Windows ME to Windows 98SE

[fc3646]

I have a friends computer. They have a generic computer (mom and pop shop) 800mgz amd, 20gb hd, 128mg ram. It came with WinME. They have been having problems with it. Comes up saying it can't find some file, and locks up. They took it back and the shop formatted and re-loaded ME. It's started to do the same thing.
I told them I could try to load Win98SE on it, that I thought it was more stable than ME.
Can I just stick in a Win98 boot disk, format and load Win98....or will I have to use their WinME boot disk?

Thanks

[Markoman01027]

Hello Fc3646,

You can just get a Windows 98SE CD and boot straight into Setup. Setup will reformat the hard drive and repartition it for you and get you going.

You can also get a win 98se boot disk, boot up into DOS, reformat the drive(format C and then repartition it(FDISK) and type in cd X: Where X is the letter of your cd-rom drive, and then type in SETUP and Windows 98SE setup will run if you got Windows 98se cd in your cd-rom.

Good luck!

[fc3646]

Am I correct in that 98SE is more stable than ME. I have zero experiance with ME...

Thanks

[Markoman01027]

Fc3646,

In my opinion, Windows 98SE is more stable than Windows ME, but Windows 2000/XP is best for the stability.

Stick with WIN98SE if you cant upgrade to 2K/XP.

[GaryRouth]

Just out of curiousity, what error are they getting? . . . it could be a hardware problem, and not related to the operating system.

Can't hurt to run some diagnostics (esp. RAM and hard drive)
. . . Gary

[Confused]

Originally posted by fc3646 Am I correct in that 98SE is more stable than ME. I have zero experiance with ME... Thanks

Iv'e never ran ME but have doubts about SE being more stable than ME. I run computers with WIN98 FE and XP. Both are currently stable. I went thru a period of about 8 weeks where the XP PC was constantly locking up. Why am I telling you this.

It had nothing to do with the OS per say. I had done a lot of things trying to get the VCR function of my TV tuner card to work.

I resolved the problem with a XP restore over itself to repair files and a recommended update from MS.

I've typed a lot to let you know that I agree with Gary. I do believe your problem lies elsewhere and that more diagnostic problem solving is needed.
Chas

[fc3646]

Thanks for the info....I have some diagnostic utilities, including the PCMech disc....

I'll be looking at it this weekend...I'll post what I find out.

[HAL9000]

Originally posted by fc3646 Am I correct in that 98SE is more stable than ME. I have zero experiance with ME... Thanks

I would have to give that a great big NO. My second machine has been running it since a month before the official release of WinME without issue. It also resides on three machines at work.