Starcraft with a min spec required 16mb ram Pentium 90 80mb disk space and a direct x compatible svga card ive tried it with the latest drivers for my xfx gforce fx5200 128mb card with all the nvivia coolbits and software on the temperature phto i took from me bios after it did it wasnt near the Shutdown temp it was average system temp 29oc, cpu temp 49oc the cpu shutdown temp is 75oc The simplest solutions are the best and they are often save you money