Well, I went and did it

I ordered XP Pro and 256 meg of Kingston memory this morning from newegg.com. It was $2.50 more than buying from PC-Beyond.com but I wanted to stay with the Kingston. I'm not sure about the Micron memory.

It should be here by next Friday. I 'spect I will know quickly enough if I am happy with it or not. I plan to take the 128 meg stick out of my computer, put it in his computer and the new one in mine. That way we will both have 256 megs. It should work just fine. again, I will find out quick enough.

 

have/had fun

micron memorys ok?

 

If it is made by Crucial, Micron ought to be good. But I have also been told that it is better to stick with the same type and not mix brands if you don't have to. I already have one stick of Kingston so I will just continue with it.

FedEx shows that it has reached Nashville so I should have it here in the next few days. It didn't show when delivery is scheduled tho.

 

IT'S HERE!!! IT'S HERE!!!!! oboyo oboyo! Now I just have to figure out how to get it installed.

Can I just stick it in the drive and set it up from there? Will I have to reinstall all of my programs? What about my data on the C drive? That, of course, can be easily moved but programs don't move so easily. Will it keep the registry from 98 and just incorporate it into XP?

I will spend some time looking through the booklet before I pop the disc in the drive.

The booklet says something about not installing the printer until after you finish installing XP but I think that mainly applies when you have a clean drive to start with. I don't want to reformat again unless it is absolutely necessary.

 

you can do an inplace upgrade but as you know, all of us geeks always say "Clean install!! ".. if you're going to do an inplace upgrade, I would back up your registry , run jv16 registry cleaner on it and then defrag the drive and then install XP.

 

You have two options with XP.

1/ Upgrade from Win98. This method will leave all your files/programs intact. Ensure you run "Check System Compatability" before installing. Also allow it to update the setup files from the internet. This will give the most accurate results. If it does throw up any compatability issues, either decide whether you want to un-install the offending item, or download upgraded drivers.

2/ Clean Install. This will wipe your Win98 install off the drive, removing accesability to all your programs. If you wish to take this option (the best way to go to be honest). First, back-up files required. (i.e MP3's, saved documents etc.) Format your hard drive. Set BIOS to boot from CD after its tried HDD. Insert Win XP CD into drive. Reboot. Win XP will now clean install. You will then have to re-install all your programs. This is not always a bad thing as Win98 program settings are not always compatible with XP.

Just to confuse you as well, XP gives you the options to convert to NTFS from Fat32. Personally, I would stay with Fat32 unless you intend networking your PC.

There are more settings, so I would suggest doing as much reading and asking questions as you can until you feel happy about what settings you want to use, how you want to proceed with the install and what you need to do if all fails.

Make sure you back up important files either way. Also, ensure you know how to set BIOS to boot from CD (You probably do, but better safe than sorry). If all else goes tits up, you can start from scratch with the XP CD.

Enjoy the experience of XP!

 

Oh. One other thought. Install your memory either BEFORE you install XP, or after install has finished. If you do it as you do the install, it will go screwy with the new hardware.

 

I defragged last week so it shouldn't take to long to defrag it again. I also ran JV last week. I forget if that will back up my registry for me. If not, how do I do that? I will also make sure SOS and Quicken are backed up to E drive before I do anything with it.

This should allow all of my other programs to stay in place and continue to work with XP? what about Office 97? That is soooooo old but at least I have all the discs for it. I also downloaded 602Pro. I think that is in My Download Files on E so if I have to reinstall it won't be a problem. Lots of music and pictures to move too just to be safe. I actually want them on E anyway.

 

@mutz- I've already installed the memory and rebooted my Win98SE I will run it this way for a few days while I contemplate my WinXP Pro installation. If I can hold out that long, I will try to wait until after I get back from Florida to do it. How much you want to bet on that?

I had planned to stay with the Fat32 since that is what I already have. The less I have to change is probably the better.

I am really dreading reformatting and reinstalling all of my programs so I will start with an inplace install. If I have problems, then I will bite the bullet and reformat if absolutely necessary. Hopefully, all my downloaded programs are on my E drive, so they will be easy to reinstall and not need to be downloaded again.

And yes, I can find my way into BIOS to change which drive my computer boots from so no problem there.

 

I'm gonna agree with Kodo..

You can just pop the CD in.. sit back and Poof.. WinXP..

Actually it IS almost that easy.. everything stays..Yipee

Two weeks, or two months you start getting a couple errors..nothing big, just annoying.. then a few more..Hmm what's going on?? impossible to track, just stuff..

(Typing from experience!)

In the long run I think you will be happier by putting the work in now..
Do I backup.. then format and start fresh..
I use Ghost but there are others...

Will you have to reinstall your software? Yep.. but now is a time to decide what you use and don't use and have a nice clean install that purrs along nicely...

Curtis

 

Eeuhm... there indeed is a little problem with XP installs... when you want to have an NTFS format you need to reformat your disk (sounds logic) BUT when you remain at FAT32 there is somehow a big chance your pc doesn't want to boot from the cd.. i've had it with multiple cd's on multiple systems... or maybe i'm doin' something wrong...

 

Ernie,
XP should work just fine on both file systems. are you saying that when you tried to install XP using FAT32 that it gave you problems?