Computer guys question

Does the upgrade include the full version CD? You absolutely must wipe the drive completely and install XP from scratch. I do not care what microsoft tells you, I don't care what HP tells you, I've done thousands of roll up upgrades and they NEVER work right, especially going from 9x to 2k/XP due to the differences in system architecture and kernels. When I was doing independant IT work I made craploads of money fixing machines that had been rolled up from 9x to 2k and suddenly found themselve without vital functionality, like the ability to run programs. Usually I'd have to toss the drive in another box, pull off the important data and do a full wipe + rebuild. On the rare occasion that I did get something working (usually by manually editing every possible registry entry so it could find what it needed in the system folder) I don't recall a single instance where one of these boxes stayed fixed afterwards. Every single one I ever say I eventually ended up leveling and redoing.

Don't even try a roll up, it easier to just back up your important stuff (especially since you are coming from a different computer), wipe the drive and install from scratch. Windows is flaky enough as it is without breaking it from the very begining.

If you are talking about getting a full version CD for $90 go for it, but make sure its not a version that must be installed on top of ME to work.

 

Shell out the money and buy a full version of XP. Home version should be good enough. Probably can be had for less than 200.00.

Re-format and start fresh. I don't think upgrading is ever a good idea, but esp. with ME.

ME is crap.

 

Ron,

On HP (I have one) all the drivers are on the HP disc...it's also the same disk with the OS. This disc is proprietary. I would go to HP.com and do an online "chat". I have actually had great luck with HP service... ask them for an upgrade disc for that machine. Remember the disc will have all the drivers and the OS.

Just my 2 pesos...

 

The Dell disk probably won't be legal, but it most likely won't work anyway. I doubt it's an off the shelf XP disc, but rather a restore disk to the original install of XP for that particular laptop with specific drivers etc. OEM disk licenses are tied to the hardware, so in that case it's not legally allowed to be installed with any other hardware than what it came with.

 

You can do a clean install with the upgrade version of XP.

 

Dell OS installation disks, sniff for proprietary coding they imbed in thier bios... you can NOT install a Dell provided copy of any windows style of OS into a NON-Dell machine...