Removing Win98, installing XP...

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Sounds easy, right?

I have an older machine that I want to remove Win98 SP2, and install XP. Problem is, both routes that I've taken to remove Win98 has failed... (format and FDISK).

?
 
You should be able to stick the XP CD in and boot from it and run the install (and reformat) that way. Then again, how old is this system?
 
When I do that, it wants to install dual operating systems (both 98 and XP). I don't want that.

Computer is 10 years old.
 
Is the CD drive actually set to BOOT at startup or are you just running the installation once you are loaded into Win98.

You should be able to boot from the CD, select a new install. There are some keys you have to press like F8 for agree, etc. Then you have to press L to delete the partition. You should be able then to format either FAT or NTFS and get it installed.
 
Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Is the CD drive actually set to BOOT at startup or are you just running the installation once you are loaded into Win98.

You should be able to boot from the CD, select a new install. There are some keys you have to press like F8 for agree, etc. Then you have to press L to delete the partition. You should be able then to format either FAT or NTFS and get it installed.


Gotcha. I think I'm back on the right path now. I had a mental block on deleting the partition.
 
Originally Posted By: DT466E_bus
What type computer?
Wow...windows 98...I hardly remember that.


It's a Dell Dimension L500. I think I bought it in 2001. It's been dormant for a couple of years... at least.

Wanted to get XP on it, and see if I can get it to function well enough for my parents to use it on a broadband connection to browse the internet, read email, and write letters using Word.

They'll probably use it no more than once or twice a week.

Anyone got any ancient PC100/PC133 memory laying around? This computer has a whopping 96MB of memory installed!
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
This computer has a whopping 96MB of memory installed!

Ugh. Unless you can find some RAM real cheap/free, you may be better off just finding another PC to give to them. Granted, XP is almost as old as that computer (it came out at the end of 2001 if I remember correctly) but even XP Home will choke on so little RAM. I've used XP (or at least tried to) with 128mb and a fast (at the time) Pentium 4 CPU and it was just painful. I'd consider 256mb to be the minimum you'd want to even try to use. Besides, you may be able to get XP to install and run with 96mb, but I would guess that Word would probably be a slide show if it opened at all.

I'd suggest looking for a deal on something off eBay, or maybe a refurb from Dell Outlet or similar. Not that anyone's made of money nowadays, but for the best results, finding the absolute cheapest computer you can find online or a big box store would be lightyears ahead of the Win98 machine you're trying to resurrect. Better yet, if you can find something that doesn't come preloaded with Windows (usually a flavor of Ubuntu or Linspire), you can save some money by wiping the hard drive and install your copy of XP on that.

Remember, you're giving this away to family which means you'll be their Geek On Call. The better the machine is, the less headache it will be for you to support!
 
It'll be boosted up to 512MB, before it leaves my house...

You have to remember than the people that are going to use it are in their 70's, and everything is slower at that age.

Plus, I'm installing very little on it. XP, Word, Chrome, MS Security Essentials. That's about it.
 
If you have that old and slow of a puter (450mhz appx speed?) it wont run the [censored] that poses as software today.

got find a distro of XUbuntu which is designed to run on slower machines with less memory. you can still get memory up to your board max which will be 256 or 512mb.

download open office, exhail, totem, mozilla and the machine will do 95% of what you would do anyways without having to try.

AND, you can join winoze networks and go wireless using cards with windoze drivers (using NLDiswrapper)
 
For a 01 computer windows 2000 might be a better choice. Yes I'm still using it. Other than a couple compatibility with newer software (i.e. Picasa 3, Chrome), I got all the software I needed fine.
 
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