Upgrading (Win ME to WinXP pro)

I have a Dell laptop with Windows ME on it. I've had it for at least 3 years... I think it is time to upgrade to XP. One reason is because I also just purchased a Wireless network access point and notebook card and it is not working (Linksys).. From speaking with friends, they've experienced similar problems with ME and Wireless networks. But after upgrading to XP the network worked fine.

The way I am going to do it is to backup my files to a storage drive and format my exsisting HD and start from scratch to install XP pro... Obviously I will need to reinstall all the programs I need, etc. but I am mainly concerned about things like the video drivers, dvd software/drivers, cd burner software/drivers, and whatever is needed to setup my swappable drives (cd burner/zip drive/3.5 floppy are all internal and interchangable in the front bay).

Does anyone see a problem with this? Any suggestions? I won't have time to do it until at least next week, so I have some time to prepare...

Thanks for the info/help -
Derek

 

You shouldn't have a problem. XP has excellent driver support. All your hardware should be recognized and installed correctly.

 

Thanks for the info. Also, have you had much experience with wireless networks and XP pro? Like I said, the people I've talked to said that it should set right up with XP pro, compared to ME...

Thanks - Derek

 

You won't have a problem. XP will install the drivers for the wireless adapter. Worst case is you'll have to go to Linksys site and download the card driver. Shouldn't have to however.

 

Save yourself the trouble later and make a CD that has all the drivers for the computer/laptop on it for the one you'll work on. The only driver that has to fail to load that will give you fits is the one for the network device since it means it's that much harder to get the others. I recommend making a CD of the latest drivers from the computer/laptop manufacturers site so that you have them local to you in the event the drivers for some device are not present.

Logical_1

 

Thanks for the tip Logical...

Now, where would I go to get the drivers it has now? Are they all in one folder somewhere? Forgive me for sounding dumb! And as far as getting the updated (xp) drivers for my hardware components, would I look in the device manager to find the model make and model to search for?

Thanks for the help!

On another note, I might be getting an external HD casing to hook another HD through USB to the laptop, so theoretically I'll be able to back my entire [present] HD up to the external, which should make it easier.

But yeah, the main thing is that I am able to have my network connection (either wired or wireless) up and running to d/l the things I need. I assume even if the wired network isn't recognized I could just install the drivers from the wireless network CD that I just got, as I'm sure it would have xp drivers for the wireless...

In either case, thanks for the info on the above and I'll keep you posted throughout.

 

This is for a laptop right? If yes, then the manufacturer of the laptop should have a drivers section of thei website for which you can type in the serial number of the unit and obtain a list of the devices that shipped in it as well as links to the drivers for it. Some manufacturers don't have a website setup this way, in which case, simply knowing the model & model number will allow you to use the drivers section of their website to get drivers for each device in the system that needs Windows XP drivers.