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shantigohil

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Load Win98SE on top of Win98 standard

I have a computer which is running fine on windows 98 STANDARD.Now i am going over to Broadband soon so i will need to install NIC card.
I have found out from different forum that Win98SE is a better OS and it has more Windows Components installed and is overall better.So i would like to installWin98SE over my Win98Standard.Can i do it or will it cause problems??

The reason i want to do it this way is the i do not have all the drivers for all the hardware installed on the computer.

So if anybody can help and plz.

Shantigohil  
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BillDL
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You mentioned "going over to Broadband".  Most usually, the ISP will provide a DSL external USB Modem as part of the sign-up package.  You are usually tied to that contract for a year, and they rarely want their modem back if you leave after a year.

I was just wondering why you specified a NIC card.
In addition to drivers for the standard hardware components like Modem, sound card, graphics card, etc, you would probably also need the drivers for the motherboard's "chipset".  In other words, the drivers that allow all the on-board processor chips to work with Windows.  Things like the usb controller, the Input/Output controller, the AGP graphics port, IDE controllers that connect the drives to the board, etc, all need drivers.

The good news is that they are usually all in one package that can be downloaded from the motherboard manufacturer's website.  Motherboards are usually based on either Intel, or AMD models, and often a universal file will be provided for a full range of chipsets.

Let us know if a fresh installation sounds like something you would prefer, and we will see if we can get all the files in advance.
Bill,

Your comments are ALWAYS very elaborative. But, I find it hard to read all the contents. I agree that a person asking that question will be happy reading all the input he can get, but for others, it becomes a bit heavy. Anyway, you really work hard.

shantigohil,

You can "backup" your drivers using this programme :

http://site.voila.fr/magitran/windrvexpert.zip

I have used it, and it is pretty good. Drivers working in 98 First Edition will work in 98SE too.
Bill's suggestion of clean install is right.
A am also curious why you are nt going to in stall a LAN card. For me it is the best route. Personal opinion only.

If you have a burner and want to save all your drivers etc, do the following:

Make a temp folder
Open Windows Explorer
copy all files, not folders, from C:\ Windows\system to Temp file
Copy from windows\iosubsys to Temp file
Copy from C:\windows\system32\Drivers to Temp
Copy from C:Windows\system\vmm32

Burn the data to a cd rom. This should save all the present drivers, etc

If you are going to do a fdisk and format then take time out to insure you save everrything that you need, such as:
e-mail addresses
favorites
config.sys and autoexec.bat
paraghs

One way to get a cleaner look with a good page width and clear text when viewing a long comment is to change the url in the address bar to an old look as EE used to be presented, eg.  

http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/21199622/Load-Win98SE-on-top-of-Win98-standard.html

Just click the Go button, and it's immediately more "scrollable"  :-)
Avatar of shantigohil
shantigohil

ASKER

Well,I will have to hand the points to BillDl.

Althought i have decided not to go over to Win98 Se.Firstly its an old PC with older cards and i dont have any drivers.
Secondly i have also a USB 1.1 pci card in it which took me a long time to install after a lot of hassle so i could possibly
have probs. with this too.
Thirdly its running fine so why mess around with it.
I thought it i could do it changeover without much hassle.

Bill, thanks for that Everest Home Edition,its very good.

So thanks for all the comments from all above

Shantigohil
Windows 98SE has a lot more support for drivers than Windows 98 First Edition and, although it doesn't always do a perfect job of making ALL usb devices work, I've never had usb problems.

I have 2 Pentium III's here that don't even need to ask for any driver files for their hardware during or after installation.  It finds them all on the Win98 CD.  Neither of them are genuine Intel boards, but are based on Intel models.

Win98SE was just being introduced around the same time as those boards, so if you had a computer that was older than them, then there is a fairly good chance that all the required drivers would be right there on the CD.  The only problem is if the computer is quite a bit older than that, or the manufacturer is out of business or no longer has "legacy" downloads on their website.
Thank you, shantigohil