Bad Win ME to worse WinXP?

[DanielLee]

Hi,
I have a customer who has a Compaq 7151wma which is running a problem plagued version of Windows ME.

My customer has the “Windows XP version 2000 Upgrade” and I am thinking of either upgrading or repartitioning the hard drive, formatting and doing a new install.

I am relatively new at computers although I have upgraded a few computers to Windows 98SE and am somewhat familiar with partitioning and formatting.

I am currently doing computer repair for a living in a small town in Mexico. This customer is very well connected socially and my reputation is riding on this project going smoothly.

First when the box says “upgrade” I assume it means I can do a fresh install on a clean hard drive not just run over the existing OS, is this correct?

Second I know this was one of the first versions of XP to come out, is it worth using? Are there better versions out now that make it wiser to buy the new version rather than go through XX MB of upgrades?

Is there any proprietary software on the Compaq 7151 wma that will prevent me from having a successful install if I were to format the hard drive?

I have used the Windows XP upgrade advisor and it reports this.......

HARDWARE THAT IS INCOMPATIBLE OR MAY NEED ADDITIONAL FILES-

Hard disk controllers - USB Optical storage Device (not currently present)
USB to ATAPI Adapter (not currently present)

Network Adapters - Wan Miniport (ATW)

WDM Modem Enumerator - Intel 537 Data Fax V.90 Modem

SOFTWARE THAT DOES NOT SUPPORT WINDOWS XP

Digital Dashboard (in Control Panel) (I donÂ’t even know what this is or what it is for.)

Intel 537 Data Fax V.90 Mode (in control Panel) (On the box the modem came in it says XP compatible)

Virus Scan (in control Panel)

SOFTWARE THAT MUST BE REINSTALLED -

McAfee VirusScan for Win9x. (Do I have to re-down load this program or can I burn it to a CD and reinstall it from there?)

SETTINGS THAT WILL NOT BE UPGRADED -

Network Connection Protocol NetBEUI (I have no idea what this is.

INCOMPATIBLE FACTORY INSTALLED PROGRAMS -

Compaq Easy Access Buttons (This would probably not be a big loss, I donÂ’t recall them ever using it)

OTHER INFORMATION -

Windows detected a DVD movie player or decoder that may be incompatible. You may have to upgrade the decoder after setup completes. (Is this telling me that I have to buy another player or is it saying I will have to flash the chip or change the driver?)

So there is the current state of things, should I try the upgrade to XP? Another option would be to Install Win 98 SE of which I am very familiar, anything but Win ME.

Any assistance appreciated and I want to thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

Daniel

 

[Apokalipse]

well you should probably ask the guy whether he wants it formatted or not but you should probbably uninstall ME, then install XP because Win ME has a lot of bugs
about 2 hours before i posted this i installed a backup of XP (from upgrade CD) and it only required me to put in the 98 CD for the time it needed to verify that i have an existing operating system, from there i had to replace "C:\Windows\System32\hal.dll" (copying from the Backup XP)
if you really prefer not having ME first just run the upgrade and it should prompt you for a Windows CD of previous Version

as for the errors they may or may not cause faults when you actually install XP but Drivers can always be a big issue with XP

 

[Apokalipse]

When you install XP it really shouldn't have any problems with networking, since Microsoft has made a LOT better system to handle Protocols, the only issue sometimes is PC's with win95/98/ME cannot read NTFS they use FAT32, so i suggest keep the hard drive at FAT32 for compatibility. I have got a FAT32 converter program that i fished out of 98 (before i had XP) so if you want a copy give me your email address and i can send it to you

also you will have to make sure they have the internet so they can Activate windows XP, or after 30 days is useless

and im not sure if you can download McAfee because it is copyrighted, you may just have to let him install it.

 

[mrdinkel]

The deal with the antivirus, as i also had McAfee from the factory, is that the file system and protection in XP will not be compatible. I would suggest to just buy either an antivirus for XP, or just go out and buy one for 2000, which may be cheaper, and then get the patch for XP. Thats what my antivirus required me to do.

 

[Apokalipse]

I'm talking about the Windows XP upgrade CD, ive got an upgrade of XP home and i only had to put in the 98 CD to prove it was my previous OS, it will still do a full install.

 

[Apokalipse]

The deal with the antivirus, as i also had McAfee from the factory, is that the file system and protection in XP will not be compatible. I would suggest to just buy either an antivirus for XP, or just go out and buy one for 2000, which may be cheaper, and then get the patch for XP. Thats what my antivirus required me to do.

the only problem with this is that it's not his computer, let the people who own it decide whether they should since they will have to pay for it

on a note of viruses, the Mac OS-X has a BIG FAT 0 for the number of viruses that will INFECT it

 

[murphy2003]

I fdisked, formated, inserted WindowsXP Home.When asked put in Windows 98 disk,removed it after verification and have had no probs. thereafter.

 

[mrdinkel]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
the only problem with this is that it's not his computer, let the people who own it decide whether they should since they will have to pay for it

on a note of viruses, the Mac OS-X has a BIG FAT 0 for the number of viruses that will INFECT it

1. Obviously the owner will buy the upgrade if he deems it necessary

2. What does Mac OS-X have to do with this? By the same measure, nobody writes viri for Windows 3.1.

 

[kboy]

Problem solved!!!!

 

[Apokalipse]

What does Mac OS-X have to do with this? By the same measure, nobody writes viri for Windows 3.1.

I didn't say it had to do with this but i'm just saying that there are no viruses for the OS-X, and it is not worth writing viruses for Windows 3.1 because nobody uses it.