Question for computer gurus

[steelheadslayer]

I'm currently running Win98 and would like to upgrade to XP. My wife got a laptop which has XP on it. If I take her reload cd and try and install it on my computer will it work? I know they are licensed but was wondering if I could save a few bucks and use her disk. Thanks for the help.

[skrimmy]

Well, first things first. What you're doing is ILLEGAL as it violates the licensing laws and it also violates the UAP here on ifish. Next, no, it won't work. If it came from the laptop manufacturer, it's an image disk designed to put the laptop back to the factory new configuration in the event that the laptop gets hosed with a virus or otherwise corrupted. and is loaded with the appropriate device drivers for the laptop, not your hardware.

[ampersat]

Skrimmy's right on all counts. Besides, chances are if your PC is still running win98, it won't have the horsepower to run XP with any sort of traction. In short, don't even try it.

[happybrew]

Yep. It's trouble. Don't do it. On the other hand, if you just want the look and feel of Windows XP, you may want to try Calmira XP. I put it on the used $8 computer we got for our four year old for Christmas. It runs Windows 3.1, which was difficult for him to use. We put Calmira XP on it, and it's a lot easier for him to navigate. I don't know if it would work on Windows 98, but it sure made 3.1 look good! It can be found HERE

Of course, it only gives it the XP look, not the bells and whistles, but hey, you could fool your friends at least!

happybrew

[steelheadslayer]

Thanks guys, I didn't know what would happen and didn't know it was against the AUP. I was also wondering about the legal issues, glad to get info from those in the know. I'm thinking of upgrading to XP but now I don't know if my computer will even handle it.

[Silver Hilton]

I just upgraded my wife's pc from win 98 to XP. It was a PII 700, with 256 MB RAM. Runs fine.

BTW, the factory disks for a windows upgrade that you get with a dell or whatever will not work to upgrade any system that isn't already at that level (win 98 to xp).

[lost_sailor]

The amount of RAM seems to be the most important thing for XP, if you have 256+, it should be OK. At work I'm going to XP from NT, the machines are P3, 660Mhz with 256MB of memory. XP takes a little longer to load, but I think the response may be slightly quicker than NT - no significant loss in performance. Win98 sucks.

Don't try to "upgrade" -- re-format the hard disk and start fresh. What I will do at home, some day, is add a new hard drive and load the new operating system on that - then copy stuff I want to keep from the old one.

Fun.

[Fshklr]

Earl,
Updating to XP is only a matter of space and hard drive perameters.. check the minimum operating requirements for XP and then check your pc for compatability, I'm running it at home.
I have an e/machine (etower 466ix) that came with 98/ and can upgrade to XP but don't want to spend the cash for XP at this time since this is my email/ifish pc. You may also be able to run the XP and it runs so much better!!

[steelheadslayer]

Thanks all. I have a gateway P3, 650mhz, but I only have 128 meg RAM. If I can ever get to Portland I plan on picking up another 128 from the Gateway store. Will that work?

[Corkie Monster]

Steelhead Slayer


I had a friend do this with their computer. Tried to install XP Home. The software was designed for DELL and not Compact. Long story short, The computer was Locked up, and you could not unlock it untill you called Microsoft. I beleive he got a but chewing from Microsoft and was very expensive to have Microsoft give out the key strokes to unlock so they could wipe their hard drive. DONOT DO THIS!!

[ampersat]

Will it work? Well, that depends on what you're trying to do with it. Games? Multimedia? Probably won't run very well. Internet browsing and email? Yeah, that would work just fine. I've got XP running on a 233mhz with 196mb of ram and it does OK, but I also work within my limitations with it.