Problem installing XP Pro from Win Me

[holymoly]

I have an IBM thinkpad T20, Pentium 111 from circa 2000.

Got it from work, and problem is someone installed Windows Millenium which I feel is the most worthless piece of **** o/s I have ever used.
Constant crashes.

Now I am doing an upgrade to XP Pro, and can only get as far as 50% installation. It has crashed 8 times at same point.

What can I do to get around? Use a floppy or CD boot disk?

RAM is around 250MG and use FAT32.

 

[crjdriver]

Upgrades from win9x based os to nt based os are problematic at best. Backup any data you want to keep and do a clean install of xp.

The xp cd is bootable; just set your bios to boot from the cd as the first boot device. Have setup format the system using ntfs and you will be good to go.

I would think that xp would have native drivers for a system that old, however it would not hurt to visit the ibm support web site and download any xp drivers for your system. You can burn these to a cdr; that way if you need a modem, lan, sound driver, you already have it.

 

[holymoly]

Having difficulty setting bios to boot from CD disk.
When rebooting I press F12 Temporary boot device, I selcect CD Rom device, but everything continues into Me.

Should I try "New Installation" of XP rather than the upgrade.
This is likely more complex.

 

[prospect]

holymoly, you set the cd rom to start first in the BIOS. You should be able to get to the BIOS by tapping the F1 key as soon as your computer is turned on. Then you go boot after your in your BIOS.

Or you can go here and get the boot disk for XP Home or Pro. You'll need 6 floppies to do this. I have used them before with no problems.
But try getting into your BIOS first and set the cd rom to boot first. When your done it will be the first one on the list.

 

[rainforest123]

What is your processor speed? I had a P3 700 MHZ with 98 that I upgraded to XP. It was dog slow.

I know Microsoft says you can run XP on 128 MB, but HP recommends 256 MB for SP2. I recommend 512 MB if you can afford it. Microsoft states a minimum CPU of 300 MHZ. Remember: if you were required to travel between Chicago & Toronto using a vehicle with a wheel, a unicycle would satisfy that minimum requirement.

Yes, I would try a new installation. You may get lucky upgrading from ME to XP. I've done it, but often wished I'd done a clean install. Be sure your PC is free of viruses, adware, spyware, etc before you upgrade. You may want to uninstall your AV & anti-spyware programs before upgrading.

 

[crjdriver]

Upgrades are not recommended for a number of reasons.

1 Unless xp has native drivers for your hardware, you will need to install drivers anyway. Win9x drivers will not work with an nt based os.

2 If you have any problems with the current os, they will most likely be carried over to the upgrade.

3 Stability. A clean install is more stable than a win9x to xp upgrade.

4 Some apps may need to be reinstalled. Some apps load os specific files to the windows or windows\system32 folder. The files needed under nt will not be there using the upgrade option.

 

[Old Rich]

To clean install:

Once you set your BIOS to boot first from cd . . when it restarts you will see a black screen with a prompt "Press any key to boot from CD" . . do that and you will be able to delete partitions and recreate the ones you want and proceed to formating and installing XP

That message can pass quickly, so have a finger on the keyboard when you boot. This will delete all data on the drive so be sure you have your important data backed up.

Be sure to disconnect all external peripherals except the monitor, keyboard and mouse, and be sure those are not USB, or wireless. Any internal USB card should also be removed.

 

[holymoly]

I did move CD Rom to the top of list in BIOS but no go after a few reboots. Will try the Bootdisks root. Do have disks for reboot of my desktop which uses XP Home, but likely better to download the ones for XP Pro.

The Pentium III laptop has 650MZ processor speed, slow but very doable.

Thanks for advice will keep you posted. Important to post success to be helpful for other users.

BTW, found this resource, where else, for clean install using your CD Disk

http://www.socrtwo.info/cleanxpinstall.htm

 

[crjdriver]

Just to make sure you ARE using a regular MS cd correct? That is you are not using a recovery type of disk that comes with a pre-installed system?

 

[holymoly]

OK, after downloading the file to hard drive, when opening I'm taken to DOS with message "16 bit MS-DOS Susbsystem" This file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and MS-windows applications.

What now?

 

[prospect]

holymoly, It looks like you have your cd rom to boot first. Have you tried putting in the XP cd and then shutting off the computer and then restarted it?

Did you try the XP startup floppies? You have to start with floppy number one, then start your computer.

 

[holymoly]

Ok, got thru 16 bit problem.

Next problem, the laptop has one removable drive ie:can only use floppy drive OR CD-Rom drive. Was able to setup with floppies but then couldn't proceed with CD install.

So I'm SOL.

 

[prospect]

Can't ta take the floppies drive out and put in the cd rom drive?

 

[crjdriver]

The best way is to boot from the xp cd, however if you cannot do that you can run the install from your hd.

Copy the complete i386 folder from your cd to your hd. Boot with the xp setup disks and when it asks for the install files, point it at where you copied them ie C:\i386. Another option is to make a boot disk with CD support; copy smartdrv.exe to the boot disk. Now start the system and type smartdrv.exe. Next change to the i386 folder on your cd and type winnt. This will also start the install.

Note you MUST have smart drive on the floppy or your hd and run it prior to the install. If not, it will take hours as in many many to do the install.

 

[holymoly]

To activate the CD Rom drive, a reboot is necessary.

I already have a copy installed on HD.

What is a Smart drive?