Please stop and help me

[Guest GabrielR]

I decided to update my OS (Win ME) in my 1.3Ghtz and 512RAM machine.Went to Best Buy and bought the upgrade package of XP.I heard and read that a clean install would be better than a quick upgrade.eveerything worked out fine, except that when I turn on the PC I have to choose which OS use!! I don't want Win ME using space in machine anymore. What can I do now?on the other hand, Y bought this compaq with an 1.3 Athlon processor, can I replace the processor with a faster one???please help.Can I reformat my machine and still install Win XP? or do I jus need the old version to install it succesfullly!!thanks.

[Guest GabrielR]

Anybody willing to help me?how do I get rid of my old Win Me OS?

[Guest jon_151]

Ok first of all, format the hard drive where it contains your Windows ME installation.Go to your main drive of WindowsXP and there should be a file called boot.ini edit it and delete the Windows ME entry.If you bought Compaq and replace the processor with the faster one, I suggest you consult with a computer dealer.You can reformat and install a new fresh Windows XP installation.I hope this helps.

http://flightsimmers.net/airbase/jphas/Signatures/new_sig_template_jonh2.jpg

-| Pentium 3 Celeron @ 993 MHz - Asus CUV4XC + - 512 MB SDRAM 133MHz - Overclocked 64 MB GeForce 2 WinFast - Creative PCI64 - WindowsXP SP1 |-

[Guest GabrielR]

Hi, thanks for the response, do you know where can I get detailed instructions on how I do reformat my HD and still keep the ability to read from the CD drive? I'm brand new at those topics. My computer was not shiped with an original Win ME CD, but with a Recovery Win Me CD. Does somebody know If that would allow me to install Win XP with the upgrade CD? I already have backed up all my immportant files, so I don't mind losing Personal data and software from my Win Me OS.

[Guest GabrielR]

Bump

[Guest]

Hi Gabriel,The following comes from six years experience as a self-employed PC support tech with experience in Win31, Win95, WinNT4, Win2K, and (a little bit with) WinXP:I don't recommend you reformat your HDD if you don't have original install media for ME. (you say you only have a recovery CD). Since you have the upgrade package for XP, you will need to have either a working Windows installation before upgrading, or original install media for your old OS. I'm not sure, but I don't think a startup floppy will be enough. So you will need to keep your Windows ME installation until after XP has gone in. Since that's the situation you're now in, you can probably safely delete the WinME folder (probably c:windows) and you'll be fine. Try renaming it first running with it a couple of weeks to see if that causes problems when you're in XP. Just don't mess with the XP folder! (probably c:winnt)As long as you never format the HDD, any repairs to XP can be done without the need for a total reinstall. Since you have a working XP installation, I'd be strongly inclined to just leave things alone. There is a place in the control panel where you can change the number of seconds the computer will pause before it goes ahead and starts XP automatically. You can, of course, short-circuit this waiting process by just pressing Enter while the clock is counting down. You might even find that there's a place in the control panel to uninstall your old OS. But I'd not be too eager to format the HDD when things are working now and the only problem you have (according to your first post) is a space problem from the old OS. For one thing, you'd lose all the applications (such as Word, Office, etc.) that came with your Compaq. Currently, you still have them, because you upgraded.Having said all that, if so happen you do have the install CD for any supported upgradeable Windows predecessor to XP (sorry, but I don't remember which previous versions of Windows qualify, but it says on the box), you can use that installation media to satisfy the upgrade requirement and go forward. IOW, if you have an old Win95 installation CD, and that prior version is supported by the XP CD as a valid upgrade start point, then formatting is a viable option for you.In which case, you don't need to worry about CD-reader cap, as long as your computer motherboard and CD-ROM drive support booting from CD. You just stick the XP install CD in the drive and boot from that. Depending on how your BIOS is set up, you may not get a successful test run without reformatting your HDD unless you go into the BIOS and change the boot order. But don't reformat without testing!. Most of the Compaqs I've worked on will boot from a bootable CD even if the HDD is bootable. So try to boot from the XP CD and let us know what happens!Best, --BeachComer Stephen "Beach" Comer Real World Pile-it Commercial ASMEL, Instrument Airplane 4500 TT, 2500 BE20 & BE10

[Guest jase439]

from Windows Me. Even if he did run the upgrade from inside Windows Me, the user must expressly check "Update my current version of Windows". Choosing "Install a fresh copy of Windows" will give you the same "dual-boot" configuration - so perhaps this is what he did?Unfortunately, what has likely resulted here (unless, he installed XP to a separate partition on the hard disk) is that while the Windows Me/XP system folders are separate, his C:Program Files folder is all messed up as it will now contain a hodge-podge of Windows Me and Windows XP files. From experience, this is a real mess. Some programs will work correctly under Me and others will work correctly under XP and yet others may simply not work at all.I wonder if his copy of XP will uninstall (I think it likely will not since it sounds like he did a "fresh install" instead of an "upgrade"). An uninstall of XP, followed by a proper "Upgrade" run from inside Windows Me is my best advice. Barring that, I would BACKUP MY DATA, boot off the Windows XP Upgrade CD and install everything from scratch. The boot-time XP installer should give you the option of reformatting the partition (which I would whole heartedly recommend in this case).Mixing and matching a WinMe and XP operating system on the same partition is generally bad news from my experience.JPS. If all else fails and the process of reformatting a partition seems ominous, I would recommend he take the system to a qualified professional.

[Guest GabrielR]

Thank you so much for the responses, and yes, I ended up with a dual boot installation, I'm not very experienced int this field, but I can tell that my old system Win ME is on FAT32 and the New one wich is in a different partition with XP is in NFTS, appart from having the dual boot option every time I turn on the PC the rest is working just fine... Although I can not notice improvement in the FPS running witn double RAM (512) and XP than the FPS I had before with 256 in RAM and ME.I already contacted the technical Support where I purchased my machine and they told me that most of the Recovery CD's are not enough to do the clean installation of WIN XP.I think that the ability to have a more reliable OS is just enough beneffit. (I had to use the recovery CD of ME almost haf a dozen times in one year!!!) I hope no more OS problems, at least no big ones with my OS anymore....I think I have my Old Win 98 CD somewhere....

[Guest]

My computer tech who I pay when I need something done told me once when I brought in my wife's Compaq garbage that there is no reformating and reinstalling a new OS on a compaq. Her harddrive had failed and I wanted the OS switched from win98 2nd edition to XP. He indicated that he'd messed with Compaqs before and the only thing to do was to run the recovery CD and install whatever Compaq gave you in the first place. Reason being is because Compaq has a proprietary grip on their equipment and configure their hardware and software so that you the customer are screwed cause they want you to throw it away and buy new when you want to upgrade. Not even the OS could be upgraded according to my tech. He seemed to know what he was talking about. And he didn't want to sell me a computer cause he know me better than that. But he would have liked to had sold me a new OS. Maybe there's a way around it; but none that he knew.

[wb5okj 26]

Gabriel,Here is a link on how to do different kinds of installs for any or all of the Windows operating systems.http://www.windowsreinstall.com/

[Guest GabrielR]

Yes, it is right that companies like compaq build their computers not having the word "upgrade" in mind... Finally I found my old, real old win 95 disk and I decided to run the risk of formatting the Hard drive...oops!everything ran smoothly and now I am writting from the same computer using a single boot in windows XP!! total Success, the machine really looks faster, no problems at all with my nvdia Gforce2, or my sound card, no problems at all... wait, there's a problem! I lost my wife's precious programs!! the CD easy creator (for her Music), and the DVD decoder( her movies)!!, everything runs for about $40!!, and I was hoping to buy FSMETEO with that money!!!!!Bottom line... I'm going to start learning how to build computers, I have long year to do so, before MS releases FS2004!Again thanks for your cooperation, those who say that you don't get help in the AVSIM forum are wrong!!