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Old January 19th 05, 07:07 AM
Gary S. Terhune
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Well, I didn't mean it exactly like that. There are functions in SE that
can be desirable, but if you don't really need them, what's the point?
(Advantages have mostly to do with newer hardware support, though I
believe it's also a bit more stable.)

On the other hand, if she's going to really get into the cyberage, an XP
machine is the way to go.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"msnews.microsoft.com" wrote in message
...
Thanks Gary. I think you have given me what I needed to know. I

wanted
something at least a little better for my mom, and if the "upgrade" is
actually more like a "downgrade" then what's the point. I would

really
rather invest my time and money in getting her something much more up

to
date. I've already spent way too much of my time just trying to keep

the
thing alive just because it was a "gift" from a relative. So, I think

I'll
just bite the bullet on this one, and let it go - maybe build her an

XP
later. Thanks again.

Ted Smith


"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
That disk *should* also Upgrade from 98 to 98SE. The only reason

they
don't mention 98 on the disk is because at the time of issue, they
presumed that anyone upgrading from 98 to 98SE would instead use the

$20
Updates CD, which will *only* upgrade an installed 98 to 98SE.

Your previous copy of XP from your own machine was probably an OEM

disk,
one which is only legal to install on the hardware it came with.
Particularly if you used that 98 as eligibility for upgrading to XP,

it
isn't legal to install it to any other machine. In any case, it will

not
upgrade an existing installation--it will only install "clean"

(though
workarounds exist in some cases.)

While I think what you have should work, it is usually not a really
successful endeavor to upgrade a currently up-to-date Windows 98 to
98SE--it's actually a downgrade, since many, many system files now

on it
are newer than those which came with SE. The better solution is to
reformat and clean install. Either your original OEM disk should

work
for that, or you can run the Upgrade CD and show it the OEM CD as

proof
of eligibility. One or the other should work. Easier, perhaps, than
figuring out what's wrong with the Upgrade procedure, and definitely
bound to be more successful in providing a stable machine for your

Mom.

CAVEAT: This being an IBM laptop, it's good that you have your own
system handy to find drivers. It's also good that it's not likely

the
kind of system that will *only* install decently using the disks

that
came with it. By the way, do you have those disks?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"msnews.microsoft.com" wrote in message
...
My mom was given an old IBM laptop that has Win98 (not SE)

installed
on it.
I wanted to upgrade it to "SE", and since I had moved on to XP I

tried
to
"install" my own copy of SE over the top of hers. After spending

15
minutes
checking out her system the install aborted and gave the message

that
it
needed an "upgrade to SE" rather than an original SE.

So I asked around for someone that might want to sell me an upgrade

copy,
found one and bought it. When I tried to install it this time it

gave
the
error message that it needed an upgrade from Win98 to Win98SE. A

closer
examination of what I had purchased showed that it was an upgrade

to
Win98SE
"from" Windows 3.1, or Windows 95.

Is there some work around that I can use to either install my

original
SE,
or the SE Upgrade that I purchased.

Ted Smith