Topic: Windows upgrade question

[Clark Kent]

I have one of them thar Win 2k Pro disks, and have for some time, but everytime I've tried to upgrade my Win ME machine there have been "complications"  In short, any time i've tried it the drivers already on my PC seem to dissapear along with sound, modem support, and most other  "optional features."  Is there a way for me to finally go from Win Me to Win 2k Pro seemlessly?
I HATE Win Me, and haven't the patience to learn to hack it to work better.
Running a Compaq Presario 5000 series tower
384 megs RAM
Nvidia Ge4 64 meg vid card

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

In a word:  No.

Go to Compaq/HP web-site.  Download all the Windows 2000 drivers you will need for your computer.  Upgrade to Windows 2000, then install all the drivers you have saved on your HDD....

[Clark Kent]

This is why I HATE  winblows.  My computer is more than three years ol.d would they have all the drivers i need still?
I ask because I know Apple would have everything I would want, but Windows doesn't seem to be as accepting of older computers that are well past their warranty.

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

 
If it's a P-II or later you should have no problem with it, and the HP/Compaq support site doesn't suck too much, so you should actually be able to find the drivers you need.

[Bonk]

The issue is not windows (as bad as it is). The presario 5000 uses an integrated sound and modem (probably incomplete hardware that offloads most of the function to the CPU through drivers - that are often only available for windows).

Saving $100-200 on a PC purchase is just not worth it for this very reason. Buy complete and quality hardware and almost all OSs will install seamlessly.

It's like this:

Western Digital and Seagate make hard drives.

NEC and HP make system memory.

ASUS, Gigabyte, Tyan and Intel make mainboards.

USRobotics makes modems.

Creative labs and MAudio make sound cards.

Adaptec makes SCSI cards.

Matrox, ATI and NVidia make video cards.

Plextor makes CD burners (if you have the bucks - if not, disposable sonys work fine).

HP makes DDS tape drives.

3com, DLink and SMC make ethernet adapters (10/100 NE200 compatible), Intel for gigabit.

Logitech makes mice.

Keytronics makes keyboards. (a keyboard should only have 104 keys, require no drivers and be near indestructable)

Printers are not a practical home computing device.

...

The point is all of these manufacturers produce devices that are complete in their function, not offloading any work on the CPU through a driver. They often only cost a few dollars more, but unfortunately most people are fooled by the apparent numbers and insist on saving that $100-$200 dollars and inevitably end up with this kind of complaint.

I detest bundled systems. No one company can do it all well and inevitably cut corners to get that all important low price to make the sale. Sigh...

[E_Look]

Bonk, thanks for stating that outright.  I hope someone finds this post from somewhere else on the 'Net and posts is all over the place.  Out of sheer... okay, I'll say it, uh, frugality, I used to go with the "best deal I could find" premade computer systems from the usual suspects.  But now that one can actually find, from time to time, good deals on components, it's best to not rush it and collect the parts you want, or close to them, and then assemble it yourself.

When inkjets were kind of new, I got a 466 MHz Celeron machine that came bundled with one, and that printer was "free" after the rebate.  But little did anyone know, cartridges cost more than the printer!!

[Javora]

Saving $100-200 on a PC purchase is just not worth it for this very reason. Buy complete and quality hardware and almost all OSs will install seamlessly.

Truer words were never spoken Bonk, building your own system is the only way to go.

BTW, MAudio sound card some of the processes to the CPU.  MAudio is not ready to compete with Creative Labs yet but MAudio is getting there.  Just not soon enough for my tastes, audio cards have not progressed very much because IMHO lack of real competition.

[Clark Kent]

The only problem, as I see it, with building your own is the cost of the actual OS.  Wondows is expensive, and I'd have to fork out, what is it, $300 + on the pro versionof XP so I can reinstall itor upgrade later?

[Hale]

XP Pro $141 at newegg.com.   http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=37-102-143&DEPA=6

You can get it sub $100 if you're a student.   

I've upgraded 3 systems from ME/98 to XP and never had an issue.   As long as you can get your ethernet card to work, XP will download 99% of the stuff you need automatically. 

[Just plain old Punisher]

I wouldn't. It's a pain and you'll wanna convert to NTFS.

Whenever I install a new OS I just format the drive and do a fresh install...trust me you'll thank me later.

[Clark Kent]

I don't use my PC enough anymore where id want to bother with an entire system reformat.  What is NTFS?

[Core]

NTFS is the file system WinXP uses compared to win me98 who use fat32

[Just plain old Punisher]

Welppers...

Windows ME uses a file system called FAT32...which uses large cluster sizes (ummm 2kb-32kb) This usually results in quite a bit of waste, since no matter how large the file actually is it will take at least one cluster.

Windows XP and 2000 use NTFS (New Technology File System) -- the native file system for both operating systems. It's more robust, which is microsoft speak for nifty-keen! It has a 512byte cluster size, which makes for a more effecient usage of your hard drive. It also has some native security, performance, and other features. No one should really run Fat32 on a Windows XP setup.

Partitian magic can actually convert Fat32 to NTFS,...but I usually just back up critical data onto a CD and then format.

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

Partitian magic can actually convert Fat32 to NTFS,...but I usually just back up critical data onto a CD and then format.

"Convert C: /fs:ntfs"  at a command prompt will also convert Fat32 to NTFS.  Clear out the temp folders and delete IE temp files and run a defrag afterwards.