OEM brand vs OEM no-brand affliation questions

[Tainamom]

Hi board. Sorry for the double post - it's in general software, but I didn't see this board b4 posting nor could I find a move option.

I've been taking a crash course on upgrading through your site and I'm confused about this Win XP OEM.

I have a 4 year old MicronPC w/ Win ME. I want to upgrade to XP but I read that it's best to do a full install instead of an upgrade. I plan to slowly upgrade parts as I only have 1 computer to play with. I added a new vid card years ago that needs replacement. I flashed my bios w/ what Micron had available for my mobo. I have a gigabyte 7dx socket a w/ AMD, but I can't get the most current bios version due to it's limitation, so I'll just use this mobo until I'm ready to get a new mobo, cpu and chips. Yesterday, I added a 120gb hdd and am searching Ebay to change my psu w/ an Antec 350-430w. I only play Tribes Vengenance, but generally use my comp for surfing and homework. Now back to my real questions.

Is there such a thing a OEM full w/ no computer brand affinity?

If not, will there be any problems using a OEM ver. for Dell, for example, on my Micron?

Can I just delete me and install xp and keep what I have on my original hard drive? I really don't want to reformat and reinstall every program again despite backing up my most important files.

Here's another thought I just came up with. Can I copy the entire old hdd onto my new hdd and then reformat the old drive w/ XP and delete the old Win ME from the new hdd and still be able to use my programs w/o reinstalling or just a simple searching for the link as I find errors? This actually sounds like a good idea, but I've never tried it.

My goal is to eventually make my original 40gb drive a windows only drive - no programs or files and the 2nd drive a programs/files drive.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated - aside from building from scratch, which I'd love to do but don't want to spend the money yet.

Thank you so much for your help in advance.

Ann

[Force Flow]

Is there such a thing a OEM full w/ no computer brand affinity?
Yes.

If not, will there be any problems using a OEM ver. for Dell, for example, on my Micron?
You cannot use a system manufacturer's O/S CD for a fresh install on a custom build. The CD is not an true OEM CD...it is a restore CD. Basically, it only contains an image of the O/S. It is also keyed for a manufacturer's BIOS (ie - Dell, Gateway), so if it doesn't see that specific BIOS, the install will not continue.

Can I copy the entire old hdd onto my new hdd and then reformat the old drive w/ XP and delete the old Win ME from the new hdd and still be able to use my programs w/o reinstalling or just a simple searching for the link as I find errors?
Nope. You will have to reinstall everything. You can, however, transfer your files, emails, bookmarks, save game files, etc.

[Tainamom]

Can I copy the entire old hdd onto my new hdd...?

Nope. You will have to reinstall everything. You can, however, transfer your files, emails, bookmarks, save game files, etc.


Thanks for responding quickly. I'll have to search for those email, addys,bookmarks etc.

Ann

[sdkfz]

Tell us what programs you are using for these functions and we can point you in the right default direction (in most cases you can change the default location so if you did that then you'll have to rely on the search for file name function)

[Tainamom]

[/QUOTE]

sdkfz-Tell us what programs you are using for these functions...

I'm using msn premium through verizon. I was searching the files for something familiar regarding email addys & bookmarks, but I couldn't find it. I'm going to do a search based on files updated recently and work my way through that.

I did a copy from c: to d: for my program files before my original post, but it didn't copy everything over. I think it had something to do with read only files stalling the entire copy session. I'm going to uninstall a lot of programs first before moving on and then try it again. My program files seem to work when I start them off the d: drive, but I'm sure the icons won't.

I'm still working on my xp strategy. I already did a system compatibility test w/ xp and found just a few problems. I already downloaded the drivers for reinstallment after I remove the devices. The only problem I have is that one of the devices is my video card. I don't know how I'm going to view my computer w/ my video card driver uninstalled?

Ann

[glc]

Without a driver, you will be running on the standard Windows VGA driver, which will be 640x480 resolution at 16 colors - ugly but usable. It's going to look just like safe mode.