Question About Changing From WindowsME to WindowsSE

If we take this Compaq computer that is running ME and fdisk and reformat, will we be able to use our full install of windows98se and put that OS on it? Will we run into problems with drivers? If this might occur, how do we prepare for it ahead of time.
ME is just giving us one headache after another, seems like everything we try to install causes problems of some kind.....I rarely have these issues with 98SE, so we are thinking of putting it on this computer also.
thanks

 

From the times I have looked for drivers at the Compaq/HP website, I have found that the original system drivers are not listed, only one or two "updates" (and these are not the full set). I think you will find that the drivers are proprietry and are only available by using the original Compaq CD or by purchasing a special OS (restore) CD from them.

If you manage to install Win 98 using Windows standard drivers, I doubt that the system will work correctly.

Moral...I think you can guess.

Matt

 

Also......many earlier Compaq machines kept the bios setup program on the hard drive. You’ll need to check by the model of your Compaq. If you have it and you wipe it you will need to make the special floppy disk to restore it.

 

What I would do is go to your Control Panel; System...and copy everything that is listed. All video, sound, modem, LAN, etc, etc. Any devices that is on your computer needs to be copied word for word. Write all that stuff down on a piece of paper somewhere.

Go to www.driverguide.com and find the drivers for each of those things. Save it to a cd.

When you reformat and reinstall Win98SE, copy those drivers back to your hardrive and then start installing those drivers one by one.

Even if HP/Compaq does not have those drivers listed, more than likely you can find them somewhere else. www.driverguide.com is a great place to go. I definitely recommend Win98SE than WinME.

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Another quick recommendation is that you partition your harddrive into two drives. One C: for your Win98 and all programs & one D: for your data. Then next time, you won't have to worry about data because they will be on the D drive....away from Windows.

 

From that, something that may work.

Copy the ME C:Windows folder to CD (my Windows (98) folder is 747MB, so it might just all fit on a CD). If it won't all fit, you at least need the files, the INF folder and the System folder. You don't need the Cookies folder, the Temp folder, the Temporary Internet Files folder, etc.
If you can get Win 98 to install, when it asks for drivers, direct it to the CD. They could be found in the INF folder, the INF Backup folder, the System folder or just in the Windows folder.

From writing down the driver list like Lighthammer said, make sure you install the drivers listed as Intel (remove the old ones and install from the CD you burnt).

My concern is that you will not be able to get Win 98 to install to completion.

I had a Win95 system and wanted to upgrade to Win 98. The thought of finding all the drivers was daunting, so I hooked the Win 95 HD up as slave to a formated drive, installed Win 98 on that and "extracted" the drivers from the Win95 Windows folder. Worked a treat.

Win 95, 98 and ME have, pretty much, compatible drivers.

Matt