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Question

XP clean install question

May 4, 2011 5:06AM PDT

I have a 12 year old PC,bought it with W98se...OS.About 6 years ago I changed from 98se to XP home.The disc came from Dell and they walked me through the switch.

Now I'am looking to do a clean install of XP. Its a 2nd home PC for my son and want to get it running better.Will I run into any problems with the normal clean install of XP b/c it was once 98se.

Dell
512....mem
T-500....cpu
12G......hd
basic wireless connection

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Guessing that the sparse info ...
May 4, 2011 5:44AM PDT

provided means that this computer has 512 meg of RAM and is a Dell XPS T500 (which came with a couple of different Pentium III processors) it will probably "run better" with Win 98 unless you want to upgrade the RAM to 1GB.

Additionally, if you do upgrade it you do realixe that you will NEED a second copy of Windows XP with its own CoA?

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Thanks for the quick reply.....
May 4, 2011 6:16AM PDT

It came with 256m and dell walked me through an upgrade to 512m

Not sure what Pentium III that PC has.

Don't have the 98se CD anymore, also not sure what you mean by " need a 2nd copy of XP or CoA. The XP disc was purchased from Dell and they(over the phone) help me install XP I assume, over the top of 98se.

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Re: serond license
May 4, 2011 6:28AM PDT

You bought a license for one PC from Dell. You need to buy another license for this PC.

Two remarks:
- 512 MB is enough for XP. But 12 GB hard disk isn't much. And the CPU isn't fast. So I doubt if the overall experience will be satisfactory, compared with Windows 98SE.
- If it's different PC than the first one you told about, it's doubtful that Dell has XP drivers for you nowe.
- It's a litle bit doubtful also that Dell will help you installing a disk with a license you don't buy from them (and it's doubtful they still sell them).

Kees

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Same PC
May 4, 2011 8:05AM PDT

Its the same PC from my 1ST post.Bought it from Dell with 98se, 6 years later bought XP disc from Dell for an upgrade. I had free support if I bought the xp disc from them and they helped me throught it.Just wondering if I do a clean install myself, will I have problems b/c it once had 98se.

There shouldn't be a license problem b/c I bought the XP disc from Dell for that PC and now just want to clean reinstall.

Are you saying I'll have trouble finding drivers? Would I at least find the ones that are on there now?

Thanks for all the help.

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If it's the same PC ...
May 5, 2011 6:25PM PDT

you'll experience the same issues as you did when you first installed it. So just consult the notes you made then.

There might be, however, a new problem. If it's an upgrade disk, it might check if there's an old Win 98 install. If there isn't it might ask you to insert the Windows 98 CD. If you still have that I don't expect any problems. But it might be smart enough to recognize there already is a Windows XP on the drive (if you don't format it) and just work.
You'll only know what happens if you try.

Kees

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Re-install OS
May 6, 2011 1:37AM PDT

As for drivers you *NEED TO KNOW* what drivers are being installed for. Not simply say, a video driver but a video driver for model# or that video card, product XYX123(whatever). Once you know what you need to get, then proceed to see if its available. The Dell support website offers such drivers for your model#, look for the XP version.

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Jumping in.....
May 6, 2011 5:00AM PDT

next week and we'll see what happens. Like some said, I might not get this thing to run any better, but I tried. Done some Blackviper.com tweeks today, its a little faster and more stable. After the clean install, I'll redo the tweeks and see what happens.

Thanks to all for the help.

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Answer
A second PC?
May 5, 2011 11:45PM PDT

If you use the XP disk that you used on the first PC I see problems. XP will only activate on one PC. Trying to activate the same disk on a second PC may fail. Unless I missed something.

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Sorry...
May 6, 2011 2:39AM PDT

its the home's second PC.Meaning, if I screw up the clean install of XP its not a big deal.Bought a new Dell with W-7 last year.