XP Home to 98SE downgrade

[brithor52]

This is my first experience on this forum. So if I do post in a manner typical of a newbie or whatever, let me know.

Back on topic...

Background:
I recently purchased an el-cheapo Emachine T1300. It has XP home addition installed. What I really wanted was a Dell Optiplex with 98SE preinstalled. Since they don't sell a setup like that, I just went out and bought the cheapest thing I could find, with the intension of re-formating the HD and installing the copy of 98 that I'm taking off the system that is being replaced by the new unit.

Question:
Am I going to run into trouble with hardware compatibility problems? Or is there possibly something built into the Emachine that could rule out the use of 98?

And if not, what is the best SW to use to format? Should I use the 98 CD or the XP CD or someting like Partition Magic 7.0?

I can just dive in and do it, but I'd like to get some advice before I start.

Thanks,
Bri

[roeddog]

Bri

>Am I going to run into trouble with hardware compatibility >problems? Or is there possibly something built into the >Emachine that could rule out the use of 98?

You should not run into any problems with hardware. However, you may have to go to individual manufactures sites and d/l the correct drivers for win98 for some of your hardware as 98 may not correctly recognize or have the right drivers.

>what is the best SW to use to format? Should I use the 98 CD >or the XP CD or someting like Partition Magic 7.0?

i am not familiar with Partition Magic so i cannot address it. I use the FDISK program to partition the hard drive. it should be on your disks (wind98 or XP) then just do a standard format and then install the OS.

roeddog

[chr1s]

why on earth would you want to remove XP and put 98 on instead?

[Frank Z]

Hey I'm thinking of doing the same thing. Take a look at the my post regarding trying to get incomming connections to work! I never had problems connecting when I used 98SE. To be perfectly honest I'm pretty damn close to getting a Mac. I am sick and tired of trying to figure out Microsoft CRAP!! Customer support is non-existant, I've posted messages all over the damn internet and no one knows what to do to fix this problem, or they are not willing to share their knowledge...maybe I just don't know the secret handshake or something! Damnit now I've I got myself all worked up again....Sorry for the Rant!

[The Tool]

This procedure assumes that Windows XP is installed on drive C:
Drive C: must be FAT16 or FAT32 to be able to install Windows 98 after XP is already installed. The 98/Me installation routine cannot write to an NTFS partition.
You must have a second hard disk or partition formatted for FAT16/32 in order to be able to install Windows 98/Me. Installing 98/Me to the same partition as Windows XP is NOT RECOMMENDED!
I recommend the use of a Windows 98 Startup disk for this procedure. You should ensure that DEBUG.EXE is on your Startup disk. On a 98 Startup disk, created from Add/Remove Programs, its in the EBD.CAB file on the Startup disk. For a 98 Startup disk created from FAT32EBD.EXE its on the floppy

Installing Windows 98

1) Use a Win98 Startup disk (with CD support) to boot your computer.
2) Insert your Win98 CD into the CD Rom drive.
3) At the A: prompt type X:\Win98\Setup.exe where X: is your CD-ROM drive.
4) Proceed with the install. When prompted for the install location, you'll see C:\Windows.000. Choose Other directory and change this to the drive you wish to install 98 to and name the folder Windows (or something else if you prefer).
5) Complete the Win98 install. Allow the computer to boot into Win98.

Repairing the Windows XP Boot Loader

1) Create a Win98 Startup Disk
2) Create a Notepad file with the following entries, exactly as shown:

L 100 2 0 1
N C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
R BX
0
R CX
200
W
Q

3) Save the file to the Win98 Startup Disk as READ.SCR
4) Boot the computer with the Win98 Startup Disk and at the A: prompt type

DEBUG
Steps 1 - 4 create the BOOTSECT.DOS file needed to boot Win98.You may need to use the ATTRIB C:\BOOTSECT.DOS -S -H -R command if BOOTSECT.DOS already exists and you get an error when trying to recreate it.

5) Configure your computer to boot from the CD drive. This is done in the BIOS, or your computer may offer the option at startup if it detects a bootable CD. If your computer does not support booting from CD-Rom, you should also be able to boot with a 98 Startup disk, and run WINNT.EXE from the I386 folder of your XP CD.
6) Insert your XP CD and boot from it.
7) You'll see some files being copied, then you'll be presented with a choice of installing or repairing an existing installation. Choose Repair.
You'll be asked which XP installation you want to log into. Enter 1. There is usually only
one installation.
9) You'll be prompted for the Administrator password. For Home, the default password is blank, so just hit Enter. For Pro, enter the same password you did during setup for the Administrator account (this is not the same as the password for an Admin level account. It must be the Administrator account password).
10) At the C:\Windows prompt, type FIXBOOT. You'll be prompted to confirm. Do so.
11) When FIXBOOT is finished, remove the XP CD and type EXIT and the machine will reboot.
Reconfigure your computer to boot from the hard drive if necessary.

You will now get the XP Boot loader with your choice of operating system.