upgrade advice

I wish to pgrade to windows xp pro and wish to do a complete new install but I will lose my drivers for mouse, modem and other necessary things. Can I save these things to a disk so I won`t lose them? Also I read that I should upgrade my bios but I couldn`t find a bios number, machine is an IBM aptiva ap 19u 2170 k6-2 450 serial number am7x148. Memory installed 192 MB. Any advice on the best way to go about this upgrade. I think this machine is on the borderline for xp but should work I don`t need speed very badly .
Thank You
woody97

 

woody,

Check in your Setup Utility for the BIOS version that you have. XP should have the drivers that you need, but you can always check the manufacturer's web site for the drivers that you need. As far as installing XP, I will leave that for the more experienced people on this site.

Mike

 

Aida32 will identify your Mobo and more, but I wouldn't worry about flashing the BIOS unless it becomes necessary, and you can backup your drivers at Driverguide.com, although it probably won't be necessary. XP is loaded with drivers. Unless you want a clean install, just put in the disk and follow the prompts. Write down the product code first. I do recommend you clean out the system good first. Temps., TIFs, Spyware/malware removal, scandisk, etc.