Using ME; Going to XP

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I have a Micron PC with Windows ME on it and have had nothing but problems since purchase…the computer locks up, re-boots on its own, etc. I figure XP Home edition will be more stable, but I want to start fresh. If I reformat the hard disk, what will I need to do to have the Windows XP CD run? Do I need to make a boot disk first and load the basic CD-ROM drivers? Will the Windows XP CD ask me if I want to reformat as part of the installation process? I’ve reformatted other machines that ran Win98, but I don’t know if the procedure will be the same. Please provide guidance for a beginner to intermediate user…Thanks!

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Just make sure that you can boot to the CD. Within your “bios” setup you can set the boot sequence to be what ever you want.
I have mine set up to boot to a CD, then the Floppy and then the hard drive. If there is NOT a CD or floppy in either of the drives it will boot using the startup data on the hard drive.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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So for example, before reformatting the hard disk, I should change the BIOS so that it boots to the CD first? I bought the XP upgrade; will putting the CD into the drive after reformatting get me through?
Will I need the original ME disk to get rolling or will XP merely ask for it during the install process as proof of prior ownership?

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Yes, change bios first.

XP will ask for proof of ownership just like it does when installing a clen copy of MS Office upgrade which requires a the orginal Me CD.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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yes, you should change the BIOS boot sequence first – before you do anything. If you do not XP will not boot from CD and you will never get the option for format the drive. And if you format, you will need the ME CD-ROM handy, because there will be no information left on the HD for XP to verify your upgrade status against. It will ask for you to insert your CD from a previous version during installation….after it snoops around on the CD and satisfies its curiosity, you should be off to the races.

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Does this also apply if you are upgrading from 98 to XP pro? With the Win XP Pro Upgrade disk, can you do a clean install as long as you have the 98 cdrom handy to provide proof of ownership, or does it merely let you “upgrade” (i.e. no clean install)?

Thanks!

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Yes. Your best bet is to read Upgrading from Previous Versions of Windows on the Microsoft website.

General information on upgrading can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/how…ing/default.asp%5B/url%5D.

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“…and have had nothing but problems since purchase”. Have you had the computer checked, in case it’s a hardware problem?

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Hi
When MS say ‘a former version of Windows’ for the upgrade versions they mean any . I’ve even used Win 3.1 floppies successfully for this purpose. Before doing anything as drastic as rejigging your HD, you could install XP from within ME, but to a separate partition. This should produce for you a dual boot system, enabling you to keep any data on the ME partiton. This can be copied across, and your applications re-installed in XP. Once everything is running ok, (say after a week) the ME can be expunged if you really don’t want it any more.
If you begin from a re-partitioned, re-formmated HD (not necessarily a bad idea) you will lose downloads, data and programs that were not backed-up. As you may have surmised, it is also a much more radical approach.
Personally, I’d try the dual boot first. If you’re still getting errors, then scrape it down to bare metal.

Rgds

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