GX110 - Upgrade from Win98SE to Win XP Pro

Question

I have an optiplex gx110 that i want to finally upgrade from win 98se to win xp pro. I have recently upgraded the memory to 384mb of ram. The other system info is as follows P3-933mhz, 20gb harddrive, and the bios is A02. I was wondering if any one had any suggestions or recommendations before i begin the process. I am not sure if anyone out there has experienced any problems upgrading. I just want to be proactive before i start the upgrade. Some questions i already have are -

Do i need to upgrade the bios prior to the operating system upgrade
If so, which bios do you recomend, i have read some of the forums and some have had issues with bios versions beyond A05 and through A09 (which is the latest version)
Is it a fairly easy process to upgrade
Is there any nuances when upgrading ths OS specific to this model.

Any help, suggestions, or encouragement is very appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!!

Flooby · Answer

I had absolutely no problem upgrading the OS on my GX110 with a 500 Mhz processor and 384 MB RAM. Did the job a year ago, and it hasn't given me one moment of grief. You should definitely do the BIOS update before you install the new OS. A09 hasn't caused one problem for me, and has in fact resolved some issues that were present under 98SE and Win2k with previous versions.

In all, the upgrade (both BIOS and OS) were well worth the time and effort, and there wasn't much of either involved. Unless you've added some exotic hardware, you may find that you don't have to install any drivers. XP found them for my video, audio, modem, and NIC, and installed them all automatically. The only adjustment I made was to set the OS to run in Best Performance configuration, which appears to put a bit less of a load on my 500 Mhz processor, but that just depends on what one is going to be doing with the system.

maxd · Answer

When you say upgrade you do mean a clean install installation of XP ? (including a formatting of the hard disk thus erasing all programs and data on your 110.)

You should run the software on the XP cd that will tell you what if anything has to be uninstalled or upgraded to work with XP. I had to 'throw out' my burning software and use the XP basic version.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=PLX_PNT_P03_GX110&category=0&os=WW1&osl=EN

nicor96 · Answer

Initially I am intending on just upgrading the OS without wiping out any information. However, I do have a lot of junk on my computer (kids games, old programs, etc) and I have had a browser hijack problem before (I believe I have rid my system of this through various spyware software and norton anti-virus).   Do you think it would be best to start out fresh?   My only issue with starting fresh is that when I purchased this computer from a former employer, I had to wipe out the hard drive and start over (company policy).  I ran into a few problems problems with drivers, etc when reinstalling the OS, Win98SE.   What do you recommend? Will XP install all drivers, etc better than win98? I also got a reply from a dell mediator to buy a new hard drive, copy old hard drive to new, and then upgrade......your thoughts?   I do have the Full version of XP pro.   Thanks for responding!

Flooby · Answer

@nicor96 wrote:

Do you think it would be best to start out fresh? Absolutely.

My only issue with starting fresh is that when I purchased this computer from a former employer, I had to wipe out the hard drive and start over (company policy). I ran into a few problems problems with drivers, etc when reinstalling the OS, Win98SE. As was mentioned before, if you have a stock GX110, you shouldn't need to worry about drivers.

What do you recommend? Will XP install all drivers, etc better than win98? 3rd time: Yes.

I also got a reply from a dell mediator to buy a new hard drive, copy old hard drive to new, and then upgrade......your thoughts? That's kind of the long and hard way of doing things, but if you haven't been backing user generated files up to external media the way you should have been all along, that's one rather cumbersome option.

I do have the Full version of XP pro. Doesn't make any difference. You can do a clean installation from an Upgrade version, too.

Windows General

GX110 - Upgrade from Win98SE to Win XP Pro

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