Install WinME in a Win98/Win XP dual boot system

[hierogrammate]

I'm kind of fed up with Win98, and would like to switch to ME. The only reason I still have 98 in a dual-boot system with XP is that XP (that I know of) cannot be installed/reinstalled from pure DOS... and I use 98 if I need to repair the XP installation or wipe it out and reinstall it.

I bought a new motherboard (Shuttle AN35N Ultra, the one with nForce 2 Ultra 400), and Win98 is not digesting it very well (specially USB 2.0 and the LAN interface...I had problems with the sound as well, but that's fixed now), so I thought to switch to ME.

Is it safe for me to switch 98 for ME without damaging my XP partition? If so, how? Anything I should look out for?

Ed.

 

[torturedmind]

why ME? didn't you know that ME is worse than 98?


kilroy
philippines

"Illegitimis non carborundum!"

 

[TekTippy4U]

No, it's quite complicated, though can be done, there's a lot to risk....recommend backup to CDR or DVD anyway. Ghost is better, still you'd have to repair the Boot partition. Forum member wolluf outlined a process over here at Thread751-881415 in the PC Hardware -Hard Drive Forum
.....but please don't cross-post.

If you feel you need to post there - make a pointer back to here, notifying of the thread here....

and/or
Try this update for 98SE only

http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

if 98 FE try the updates form here

http://www.mdgx.com/win.htm

as torturedmind said - forget even thinking of ME. Do a serious backup and a fresh XP install if necessary to get rid of 98.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[hierogrammate]

Ouch, is it THAT bad? The time between Win98 and XP is a "dead zone" of sorts to me... I used 98, and much (*much*) later switched to XP, so I don't have direct experience with any OS in between. All I knew was that ME is supposedly the last "version" of Win98, so I thought it couldn't be that much of a shock apart from the eye-candy.

That's why I asked in the first place, hoping to find people with more experiennce with the little monster. Hmm, maybe it's not worth the risk then. I mainly thought of doing it since I'm having so much trouble now networking between my XP Pro laptop and my Win98 partition. When I had my MSI mobo and a DLink LAN card, it was a breeze to connect, but since I switched to the Shuttle MB (which has an integrated LAN port) now I can't (btw, I did a clean install of both OS's before using the Shuttle)... I thought it could be a problem with the LAN driver, since Win98 gave me so much trouble with the nForce2 drivers that came with the mobo. The recent ones I downloaded with nVidia didn't help much either, except that the OS managed at last to "see" the LAN chipset, but still no sound. I downloaded the Realtek drivers for the sound and they worked, though. Win XP pro didn't have any problem with the nforce2 drivers.

I'm digressing, though. Nevermind, that's beyond the scope of this post anyway.

I'll just leave the Win98 partition as it is and leave it there in case WinXP goes belly up on me.

Ed.

 

[TekTippy4U]

some Reasons NOT to use ME;

http://users.iafrica.com/c/cq/cquirke/me-dos.htm

http://users.iafrica.com/c/cq/cquirke/win95ver.htm#WinME

Main reason is 1/2 a DOS - if that - it's MSDOS 8.0 (yuk!) ....not a full DOS......HAVE to boot with Boot Disk to access Real DOS mode.
- Explorer is completely diff
- MSCONFIG is diff
- No Config.sys and Autoexec,bat files
- Now have a horrible System Restore crud to contend with
- Got a new Classes.dat file to worry about along with User.dat and System.dat
and on and on and on ........

Is your XP on NTFS?
if FAT32 you may have to install the drivers into the exact same location BUT twice - once when booted into XP, and once when booted into 98.

have you tried all the updates?
searched AMD for stuff?
one othe thing - though released in 2000
"USB Mouse or Keyboard Not Working with AMD OHCI USB Controller"

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;241134

follow those site links details to find out what you got and what you don't as far as any/all updated drivers


TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[hierogrammate]

Ugh, thank heavens I asked here first before making the mistake of installing ME ... I appreciate the info.

In my PC, I have XP in a Fat32 partition. I was paranoid when I first installed XP so, in case XP died on me or something, I wanted to be able to "see" and rescue any files from the XP disk by booting from Win98.

Well, Win98 cannot be updated any more than it already is... all drivers used are the most recent, it even has the latest DirectX and Windows Media Player version. Maybe I have to admit that Win98 is showing its "age" and not bother too much about it *sigh*.

I asked the tech support people at Shuttle about the issue and the guy who replied to me said "Windows 98 doesn't officially support USB2.0 due to its architecture.
You will need to upgrade to windows XP home or PRO to get this function." He didn't address the problems I had with the sound and the network card, probaly because he thought they were solved already... and in a way they are. It just bothered me the nforce2 drivers didn't do their job there... Like I said, XP had no problem with the new nforce2 drivers for the mobo, and I'm pleased ith the results there.

Anyway, I digress. Thanks for stopping me from making a big mistake in my PC

Ed.

 

[TekTippy4U]

yeh;
I read some threads in other forums (googled info) concerning probs with the Shuttle AN35N ultra and using 98...the other models from shuttle's home site I visited seem to have many many more drivers/updates for the earlier Win versions. Well you got a darn good mobo and it needs a newer OS cause the hardware wasn't designed for earlier. Newsflash to rib techie with - USB 2.0 wasn't even ready by the time XP was released (hence the SP1 urgency).

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[hierogrammate]

You know, I hate it when this happens... I totally forgot to do a Google search on that... just focused on checking Shuttle's site, writing them, and writing here. Feeling really stoopid right now, nothing new there though.

Anyway, you're right. The mobo is too much for 98... I'm glad that its running with most of the stuff it has, I'll bite the bullet about the rest... The important thing is that it runs perfectly under XP...

Thanks for the help...