want to upgrade from ME to XP

my gateway computer came with ME. i tried to reinstall a
clean copy of ME on the computer and it "killed" it.
after much advice, i reformatted the HD, wrote zeroes,
etc- all successful- no error messages or other
indications that my HD is bad. and now my hard drive is
supposedly ready to go. i tried reinstalling ME again,
and it just won't install. it freezes before it even
starts- and according to gateway, the CD is now bad.

i even went as far as buying a brand new hard drive just
in case the drive was bad. but at the same point of
installation- the very beginning, the computer just
freezes.

i insert the install cd, boot up, choose "install
windows", it shows some text, tells me that it's
preparing to install windows, and then the screen goes
black. i wait for an hour, nothing. drives are not
running.

i want to upgrade to XP, but am unsure if i need to buy
the full version or the upgrade. my ME is legit and OEM,
but it's just not installed. i'd hate to spend $200 when
i only have to spend $100

If your Win Me CD has a folder called Win 9x containing the file BASE2.CAB
and several other cab files including PRECOPY.CAB, CATALOG.CAB, and others
such as NET3.CAB, DRIVER5.CAB and WIN_8.CAB (total size at least 153MB and
at least 52 files plus probably a folder) then you can use an XP upgrade
CD. You will still be able to clean install XP but will be asked to
insert your Win Me during the installation to verify your eligibility to
use the upgrade version.

If however your Win Me CD is what is known as a Recovery CD then you will
only be able to use an upgrade version of XP if you upgrade from a running
Win Me system as a Recovery CD cannot be used to verify eligibility in the
same way as a Win Me CD.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



wrote:

my gateway computer came with ME. i tried to reinstall a
clean copy of ME on the computer and it "killed" it.
after much advice, i reformatted the HD, wrote zeroes,
etc- all successful- no error messages or other
indications that my HD is bad. and now my hard drive is
supposedly ready to go. i tried reinstalling ME again,
and it just won't install. it freezes before it even
starts- and according to gateway, the CD is now bad.

i even went as far as buying a brand new hard drive just
in case the drive was bad. but at the same point of
installation- the very beginning, the computer just
freezes.

i insert the install cd, boot up, choose "install
windows", it shows some text, tells me that it's
preparing to install windows, and then the screen goes
black. i wait for an hour, nothing. drives are not
running.

i want to upgrade to XP, but am unsure if i need to buy
the full version or the upgrade. my ME is legit and OEM,
but it's just not installed. i'd hate to spend $200 when
i only have to spend $100

" wrote in
message ...
my gateway computer came with ME. i tried to reinstall a
clean copy of ME on the computer and it "killed" it.
after much advice, i reformatted the HD, wrote zeroes,
etc- all successful- no error messages or other
indications that my HD is bad. and now my hard drive is
supposedly ready to go. i tried reinstalling ME again,
and it just won't install. it freezes before it even
starts- and according to gateway, the CD is now bad.

i even went as far as buying a brand new hard drive just
in case the drive was bad. but at the same point of
installation- the very beginning, the computer just
freezes.

i insert the install cd, boot up, choose "install
windows", it shows some text, tells me that it's
preparing to install windows, and then the screen goes
black. i wait for an hour, nothing. drives are not
running.

i want to upgrade to XP, but am unsure if i need to buy
the full version or the upgrade. my ME is legit and OEM,
but it's just not installed. i'd hate to spend $200 when
i only have to spend $100

Buy an XP OEM version from Walmart. They're cheaper and exactly the same as
a retail version other than, supposedly, OEMs are tied to the first computer
they are installed on and they cost around $100 for the Home version. Even
though the packaging says "to only be installed on a new computer", that's
BS as I just installed one on an HP I bought in 2000 and it works
wonderfully. In fact, the HP is behaving much better than when it had Me on
it.
--
Alias

Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.
Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

this is the most helpful feedback i've received so far.
thank you very much.

to clarify, the cd does have all those cabs plus driver5-
7, net4.cab, win_7 through win_22

the cd is the one that came with the computer and
says "system restoration kit- version ME rev. 1.2... CD
Contains: operating system restoration program"

definately need the full version?

-----Original Message-----
If your Win Me CD has a folder called Win 9x containing
the file BASE2.CAB
and several other cab files including PRECOPY.CAB,
CATALOG.CAB, and others
such as NET3.CAB, DRIVER5.CAB and WIN_8.CAB (total size
at least 153MB and
at least 52 files plus probably a folder) then you can
use an XP upgrade
CD. You will still be able to clean install XP but will
be asked to
insert your Win Me during the installation to verify
your eligibility to
use the upgrade version.

If however your Win Me CD is what is known as a Recovery
CD then you will
only be able to use an upgrade version of XP if you
upgrade from a running
Win Me system as a Recovery CD cannot be used to verify
eligibility in the
same way as a Win Me CD.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP




wrote:

my gateway computer came with ME. i tried to
reinstall a
clean copy of ME on the computer and it "killed" it.
after much advice, i reformatted the HD, wrote zeroes,
etc- all successful- no error messages or other
indications that my HD is bad. and now my hard drive is
supposedly ready to go. i tried reinstalling ME again,
and it just won't install. it freezes before it even
starts- and according to gateway, the CD is now bad.

i even went as far as buying a brand new hard drive
just
in case the drive was bad. but at the same point of
installation- the very beginning, the computer just
freezes.

i insert the install cd, boot up, choose "install
windows", it shows some text, tells me that it's
preparing to install windows, and then the screen goes
black. i wait for an hour, nothing. drives are not
running.

i want to upgrade to XP, but am unsure if i need to buy
the full version or the upgrade. my ME is legit and
OEM,
but it's just not installed. i'd hate to spend $200
when
i only have to spend $100

.

definately need the full version?

Why do you say that? You say that your CD has a folder containing the Win
Me cab set so IMO I would not expect you to need the full version of XP.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP


..
george wrote:

this is the most helpful feedback i've received so far.
thank you very much.

to clarify, the cd does have all those cabs plus driver5-
7, net4.cab, win_7 through win_22

the cd is the one that came with the computer and
says "system restoration kit- version ME rev. 1.2... CD
Contains: operating system restoration program"

definately need the full version?

i said that based on your reply of "If however your Win
Me CD is what is known as a Recovery CD".

that's why i posted the verbiage that is printed on the
disk- so i guess restoration and recovery are different
things- all that really counts is that the cabs files are
in the win9X folder- again, just clarifying- as most
people seem to be on here, i'm i technonewbie so that's
why i don't know.

not trying to be dense here Mike. i really do appreciate
your help.

george

-----Original Message-----
definately need the full version?

Why do you say that? You say that your CD has a folder
containing the Win
Me cab set so IMO I would not expect you to need the
full version of XP.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP


..
george wrote:

this is the most helpful feedback i've received so far.
thank you very much.

to clarify, the cd does have all those cabs plus
driver5-
7, net4.cab, win_7 through win_22

the cd is the one that came with the computer and
says "system restoration kit- version ME rev. 1.2... CD
Contains: operating system restoration program"

definately need the full version?

.

George,

You're not being dense at all and I now understand the reason for your
further query. Some computer manufacturers provide a recovery CD that
rather than containing the files required to reinstall Win Me which yours
has done, provide instead a disk or disks containing what is called an
image of the system that can be copied back to the hard disk so as to
restore it to the state it was in when the PC was delivered. With such
CDs you are unlikely to see a Win9x folder containing the Win Me cab files
but instead one or more large image files with extensions such as img or
gho.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



george wrote:

i said that based on your reply of "If however your Win
Me CD is what is known as a Recovery CD".

that's why i posted the verbiage that is printed on the
disk- so i guess restoration and recovery are different
things- all that really counts is that the cabs files are
in the win9X folder- again, just clarifying- as most
people seem to be on here, i'm i technonewbie so that's
why i don't know.

not trying to be dense here Mike. i really do appreciate
your help.

Mike,
If I may join in, as I am interested in this topic --
my 'recovery' disc has CATALOG.CAB, NET3.CAB, DRIVER5.CAB but none of the
other files you mention, there are lots of *. $FS files.
I assume I would fall into the "upgrade to XP from a running ME position"
category ,

thanks
Frank

Frank,

That's a bit odd but I am not familiar with the make up of most recovery
disks.

What is needed to clean install Win Me rather than restoring an image is a
folder containing all of the following plus some more. It is this folder
which is checked when clean installing XP using an upgrade CD and the user
is asked to verify their right to be using an upgrade rather than full CD
by inserting their Win Me CD. The files include:
BASE2.CAB
CATALOG.CAB
DRIVER5, 6 & 7.CAB
MINI.CAB
NET3 & $.CAB
PRECOPY1.CAB
WIN_8 to WIN_22.CAB and
WIN_OL.CAB

In addition there should be nine BIN files including W9XSETUP.BIN and nine
EXE files including SETUP.EXE, three COM files, three TXT files, a WAV and
a WMV. There may be others.

Win Me does not use any files with a FS$ extension when it is installed.
These sound as if they may be part of the image files produced by the OEM
who built your PC.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Frank wrote:

Mike,
If I may join in, as I am interested in this topic --
my 'recovery' disc has CATALOG.CAB, NET3.CAB, DRIVER5.CAB but none
of the other files you mention, there are lots of *. $FS files.
I assume I would fall into the "upgrade to XP from a running ME
position" category ,

thanks
Frank

ok. bought winxp upgrade and booted from that cd. it
got to the point where it says "setup cannot find
previous version...." it then asked for my win me cd and
i hit enter as prompted. it then thinks a few seconds
and prompts me again for my win me cd. there is no way
(through the default interface) to navigate it as you
described to the win9X folder. now what should i do?

-----Original Message-----
If your Win Me CD has a folder called Win 9x containing
the file BASE2.CAB
and several other cab files including PRECOPY.CAB,
CATALOG.CAB, and others
such as NET3.CAB, DRIVER5.CAB and WIN_8.CAB (total size
at least 153MB and
at least 52 files plus probably a folder) then you can
use an XP upgrade
CD. You will still be able to clean install XP but will
be asked to
insert your Win Me during the installation to verify
your eligibility to
use the upgrade version.

If however your Win Me CD is what is known as a Recovery
CD then you will
only be able to use an upgrade version of XP if you
upgrade from a running
Win Me system as a Recovery CD cannot be used to verify
eligibility in the
same way as a Win Me CD.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP




wrote:

my gateway computer came with ME. i tried to
reinstall a
clean copy of ME on the computer and it "killed" it.
after much advice, i reformatted the HD, wrote zeroes,
etc- all successful- no error messages or other
indications that my HD is bad. and now my hard drive is
supposedly ready to go. i tried reinstalling ME again,
and it just won't install. it freezes before it even
starts- and according to gateway, the CD is now bad.

i even went as far as buying a brand new hard drive
just
in case the drive was bad. but at the same point of
installation- the very beginning, the computer just
freezes.

i insert the install cd, boot up, choose "install
windows", it shows some text, tells me that it's
preparing to install windows, and then the screen goes
black. i wait for an hour, nothing. drives are not
running.

i want to upgrade to XP, but am unsure if i need to buy
the full version or the upgrade. my ME is legit and
OEM,
but it's just not installed. i'd hate to spend $200
when
i only have to spend $100

.