XP Upgrade Issues [Solved]

[rednek tek]

I agreed to help a friend upgrade the OS on their laptop from ME to XP. I did not know what I was getting myself into. The PC is an older Dell Latitude with a P2 366 MHz CPU and 128MB of RAM, which is marginal for XP but should work. I am starting with a clean install, or trying to anyway. The original hard drive was a 3 GB unit, which was swapped for a new 40 GB unit. Things are getting interesting. The 'puter does not have a dedicated floppy drive for use in preparing the new drive. I have a modular 24x CD-ROM drive and modular floppy drive to use for this upgrade and only 1 modular drive bay. Trouble is, I do not have access to both the floppy and cd-rom drive at the same time. I partitioned the drive and formatted it using a 98SE startup disk. After hot swapping the floppy and cd-rom several times(admittedly not a good idea in the first place), I got Windows 98 setup to run once, and it promptly stopped responding. I could not get back to that point because when I plugged the cd-rom in the bay the display turned off. It will not run either XP or 98SE setup from the CD, autorun doesn't work for some reason. My logic for installing 98Se was to use it as a springboard for running the XP installation. So I proceeded to install DOS, then Windows 3.1 as a springboard for 98, then XP installation. There is no way to have access to both the cd-rom and the floppy at the same time unless one of them is connected via a parallel port. They brought me a usb floppy drive today, but of course I told them it wouldn't work since there is no usb drivers and no way to install functional usb drivers. I now have Windows 3.1 installed, but guess what, I cannot get working cd-rom drivers to install, so I still do not have cd-rom access at a point where I do not need the floppy drive. My only options at this point are: 1. accept defeat, 2. get a working cd-rom driver installation in 3.1 so that I can then install 98 or W2K, then XP. 3. copy the 98SE or W2K cd to floppies, then copy them to a folder in the 3.1 installation via DOS, so that I can access the installation files (which will be very time consuming. Is there any other way to pull this off? I am getting a crash course in the idiosyncracies of a laptop, which I am not too familiar with, and it kills me that I can't pop the cover off and do the things I would do with a desktop 'puter. A working cd-rom drive in the Windows 3.1 installation would be the easiest way. Help!!

[dunedin]

Hi

Well first of all 128MB RAM just is not enough for XP even if MS says it is.
I would say that it runs (but not at its best) on 256MB.

It isn't a good idea to install the older OS first and then upgrade XP over it. There are always problems. If you boot up with a WinXP Upgrade CD and run Setup, it will eventually ask to see your ME CD to make sure that you are entitled to use the Upgrade version, but will otherwise do a clean installation of WinXP just the same as the Full version.
You will be able to partition and format the drive during the install.
The instructions are all in the excellent tutorial below.

Clean Install XP
http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_pro_i..._-_graphic.htm

This is all assuming you can get the CD ROM recognised.
Have you plugged it in and then checked in the BIOS to see if it is recognised and set before the hard drive in the boot order?

So run the Upgrade Advisor Tool
If you have an OS working check if the system is suitable for upgrading to XP
The Upgrade Advisor is a tool that checks your system hardware and software to see if it is ready for upgrade to Windows XP. If you run Upgrade Advisor while you are connected to the Internet, and if your system needs updates that are available on the Windows Update Web site, Upgrade Advisor will find and install the updates for you.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...g/advisor.mspx

I would also at least double the RAM

Elaine

[rednek tek]

I have to agree that Xp is not going to run reliably, if at all, on this system. The drive with ME on it is no longer installed, and XP cannot be installed on that drive anyway due to 3GB size which, after accounting for the paging file and OS installation, would only allow about 500 MB for installation of programs. ***Musters Best George Bush Sr. Imitation***
"Wouldn't be prudent. Not gonna work... Ha Ha Ha"

Anyway, I have not been able to get into the BIOS using F2 or Delete, so I don't know what is or is not recognized and the boot order. As for the upgrade advisor, I would just be happy at this point to get to that point, 'cause that would indicate progress. Once I get setup to launch, I will do a clean install and format the drive using NTFS. An upgrade from ME to XP cannot be done anyway--Micro$haft doesn't support it and the compatibility checker will say so. As far as the link you referred me to, I am familiar with all that, I just need to be able to get to that point, via a working cd-rom drive. When I get to the point where I can install, I will probably suggest that they give me a legal Key code or installation cd for 98SE. Although all I need is a legal key code and OEM version number. I can then install 98SE using my copy and then hack the registry, using the legal key code and OEM version number, so that there are no issues with piracy or illegal installations.

[rednek tek]

Problem is solved. Solution found at computerhope.com. I made sure that oakcdrom.sys and mscdex.exe were in the root of the drive. I then edited the autoexec.bat file to add LoadHigh=C:\mscdex.exe/D:MSCD001. Then I added to the config.sys file the line DeviceHigh=C:\oakcdrom.sys/D:MSCD001. Rebooted. D: is now working. After advising owner that XP will not work reliably, I am in the process of loading W2K.

[liam858]

Glad its sorted, Thanks for sharing the solution.


Liam