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computergeekett
62 Posts
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March 12th, 2004 18:00
Upgrade vs new install
I bought my dell dimension 8200 back in 2001 and as soon as I received it win xp pretty much came out and dell started to send out upgrade disks at peoples requests. Okay well I still have win ME on this thing and I am not considering putting win xp or win xp pro on this thing. I have heard that doing an *UPGRADE* was really not the best thing that a clean install is what is best.
Okay I have never formated a drive before, but that is where I figure I am headed my question is this.
Can I do a clean install with the upgrade disk that Dell sent me, Or am I going to have to go out and buy a copy that you can do a fresh install with since the HD is going to be formated....... now when they sent me this disk it has the COA and numbers on it, now I don't know if that makes any difference in what I do? I was told that the upgrade disk would not be bootable from the CD drive...... well I know i can change that in the bios just prior to doing the install etc and then format then and continue on........ It's bad enough I am not thrilled with doing this, but if I am going on a new adventure with something I have never done, I sure want to do it the correct way....... I have no problem getting the new drivers etc that I would need, I can burn them and make that cd an xp upgrade driver disk myself although with the upgrade they (dell) did send the disks with utilities etc with the new drivers, but I am sure and know there are many more recent ones than what was two years ago.
I will also be leary about the bios...... I never touched that either, I have read here that some say leave the bios alone unless I have problems and then change it, or change it while doing the upgrade.... and then I have to find that bios and which one in the downloads around here..... I have been having a time lately with finding things on here, I noticed the upgrade stuff won't show me memory anymore...... says can't find anything and this is with putting my tag number in and everything.
Anyway if someone here can help me out I sure would appreciate it.......
I am sure I will have many more questions as well.... I am just preparing, not in big hurry to do this, ha ha.
Karen
Win Me, 512 mb ram, 1.7 GB Pent 4 40 gig HD ultra ada, nvidea geforce2 mmx4 with tv out, still using a modem, cough cough.
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Posted March 13th, 2004 02:00
computergeekette,
No problem. First, the reinstallation CD for Windows ME that you received with your Dell is proof of a qualifying upgrade operating system. Secondly, if ME is installed on your computer when you begin the clean install the installation program will detect it and go straight ahead with the process without asking you for further proof.
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Posted March 13th, 2004 02:00
thanks. I think I just ran into a snag. I have been on the other board you mentioned, they gave me some links and from a link there I ran across this one http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp and there is says this *7. If using an Upgrade CD, be sure to have qualifying media - If you're performing a clean installation of XP Home or Professional using an Upgrade CD, be sure to have your qualifying media handy. This can be a retail Windows 98, 98 SE, Millennium Edition (Me), NT 4.0 or 2000 CD-ROM or, in some cases, a Windows CD that was supplied with a new PC. Note that "restore" CDs will not work, however, and most Windows CDs that ship from PC makers are now restore CDs. *
Okay well Dell did send me a restore cd and I don't see anything else here other than that. it says on it *reinstallation cd WME*
so now I really don't know what to think
babienick
12 Posts
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Posted March 12th, 2004 18:00
To answer your first question, yes you can do a clean install with upgrade CD so you will not have to go out a buy another copy of XP. If you go to the Software-Windows XP message boards you will find a lot a good links in other posts that will point you in the right direction. Just to let you know, I have almost the same exact same computer you do and I upgraded my computer two years ago from ME to XP Home and have not had a single problem with after doing it. But from everything I have read I guess I should consider myself lucky. But I have had a few minor issues when doing the clean install in the last month or so. The only thing you might want to do is upgrade your BIOS. If you don't have A09, download the BIOS and upgrade it before proceeding. You then can hit F12 during startup and set your computer to boot to cd. After you have done that it is a matter of following the instructions on the screen. Just make sure to delete the existing partition with Win ME.
Good luck.
Brian