Installed XP..More problems than before

I was having problems getting things to work with ME and tech's keep telling me was ME faults. So I went out and bought Windows XP. Took me 4 HOURS to get my regular modem to work even though when I installed XP it didn't say anything about my modems not going to work. Only my scanner would not work. I got a new dig. camera that works off of USB and can't d/l the images from the camera cause the software doesn't regonize the USB. Going to try to reinstall the drivers with the camera plugged directly into the computer instead of the hub. Can't get some of my USB stuff to work through a hub. But my major thing is.. Can I wipe the whole computer clean and start over with 98SE? I built my own computer so if I screwed up (and probably have) I can't send it to tech support to be fixed. Tech's in my area charge $55 an hr and make me wait a week to get my computer fixed. Pretty good with computer and prefer to fix my own problems. When I start up XP I get three errors messages ..the first box says "Function" at the top and the error is (can't find registerservice process) and the second box at the top says "fat32" and the error is (can't find registerservice process).. Yes I get the same error twice but the heading on each box is different. Then my satellite modem software I configured to work with XP like the site said and I still get the error message "this software is not supported by XP".

So a non working USB dig. camera
3 startup error messages
Most of my USB devices don't work through the USB HUB.
Scanner that doesn't work due to XP
Browser slower than ever (I connect at 44K usually) and even on satellite the browser is SO SLOW.
Yahoo Messanger is constantly getting errors now
Hotmail acct's won't work through outlook express now
reboots on its own for no reason
Norton Anti-virus 2001 doesn't work with XP

Those are most of my problems with XP.. I think I just want to get rid of XP and start over with 98SE. So how do I go about doing that? Defintely don't have the money for a new computer at this time so I have to fix this one.

 

First, check to make sure you still have your driver disks that came with your equipment. If not, check to see if they are available from the web. If you have a burner, I would get them and burn them to a cd. (Especially any modem drivers, it would be hard to download them if you cannot connect )

Back up any docs, pics, mp3 and other files that you cannot live without, because a clean install will wipe your drive out.

Other than that, you are set to go ahead with a clean install.

Here is are a couple of guides to doing a clean install if windows 98. One has instructions for doing a fresh format, the other walks you through deleting the windows files and doing a fresh install while still leaving your documents and stuff alone.

In your case, you might want to do the fdisk option and then proceed with doing the format. This way you know that it truly is a clean install.

http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/no_format_clean_install_of_windows_98.htm

http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/clean_install.htm

 

I decided to give XP a wirl but didnt want to lose 98 in case of problems. I have one computer that had 2 HDD but you can partition 1 HDD into 2 partitions. Win XP pro uses a little over 3 gb for the installation. After fdisking and making 2 partitions I formatted the first and did a fresh install of win 98. When that was done I backed up win 98 to cd with powerquest drive image. This was in case the fdisk/mbr switch didnt work I could restore 98. I then installed XP to the second partition. I also backed up both partitions in case i screwed up XP to CD's. I dont want to go through the hassle of reregistering as I play with OS's alot. I know have my applications that work on 98 and can experiment with XP.
I also did this with another system in which I have 3 os's. 98, 2000 and redhat linux 7.2. I used 3 partions for this. Both systems run great and if I srcew something up I can also restore to original settings. Backups are great also if a virus strikes or HDD crashes.

Hope this helps