Always Clean Install!

[GregMal]

Well for me personally it was the weekend from he!!. I hadn't upgraded my MB/CPU for
2 years and I had decided it was time. The old was an ASUS P299 (ZX)/Celeron 466. The new
is a SOYO SY-TISU/1.2Ghz Celeron Tualatin. OS is Win98SE.
Saturday couldn't get anything to work. Started from scratch and found out the CPU wasn't
seated tight!!! Geesh...a rookie mistake (I 've upgraded many MB/CPU's).
Sunday got it running, new inf's installed, used Sigmatel audio codec for the built-in sound.
Installed a Lucent Win modem. (had to get rid of my old ISA sound card and ISA modem, all
PCI slots).
Darn machine keeps locking up and giving me BLACK screens.
Discovered sound and modem shares IRQ5. No way to separate them.
Removed Lucent Win modem and went out and purchased a new external 3Com/USR and
installed on Com2. Same problems.
Temporarily uninstalled and disabled the onboard sound. Still same problems.......
Gonna try to install Win98SE over current setup this weekend.........
Last resort will be to backup, format, and reinstall............
Maybe should have done that to begin with..........
Greg

 

[cmaMath13]

I feel your pain. I hate it when things go bad!

I hope you get it fixed.

 

[Ausm]

Reinstall is definately the way togo especially if the OS has been on that system for 2 years+ I take it?


Ausm

 

[bacillus]

keep it clean I say!

 

[xWeston]

how about trying a decent operating system? Win2k/XP ?

 

[JBChance]

Definitely clean; definitely, definitely clean install.

I recently went through the same kind of turmoil; Upgraded my old Athlon 500/ Acer (IBM) mobo combo
to a Gigabyte GA-7DX DDR/ T-bird 1.2 Ghz system. I figure that 2 years is long enough to suffer

I had decided to try to use the OS (Win 98SE) as it was, 'cause I'm too lazy to re-load everything, but that
was a BIG MISTAKE

First, Windblows took about a year trying to figure out what was going on (updating system settings,
spinning the HD for hours, etc.), then it tried to find drivers for everything that it didn't have before
(long process). As soon as it stopped crunching the HD, I loaded the miniport drivers, but I think the
damage had been done.

I re-booted to see what was what and, at first glance, everything looked OK.

Until I checked the device manager........... lots of conflicts and problems (too many to mention).

Then I checked performance; I had only 12 percent of system resources free! Yikes!

At this point I decided to backup everything and clean house. I'm glad I did. You will be too.

I'm happy to report that my 'puter is behaving nicely; No problems.

Now if only I had a better video card.............

 

[dsparks]

Reinstall or delete the Enum key out of the Registry and restart, and windows will re-detect all hardware from scratch. Of course don't forget to backup the reg...

 

[BD231]

Reinstall or delete the Enum key out of the Registry and restart, and windows will re-detect all hardware from scratch. Of course don't forget to backup the reg...

 

[Snapster]

I normally clean re-install every 6 months or so just to keep my os extra clean, it's amazing the amount of crap that can be installed/saved onto your system in such a time, many of which you no longer want/need.

 

[GregMal]

Yeah...I didn't touch the registry. But I did delete all of the system devices (except for PNP)
in the device manager. It installed default drivers as Win98(SE) doesn't have the 815 infs.
But then i used the Intel inf util and all of the system devices look fine. In fact there are no
conflicts at all in the devce manager.....so I'm thinking it's a software driver conflict. Probably
sound/modem/mouse. But you're right, it has been 2 years since the OS was installed. And
you can't believe the stuff the kids have put on the PC.
As far as reformatting and installing WinXP, I think I'm gonna hold off on that....maybe until
WinXP(SE).......heh......Greg

 

[GregMal]

UPDATE!!!!!
Reformatted and reinstalled Win98SE to my new Soyo SY-TISU/Celeron 1.2 Tualatin over the
weekend. Eveything went fine until I installed the Intel infs for the 815 chipset.
Nothing but lockup after lockup. Reinstalled Win98SE again using the generic drivers. No
lockups. Anyone else have problems with the Intel inf chipset utility?
Screen did go black once but I had forgotten to turn off power management.
System's been working fine since Saturday. I am concerned that the system's not
optimal with the generic drivers, but stability is my main concern and that seems to
be OK.
I'll probably be going to WinXP anyways later this year..................
Greg

 

[randypj]

As said previously.....never clean install. Delete the enum key in W98SE and have drivers ready, or upgrade to W2K.

Let's see......on my main system, I clean installed ONCE. In 1996. W95a.

W95a on a Soyo 486/two 250MB hard drives
hacked to W95b, added some hard drives
in 1998, moved to FIC 2012, VIA sh8tset, 4.3 gig
in 2000, moved to Asus P3B-F, Intel BX chipset, 30gig, UPGRADED to W98SE
in 2001, UPGRADED to W2K and added SP2. I think I've got a 40 gig and an 80 gig in it.....but, can't remember, and I actually have the case on.

NEVER a fresh install. Hail, I couldn't even find half the cd's that my software came on.
Do I have backups? You bet.
Maybe the key is knowing what crape I've got on my system.
--Randy

 

[bearmeat]

dirty installs for dirty people

 

[GTaudiophile]

Never clean install! WTF???

I always clean install. It's the only way to make sure you're starting from scratch.

What I recommend:

Backup all that you can
Uninstall all hardware components
Re-check the CPU, HSF, and RAM
Install only the CPU, HSF, RAM, and videocard
Boot off of Win2K/XP
Format/Install Win2K/XP
Install Intel INFs
Install Intel App. Accelerator
Install SP2
Install videocard drivers (install DX8 if necessary before hand)
Install other PCI cards, one-by-one (install card, boot, install driver, shut down, install next card, etc)
Install other software

 

[Jen]

i always back up my stuff to a dvdram once a week just in case of hard drive failure or OS failure. then i do a clean install whenever i change systems or when my OS is getting to bogged down



Jen

 

[randypj]

<< I always clean install. It's the only way to make sure you're starting from scratch. >>



and.....why would I wanna start from scratch when I don't need to? I've got my programs setup the way I want them. Yeah, I do some reg cleaning. Lots easier than fresh install.
--Randy

 

[John P]

I'm with the dirty install people. Why go through the pain of a clean install if you don't have to? Only clean install as a lost resort, unless you actually enjoy spending the weekend reinstalling all your software.

 

[JBChance]

For me, part of the reason was that I had alot of crap on there that I didn't want anymore.

I waited 2 years to upgrade (probably more than alot of guys 'round here) and I wanted a clean start, so it
was good for me.

Once I did do the new install, the performance increase was signifigant.

I would be able to do more w/ the registry. What's a good applictation to use? I've fooled around with
regedit a bit.