Upgrading from Me to XP on a Dell

[olds]

I have a friend who bought a Dell with Me. She was given a certificate for an upgrade to XP which she purchased. I am going to do the upgrade for her tomorrow. It looks pretty straight forward, remove non compatable software, flash the BIOS then install XP and associated software/drivers. They gave her updated version of Norton's AV and Easy CD Creator so no compatabilty problems there. This will be my first experience with XP (I use 98SE) Any advice? Hints? Prayers? Thanks.

 

[sohcrates]

The upgrades i've done have been pretty seamless. Like you said, removing non-compatible software is the big key.

Nortan and Easy cd are actually the two key programs that everyone i've upgraded seems to have trouble with

XP is good, though, because it quickly highlights which programs aren't compatible.

and it has great driver support, so that should't be too much of a problem

I don't think you have much of anything to worry about

 

[apoppin]

Right this moment I am upgrading from WinME (which totally sucks) to Win2K on my Dell laptop (I can't wait for XP).

Do a clean install - don't upgrade from ME.

Go to the Dell site. They give very detailed instructions on how to do this. You can find out all the details of the notebook configuration by typing in the service code.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Yes, do a clean install. Upgrading from ME to XP is a very long and tedious process. Format and then install, only takes an hour or so.
-- mrcodedude

 

[apoppin]

If you do not do a clean install, you will have a lot of garbage from WinME left behind.

The install from ME to 2K is a piece of cake. After wasting all the time d/l'ing drivers from Dell's website, I found the applications CD has ALL the drivers ands the installation is automatic after the O/S is cleanly installed.


Now, I'll make my OWN restore CD.

 

[olds]

Thanks for the advice. I agree about the full install vs the upgrade. Unfortunately, she purchased the upgrade and not the full version. Well, I am off. Thanks again.

 

[apoppin]

The upgrade IS the same as the full version. It will ask you during install for a copy of the older Win O/S (i.e.: insert the Win disk) to verify that you are eligible for it.

Make sure you change your Dell BIOS to boot from the CD. Then you can do a fresh install.

Go to the Dell website . . . it is a wealth of information.

 

[BFG10K]

I would recommend that you do a clean install. Also an upgrade is the same as the full version; it'll just ask you for your old CD during the install.