upgrading Win ME to Win XP

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Guest

I hope this is the right board for this question, if not I appoligze.
I have a Dell Inspiron 5000e laptop with Win ME on it. I got Win XP home
edition and installed it over the ME. I got a message that it would possibly
eleminate the "My documents folder", so i copied it to a flash drve and
clicked OK. Now that XP is installed, I cannot get to anything priviously
installed on the computer.
Should i just wipe the harddrive clean, install XP, then reinstall the
programs I want?
Any suggestions?
 
Should i just wipe the harddrive clean, install XP, then reinstall the
programs I want?
Any suggestions?

Simple answer: yes

All your old programs are essentially NOT installed anymore. So, backup
anything you want to keep to another drive and do a fresh install of XP. A
fresh install is the best way to do an upgrade.

Good Luck
 
John said:
Simple answer: yes

All your old programs are essentially NOT installed anymore. So,
backup anything you want to keep to another drive and do a fresh
install of XP. A fresh install is the best way to do an upgrade.


My opinion is the opposite. Unlike with previous versions of Windows, an
upgrade to XP replaces almost everything, and usually works very well.

My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much easier
than a clean installation. You can always change your mind and reinstall
cleanly if problems develop.

However, don't assume that doing an upgrade relieves you of the need to
backup your data, etc. before beginning. Before starting to upgrade, it's
always prudent to recognize that things like a sudden power loss can occur
in the middle of it and cause the loss of everything. For that reason you
should make sure you have backups and anything else you need to reinstall if
the worst happens.
 
I installed XP already, it didn't give me the option of installing it as an
upgrade. I can't access or run any of the other programs on the computer now.
I tried to defrag the HD and got a message that I had less than 15% free
space (10G hard drive, 11% free space available.) so defrag should not be run.
Plus, now I have a new problem. The processor is running 100%, but I have no
applications running. My touchpad won't work and my USB mouse only responds
in occasional bursts, I guess whin the processor takes a break.
 
chuckher said:
I installed XP already, it didn't give me the option of installing it as an
upgrade. I can't access or run any of the other programs on the computer now.
I tried to defrag the HD and got a message that I had less than 15% free
space (10G hard drive, 11% free space available.) so defrag should not be run.
Plus, now I have a new problem. The processor is running 100%, but I have no
applications running. My touchpad won't work and my USB mouse only responds
in occasional bursts, I guess whin the processor takes a break.

Well, did you check if your system was powerful enough for XP. The
solution now tends to be for users to switch to 98 Second Edition for
legacy programs if their computer cannot support XP. I have a
custom-built dual-boot with 98 Second Edition and XP Professional which
I am very pleased with so far.
 
chuckher said:
I installed XP already, it didn't give me the option of installing it
as an upgrade. I can't access or run any of the other programs on the
computer now. I tried to defrag the HD and got a message that I had
less than 15% free space (10G hard drive, 11% free space available.)
so defrag should not be run. Plus, now I have a new problem. The
processor is running 100%, but I have no applications running. My
touchpad won't work and my USB mouse only responds in occasional
bursts, I guess whin the processor takes a break.

Then your answer (since you already backed up your data) is to do a
clean install of Windows. Go to the Dell website for your specific
model laptop and download all the drivers you will need first. It is
best to do this from a different, known-working machine and then burn
the drivers to cd-r or put on a usb thumb drive if you have one that is
large enough. If Dell doesn't provide drivers for XP for your model
laptop, reinstall ME.

Malke
 
Malke said:
Then your answer (since you already backed up your data) is to do a
clean install of Windows. Go to the Dell website for your specific
model laptop and download all the drivers you will need first. It is
best to do this from a different, known-working machine and then burn
the drivers to cd-r or put on a usb thumb drive if you have one that is
large enough. If Dell doesn't provide drivers for XP for your model
laptop, reinstall ME.

Malke

It sounds like the user's computer is not powerful enough for XP, Malke.
 
chuckher said:
I installed XP already, it didn't give me the option of installing it
as an upgrade. I can't access or run any of the other programs on the
computer now. I tried to defrag the HD and got a message that I had
less than 15% free space (10G hard drive, 11% free space available.)


If you have a drive as small as 10GB, it's likely that the rest of the
computer is not adequate for Windows XP. What processor do you have, and in
particular, how much RAM do you have? How much RAM you need depends on what
apps you run, but a minimum of 256MB is needed for adequate performance
with Windows XP

so defrag should not be run. Plus, now I have a new problem. The
processor is running 100%, but I have no applications running. My
touchpad won't work and my USB mouse only responds in occasional
bursts, I guess whin the processor takes a break.


That sounds like you have malware on the system. What firewall, anti-virus,
and anti-spyware programs do you run, and are they kept up to date? I
recommend that you go to Malke's Malware Removal site
at http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware and
follow
the instructions there.
 
In answer to the questions asked, the computer has 256MB ram, I have been
thinking of upgrading to 512MB. The processor is a 600 Mz Pentium III. If it
makes a difference, the processor has 32kb primary memory cache and 256kb
secondary memory cache.
As an update, the processor ran continusly for about 20 minutes, then quit
and now just seems to run normally. Things open s-l-o-w-l-y, but that is
fairly normal for a machine that needs to be defraged. I was thinking of
wiping the hard drive clean and re-installing everything before I got this XP
Home edition package (I bought it on EBay), because the machine was getting
slow and clogged up wit junk.
I have run CA's AntiVirus program on it since I got it and lately (about a
year ago, installed Zone Alarm firewall. The machine has never acted like it
had malware or a virus till I installed XP.
Your answers are all helpful, and I really appreciate the help and advice
given.
 
chuckher said:
In answer to the questions asked, the computer has 256MB ram, I have
been thinking of upgrading to 512MB.


Before you do that, read the following:

How much RAM you should have is *not* a one-size-fits-all situation. You get
good performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from using the page
file, and that depends on what apps you run. Most people running a typical
range of business applications find that somewhere around 256-384MB works
well, others need 512MB. Almost anyone will see poor performance with less
than 256MB. Some people, particularly those doing things like editing large
photographic images, can see a performance boost by adding even more than
512MB--sometimes much more.

If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory will
decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance. If you are
not using the page file significantly, more memory will do nothing for you.
Go to http://billsway.com/notes_public/winxp_tweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage. That should give you
a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how much more.


The processor is a 600 Mz
Pentium III. If it makes a difference, the processor has 32kb primary
memory cache and 256kb secondary memory cache.
As an update, the processor ran continusly for about 20 minutes, then
quit and now just seems to run normally. Things open s-l-o-w-l-y, but
that is fairly normal for a machine that needs to be defraged. I was
thinking of wiping the hard drive clean and re-installing everything
before I got this XP Home edition package (I bought it on EBay),
because the machine was getting slow and clogged up wit junk.
I have run CA's AntiVirus program on it since I got it and lately
(about a year ago, installed Zone Alarm firewall.


You don't say anything about anti-spyware software, and assuming that that
means you don't run any, I'd almost be willing to bet that you have multiple
spyware infestations. I strongly urge you to follow the recommendations at
Malke's site I mentioned below.

The machine has
never acted like it had malware or a virus till I installed XP.
Your answers are all helpful, and I really appreciate the help and
advice given.


You're welcome. Glad to help.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

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