FU3 and Windows ME

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Well guys, I am very likely to reformat my hard disk YET AGAIN this evening, and then reinstall Windows ME. Yes, that's right. I said ME. After the major problems that I had yesterday, I decided to reinstall Windows XP over the existing installation. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong option, and the previous install of XP was erased ! :-eek OK, so that resulted in me having to install everything else again....including FU3. Reinstallation of all driver files and other bits and pieces proceeded without incident....until I tried reinstalling FU3.For the second time in three attempts, my system shut down during the FU3 installation. This has resulted in me having an incomplete install of FU3 on my hard disk, with no way of uninstalling it, and no way of installing FU3 over the top of it ! :-eek :-eek :-eek Now, I was under the impression that Windows XP was supposed to be more stable than previous versions, but this is one problem too many in my opinion. Whether it has anything to do with my PC being over two years old, I don't know. What I do know is that my PC has issues with XP that are just unacceptable. I cannot afford to be using my PC in a state of paranoia, desperately hoping that another mindless shutdown doesn't occur.One other point to note here concerns the strange behaviour of System Restore. When I suffered the shutdown (yes, it was mindless) during FU3 installation, I decided to use a System Restore point to backtrack and try again. However, I tried TWO different restore points, and BOTH proved unsuccessful. I was informed that my system could not be restored with either of them. Now, forgive me if I am being silly here, but isn't System Restore supposed to SOLVE problems, rather than create them ? What the hell is the point of this feature if it doesn't work ?You can probably see now why installing Windows ME is looking like the reliable option at this stage. It's pathetic to realise that I have suffered numerous problems and stupid (yes, mindless) shutdowns with an OS that is supposed to be more stable than ME, and yet has caused me more problems in two weeks than ME did in two YEARS.To be honest, I am starting to suspect that Windows XP will only work properly on relatively new PC's. That is the only conclusion that I can offer, considering that others here seem to be able to run XP without problems.So, do you consider that was

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Can anyone who uses Windows XP on this forum answer me the following questions ?1. Is your hard disk formatted as NTFS or FAT32 ?2. Would FAT32 potentially cause unexpected shutdown problems, or other (mindless) incidents ? :-)Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest cornclose]

Chris :-1. I have had both.2. It shouldn't. They were both as unstable as each other.RegardsChris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.uk

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Chris,Are you still using Windows XP ?Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest andy9164]

Chris,Dont want to upset you but I have XP running all Ok with FU3 although mine is a fairly recent machine.One thing I have found out about XP is that the minimum memory recommendation is 256meg, and that even with my Athlon 1800 and 512meg memory when running FU3 my processor and memory runs at about 98% capacity. Sorry, I dont know your machine spec, but I had the same with ME, constant errors and crashes which is why I upgraded my PC and went to XP.Dont know if this helps.Andy

[Guest cornclose]

Chris, in a word, no. Not unless we have to use it for a work project. I use Win98 (First Edition) for simming and Win2k Pro for development. At the moment, I wouldn't choose XP at all...RegardsChris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Andy,I have been told that it is likely to be a hardware compatibility issue, but which piece of hardware is the cause of the problem is unknown ! I have 512Mb RAM in my PC, so lack of memory isn't to blame.I am going to attempt yet another install (my fifth) of Windows XP tonight, and this time I will use the NTFS file system. Whether this will make any difference is anyone's guess, but I don't have too many options at the moment :-)I just wish that FU3 would install properly. It has done so once in THREE attempts. Has anyone else experienced initial problems when installing FU3 on a Windows XP machine ? If so, what did you do to correct the problem ? A shutdown during the installation of FU3 is a MAJOR problem, since the software now insists that FU3 has been installed. This makes uninstalling and re-installing total impossibilities !!! :-eek :-fume :-grr :-newburn Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Dondo 0]

Hi Chris -- I know I don't post much, but I hate to see people having troubles with WinXp. I must say, it has been a nice "XPierence" for me since I upgraded from Win98SE to XP Pro. I have a fairly older machine as well. Here are my specs:AMD 1.33ghz CPUAsus A7V266 mobo512 meg PC133 ramGeForce 4 TI4200 (64 meg)Soundblaster Live Value1-40 gig Maxtor 7200 RPM HD (NTFS)1-10 gig Maxtor 7200 RMP HD (FAT32) just for storageWinXP Pro, without the service pack.I have uninstalled and reinstalled FU3 several times in the last year and a half and haven't had really any problems at all. I also run Xtreme Air Racing, FS2k2, Fly!II, CFS2 and EECH and don't have an issue with anything to be honest. I've been told to stay away from the Service Pack 1 for XP, so I have. Something that I used when I did my fresh install of XP, was called "Atomic XP". Basically, what it does is disable/turn off/shutdown all the crap that WinXP starts after a complete installation. It has literally saved me hours and hours of endless tweaking to get things to work as I wanted them. I'm not saying that was your problem, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to try it. I have included the readme attached to this post. If you can't find AtomicXP anywhere, let me know and I can e-mail it to you. Remember, it can only be used on a completely fresh install of XP. You can install anything before you use it, or it might goof other things up.Hope this helps you some.Pieter

[Lars Peter 0]

Chris.I did try to use XP-pro last summer,- installing directly over win.98SE.(IBM.P3-600).I found the upgrade like you not stable enough, and I had also troublewith drivers both for my ISDN card and videocard.I also lost all options for the mouse. I never found any drivers thatwould work perfect. Maybe the hardware for the older mashines do notfit in with XP??,- I don't know.It all ended up with a total recovery with Win.98SE again, and this has for my use been stable as a rock.For new mashines there is better hardware involved, so for those whowant to have a stable network, win.XP or win.2000 should be the "thing" of tomorrow.So far my new XP-mashine has never made any system trouble.Also installing older software including FU3 runs very well.The "INTEL XP-indeocodes" for some software is needed.Hope this helps.Lars Peter.