Windows XP: Upgrade from Win98 to WinXP
I see a new computer in my future.
by Maxxam - 5/15/06 3:54 PM In reply to: some suggestions by linkitThanks guys for helping me think this out. It's good to have some knowledgeable folks to bounce ideas around and help the ol' noggin make sense the various choices. A new basic computer is about $300 or $400 for using on the internet makes sense. Then the old w98 can be used for exploring other ose's. Thanks again.
additional post to the topic creator......
by ackmondual - 5/12/06 7:01 PM In reply to: my thoughts by ackmondualI would recommend that you get the full install disc and do a fresh install rather than a direct upgrade. This way, everything is fresh and clean, winXP. No traces of viruses, spy/adware, old win98 DLL files, registry entries, drivers and other win98 stuff to clash with winXP stuff.
THis would mean u'd have to backup any data you'd want to keep, but IMHO, it's worth it.
UK Sources
by Zouch - 5/12/06 2:17 PM In reply to: Upgrade from Win98 to WinXP by mack9930317Hi Darren,
yes, your upgrade will work. I recently retired my broadband gateway machine, (circa 1997!) Pentium 1 MMX 200 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 8 GB partition on 20 GB drive that was running Windows Me. Just for the fun of it, I installed Win XP Pro SP2 on it to see what happened. I did a clean install because I'm not a great fan of upgrades because of all the junk they tend to leave behind.
I was staggered that after a slowish install (but 10 minutes quicker than ME!) Win XP had picked up most of the devices and was booting in around the same time as ME and the applications were running at the same speed or marginally faster. Used hard disk space was around 4.5 GB.
XP loaded a generic driver for the V90 modem, which didn't work, but then this particular modem has been a pain in the backside to set up anyway!
It was OK with the sound (Soundblaster clone) and generic graphics card too.
It has two ISA NIC cards, one to talk to NTL cable broadband and the other to the switch that my home network hangs off. They are both 3Com 3C509s but one is a plug and play, the other isn't. XP recognised the plug and play one but not the other. But I was able to connect to NTL and even download the XP patches.
The machine is now sitting in a corner running file and print services on my network and runs the control software for my wireless access point.
Couple of UK sources you might want to check out - strictly, they are trade sites but if you talk to them nicely, I'm sure they'd sell you a copy. First is www.netcomonline.co.uk. They have XP Home retail for £105 (GBP) and the upgrade for £75. They also sell OEM versions, though strictly, you don't qualify, for £49 (OEM versions don't come as upgrades). If either you or your Mum are techers or students, you may qualify for the educational upgrade, XP Pro only, for around the same price as the OEM Home edition.
The other outlet that springs to mind is www.bluesolutions.co.uk, though they may want you to open a trade account. Their prices are XP Home retail upgrade £75.82, XP Home OEM £50.58, XP Pro Educational upgrade £53.01.
Both these resellers are Microsoft Authorized and all prices quoted are ex VAT.
You can do a clean install with an upgrade version, when it complains that it can't find a qualifying product, just put the original Win98 install CD in and it will verify from that. But you can't do an upgrade with the OEM version - it has to be a clean install because you are supposed to be installing it on a new build PC.
As others have said, do check out the prices of a new machine (a copy of Micromart may be an investment) and compare relative value for money.
Good luck.
Upgrading from win98 to XP
by leonardharris - 5/12/06 2:24 PM In reply to: Upgrade from Win98 to WinXP by mack9930317When upgrading you should always goto the vendor web site an down load the late'est drivers that they have for devices befor upgrading this will make things go the way they should ho yes pleas get more RAM and a biger hard drive 20gb won't give you room to do to much of anything els.
LEONARD HARRIS JR
Upgrade from Win98 to WinXP
by Dobby - 5/12/06 9:27 PM In reply to: Upgrade from Win98 to WinXP by mack9930317Best way is to format drive NTFS (probably FAT32 now since you are running 98)...then install fresh copy of XP Pro (much better than Home); but before doing anything, add more Ram and a second or larger hard drive (while you are at it, new video card wouldn't hurt)! As stated by others, don't be surprised if some of your programs don't work properly with XP...totally different operating system, but far superior to 98!
Another thing you can do, is install XP as a dual boot, on second hard drive, along with 98...still need to increase Ram, however.......Good luck!
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