Upgrading from Windows 98SE

Hi I am upgrading from Windows 98SE to Windows XP SP 2 Home Edition on a Pentium III - 450 machine with 320 m ram and 80g hdd. Is there some software I can run as a compatibility check for the hardware I have installed in my machine?

Thanks.

 

[FONT= "Century Gothic"]Pete C.

Thanks. I quite stumbled across this one all by myself. I bought the Upgrade Windows XP SP2 off the net. After running this analyzer I can see that what many have said is true. There's no way about it. I will have to start from scratch with a full install version and a clean disk. I will probably be glad I did in the long run.

Once more, thank you.[/FONT]

 

Maybe I have just been plain lucky over the years.

But right now all I can say is that I have never had any problems upgrading one OS with another. EXCEPT the one time I messed up and booted from the HD to do the upgrade. ( 95>98 )

The HD in this machine started out as a 40gig on another machine with 95 upgraded to Win98 then upgraded to 98SE then copied to an 80gig which was then installed on a whole new hardware system but it WAS NOT allowed to boot directly to the HD the first time. I booted to the Floppy and re-installed 98SE. Not one problem. Had to update various drivers etc. but no real problems.

Over time I have found and believe that one of the BIGGEST mistakes that users make when upgrading is that they boot from the HD. This may not work properly as inuse file may not get over written properly.

These are words of warning that a long time Friend and co-worker gave me back in the days of Win95. " Do not boot from the HD to do an OS upgrade."

I myself have usually copied the Setup files to the HD. Then shut down completely and reboot to the Floppy. Then run setup from the folder on the HD.

Just have to watch carefully that it gets installed into the existing Windows folder.

I can just hear ( read ) someone saying " this won't work. "

To them I say. " I did not think it would either." But in this case I had nothing to lose as I still had the old machine intact.

I did not even consider upgrading the old machine because niether the HD or the system in general would handle it.

BillyBob

 

[FONT= "Century Gothic"]Thanks. I got a hold of the Upgrade tester by Microsoft that someone suggested. I'll be returning the XP SP2 Home Ed Upgrade software. Too many hardware units on my existing system were flagged. While it will be a little more costly, I'm going to leave my existing system intact and when I buy my AMD barebones I will get a good price for a HDD or, order it elsewhere and get a copy of the full XP SP2. Then I will have my old system as a backup should I encounter any problems with the new build. Does that make sense?[/FONT]

 

If you only have the one system then YES it does make sense.

I had 2 other systems so I really had nothing to lose the way I attempted creating the 3rd machine the way I did.

BillyBob