Windows XP upgrade question

[Broncho]

I have a Win98SE install that isn't even a year old but it is giving me enough problems I don't feel like messing with it anymore. I have a full version of WinXP Pro and I was thinking about doing a clean install of it in a couple of weeks(format the drive and start all over). I am planning on getting a soundcard (using onboard sound right now) and another 256 MB of RAM (got 256 now) and I don't know if it would be better to have those before I install XP or not. I don't really want to reactivate XP if these are upgrades it won't like (it thinking I'm trying to install it on a new computer). I also won't be able to afford the new card and RAM until after Christmas but I can keep the computer up until then so that won't be a problem. I can post any additional information yall need but I would appreciate any help you can offer.

 

[ProviaFan]

With nothing but a sound card and memory upgrade, I don't think you'll have any problems having Windows XP on there before installing said hardware. To it even less likely that anything would trigger the need for reactivation, try installing the memory at one time, boot up, use the computer for a bit, then take it down and install the sound card. HTH.

 

[woodie1]

Agree with the above post. Go ahead and install XP. You won't have problems upgrading your hardware.

 

[Broncho]

Thanks to both of you for the quick response. I feel a little better about going ahead and installing XP. Now all I have to do is find the time to back everything up, format and install XP and get all my programs reinstalled. Shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Darein]

If you have a large enough harddrive I find it the best to back things up to another partition on it, then you can always have back ups in case your main partition fails.

 

[Broncho]

Well, I have one 60 gig drive and I have it set up now to where ~6 gig is for C and all I have on there is Windows and IE and the rest is in one partition and has all my programs on it. I'm going to end up zipping and burning stuff to CD though since I want to reformat the harddrive and move to NTFS. I figure if I'm going to start messing with XP I might as well go all out. Thanks for the advice though.