Posted by kellieco on 1/8/06 8:46pm
Msg #87010

windows upgrade

I'm getting ready to upgrade my windows from 2000 to XP. Does anyone have any expert advice? I was given a report that said I had alot of compatibility issues#%$&*%. I didn't know you had to be an expert to install this upgrade.

Reply by Mike_NJ on 1/8/06 9:05pm
Msg #87013

PCpitstop.com checks the computer to see if it can handle XP.

http://pcpitstop.com/xpready/default.asp

Reply by kellieco on 1/8/06 9:10pm
Msg #87015

thank you

Reply by CarolynCO on 1/9/06 8:03am
Msg #87029

Make sure you get new drivers for printers, scanners, etc.

Reply by kellieco on 1/9/06 10:27am
Msg #87043

What is a driver and where do I get them? I have a brother 5140 printer and a HP scanjet 3970.

Reply by BrendaTx on 1/9/06 11:14am
Msg #87053

Go to the Brother site and the HP site. Do a search on XP drivers. Find your model. Download the files and print the instructions. I'd copy the files to a CD. After you have done the upgrade, your equipment may automatically have drivers installed by XP. If not, you can follow the instructions to install your drivers.

Especially with the HP machine you will need to following instructions to the letter...or at least I had to with my HP printers which was an AIO.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 1/9/06 11:45am
Msg #87060

Your printers should have come with an install disk that contain the drivers.

Do you know a computer geek that can help you with the upgrade? You will have issues that someone that is familiar with computers will need to deal with.

Do you really need to upgrade for some reason? I do run xp on my laptop and it works well, but if your computer is not up to it, you will be disapointed. The machine I am writing this on is running 98se and I usually use it do print docs on and I have used it with all the software that the lenders use to download and print docs without an issue.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 1/9/06 11:49am
Msg #87062

I should have added.

The drivers that came with your printers should work fine in xp. I have a injet that I print printers with that is 6 years old and the old drivers work fine on my laptop that runs xp.

And yes, you really need to know what you are doing when you do an upgrade, unfortunately. There are always issues of some kind.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 1/9/06 11:52am
Msg #87063

I need more coffee. S/B print pictures with ....

Reply by kellieco on 1/9/06 2:12pm
Msg #87089

Re: I need more coffee. S/B print pictures with ....

Can you explain to me what a driver is and how it works?

Reply by CarolynCO on 1/9/06 3:52pm
Msg #87124

Re: I need more coffee. S/B print pictures with ....

The drivers are like the software that runs your computer. Without the correct drivers, your printers, scanners, etc., won't operate under a new operating system, i.e., XP. While I agree that when you purchased your printers, scanners, etc., you received a CD with drivers, etc., I always still go to the Windows site and download my new drivers from there because of upgrde issues, etc. and I know that I will be getting the newest/latest driver version.

Reply by kellieco on 1/9/06 2:02pm
Msg #87087

I wanted to up grade so I could have the newer version of adobe, and I have trouble with my real player. I can already see I will need someone to help me. Unfortuntally I already broke the seal on the upgrade package. I'm sunk!!

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 1/9/06 3:34pm
Msg #87108

A driver is nothing more than a program that makes a hardware device work, be it a printer, a flash drive, camera, hard drive, floppy etc. They all use drivers and they almost always come with a cd that contains the driver that you just pop in the drive and follow the directions.

You only need xp to run Adobe 7.0.5. Adobe 6.1 does almost everything 7.0.5 does, but it will run on the earlier versions of windows. Like I said, this machine uses windows 98se which is older than your version, yet I use it for most of my edocs except when I am mobile. When I bought my laptop, it was something I wanted, not needed at this time. I am going to wait to replace this computer, I think, until Vista is out unless I get a really good deal.

If you still want to upgrade, the new version should save all your old settings and drivers. If not, you just have to go slow and follow the instructions that the xp upgrade gives you and most of all, don't panic. It will tell you when it needs your cd rom for the particular piece of hardware you are loading. Before you start, just backup any document files you want to keep just in case your system crashes. Also, make sure your hardware meets the requirements in terms of the processor and memory that are listed on the Windows xp box. Before you start, make sure you have no spyware or viruses.

It would really help if you know someone who can come over and help you with it if you have never upgraded before. Probably nothing will go wrong, but if somethnig does, it is tough to troubleshoot it via email or posting. It's one of those "you need to be there" kind of things.

I would volunteer, but Colorado is kind of a long commute. Good Luck.

Reply by BobRogers_FL on 1/9/06 12:55pm
Msg #87069

You should know that Windows XP Home Addition support will cease at the end of this year. You may want to consider waiting until the new OS Windows Vista is launched later this year so that you will have the very latest in operating systems that will carry you over the next five years or so.

Reply by CarolynCO on 1/9/06 3:55pm
Msg #87125

It is much easier and less frustrating to do a clean install over an upgrade. If you are not computer literate, the money to pay a computer geek would be very well worth it.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 1/9/06 4:12pm
Msg #87137

Amen

Reply by CarolynCO on 1/9/06 4:15pm
Msg #87140

Re: Additionally ...

you may currently have software that won't run with XP and you will also need upgraded versions.

Reply by PAW_Fl on 1/9/06 4:39pm
Msg #87151

So, who ya gonna call? ...

http://www.geeksquad.com/

Reply by SanDiegoCA on 1/9/06 5:09pm
Msg #87165

Re: So, who ya gonna call? ...

Some great inside info here if you're geek challenged!! As USUAL .................

Glenn, always good info, you must be the default geek in the office!

When you said "Your printers should have come with an install disk that contain the drivers. "
you might want to add that driver software should be kept up to date, by going to the
website of the manufacturer and checking twice a year minimum, especially video card
drivers, which seem to cause more then their fair share of problems if not kept up to date.

WHY? Because to the way Windoze updates change the operating system, new hardware
changes and the fact that in general, Windoze degrades every month as you use it because of
needless updates to the registry file ....... a huge test file that basically scripts the way your
machine boots up and identifies, and then uses all your hardware.

The advice about putting your Windoze upgrades off is commonly a good idea, until you
MUST upgrade the hardware to keep up with the new software you MUST have. Then you
MUST be sure you have enough hardware to keep up with the increasing demands of the
operating system.

Windoze XP Pro can be run on a P3 700 Mhz machine with 256Mb of memory, but that
doesn't mean you'll WANT to do it!! I have found a minimum upgrade of P4 2 Ghz with 1
Gb of memory to be a better starting point according to all the machines my buddies have
been upgrading.

My P4, 800Mhz frontside bus machine with the gigabyte of memory is now tolerable, where
before with a 500 Mhz front side speed and 512 Mb memory there were things that took
forever to load, and/or ran irritatingly badly.

The real test here ....... if you didn't understand ANYTHING technically written in this thread,
you MUST have some expert help, and count on paying for it otherwise you'll be creating
more trouble for yourself than fixing anything.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 1/9/06 5:21pm
Msg #87170

Not the office geek, but just a simi-retired old guy with

too much time on my hands because it is slow right now. Also, trying to decide when to replace my desktop. I guess when it is so far out of date, it won't run anymore or just plain blows up ....

Reply by kellieco on 1/9/06 6:26pm
Msg #87190

Re: Not the office geek, but just a simi-retired old guy with

I got on pcpitstop's website and ran their xp test. My memory is 248mb Recomended is 128. My CPU is 2000mhz recomended is 300. My disk space is c:21.24gb and recomended is 2gb. My BIOS was created in 2003 recomended is 2000. So it looks like I have everything I need except a brain. HaHA I live in a one horse town so I don't think call a geek will help me much. I do know the school's computer guy so that will most likely be my geek of choice. I'ed like to thank everyone for all the advice. I'm sure it saved me from really getting myself in a mess.