[bluee]

i am currently running on windows me and i want to upgrade to windows xp. Here is my hardware list:

mobo- msi k7n2-v (ms-6729)
cpu- amd athlon xp 2400+
RAM- kingston 512mb
hd- western digital 80g 7200rpm 8mb chache
video card- radeon 9200 128mb


i cant upgrade to windows xp... is there nething i can do to make my hardware compatible? i am fairly new at computer stuff and am not sure what BIOS i have and how to upgrade them and what not... so if u guys could tell me what to do so i can use windows xp that would be great.

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Hi bluee, welcome to GTG!

Looking at your hardware you should have no problem upgrading to XP--and you'll sure be glad to get rid of ME!

Are you getting an error message when you try installing XP?

[admin]

Hi bluee, welcome to GTG!

Looking at your hardware you should have no problem upgrading to XP--and you'll sure be glad to get rid of ME!

Are you getting an error message when you try installing XP?

[bluee]

i took my computer to a person who lives up the street he said that windows xp didnt work so i havent tried to install it infear of loosing my current os. Is there a way to "save" my hard drive incase it fails so i dont loose ne of my current stuff?

[tazz1964]

Hi
your system will run Xp with no problems Just make sure you do a clean install of Xp not the upgrade you can do a clean install with the upgrade disk you just frist need to back up all the data that you put on ME if you want to keep it. we can get more into this if you want to do it.

[bluee]

ok thats cool. could u explain how to do it and how to retrieve my data if something goes wrong. here is a link to the mobo i have, sometimes it comes up as a different one http://www.pricegrab.....arch=msi k7n2
the guy up the street said that the pci bus slots were not compatible... i dunno. i will try what u have in mind...

[tazz1964]

Hi
what you going to do is need to back up the files that you made the way I like to do this is with a cd/rw cd-rom do you have a buning cd-rom?

when the guy up the street said that the pci bus slots were not compatible did he say why they where not I have never seen this to be a problem with any of the systems that I have put windows XP on. is this guy a computer tech?

[bluee]

ok yea my cd-rom is rewritable. im not sure if he is a computer tech. I got a flier in the mail and i was having trouble so i went up to him. it looks like he went on the internet and ran a check to see if my hardware was compatible. it says
hardware that might need additional files
the following hardware might need additioinal files in order to work with windows xp. Contact ur hardware vendors to obtain windows xp compatible updates. IN many cases, if a windows xp version is not available, a windows 2000 compatible update should work. It is recommended that u obtain these drivers in advance.

please note the following entries might be software that is registered as hardware.

Display adaptors
Radeon 9200 series-secondary(not currently present)
Radeon 9200 series- (not currently present)

Network adaptors
NVIDIA nForce MCP networking adaptor

Sound, video, and game controllers
NVIDIA® nForce Audio
NVIDIA® nForce audio codec interface

System devices
NVIDIA nForce PCI system managment

Universal Serial Bus Controllers
NVIDIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
USB 2.0 root hub device


i have the driver disks that came with the mobo and the video card. it seems to me that what the sheet is saying is that windows xp wont have the drivers but if i install the drivers(additional files) it should work.?

[admin]

None of those components will give you any problems when installing XP. You will need to load the drivers when finished. Preferably the latest drivers from nvidia.com, or from the CD that came with the mobo.

[bluee]

ok
but could some one tell me how to back up my hd just incase something goes wrong?
i have cd rewrite capabilities

[admin]

I'd recommend a program like Ghost or Drive Image if you want to backup your entire hard drive. Windows also has a backup program included.

Probably an better option is to only backup the data you need, but not all the program files or Windows, as these can be installed with the installation disks. The tricky part is making sure you collect all the data you want to save. Start with the My Documents folder, your favorites, contacts/email adress, photos, MP3's etc.

Also, the XP upgrade doesn't work very well. I highly recommend doing a "clean install", or removing everything from your hard drive and starting over (fdisk, format).

[bluee]

all that i want to save on my hard drive is windows me. b/c the guy up the street put it on my computer and if i dont have me on my computer i would have to put 98se on. so could u specify how to back up my hd? also How can i do a clean install with the upgrade disk?

[tazz1964]

Hi
If you have a windows 98se I would not worry about Me Me is one of the worst windows that microsoft put out If someone is not going to use Xp then windows 98 is the next best one I think. I have told all to stay away from Me its not a good OS to use.

when I do a clean install I do a low level format of the harddrive most harddrive makers have a download on there site to do this.

THINGS YOU NEED FOR CLEAN INSTALL
low level formater (you don't need this you can do a fdisk ,format with a bootup disk)
windows bootup disk
windows 98 disk
windows XP upgrade disk
do you have all of these?

[bluee]

i dont have the bootup disk or windows 98
windows 98 i lent to a friend

[bluee]

cnat i make a bootup disk?

[Hemal]

Bootdisk-ther you go, lookin at this ur harddware, as told, is more then what you need to have for XP, personally i would just save ur music and pictures and maybe a little bit of documents but erase everything else and get a clean start, i also agree with Tazz about the ME and 98. def. go with 98, its much better for your computer