can you downgrade from XP to 98?

[blinky]

Hey, I was just wondering if I could downgrade my mom's computer from XP to 98se. She is used to how 98se works and doesn't want to have to learn something new. (you know how old folks are =P ) Oh, and if anyone's wondering about my motherboard, which I doubt anyone is, apparantly my AGP slot in the motherboard has gone bad or something. I've tested every other component and the AGP slot gives power to the video card but it won't post or show anything on the monitor. Anyone know what Giga-Byte's return policy is? I bought the mobo from newegg.com but it's been over 30 days. I couldn't seem to find anything on Giga-Byte's website, I sent them an e-mail though. Anyways, thanks for the quick responses and good advice you guys always give.

blinky

[Richard Cranium]

What brand of computer ? Is it the home built on the Gigabyte mobo you talked about ?

My guess is a format & reinstall of 98 is the easiest way.

On the mobo, don't have a clue.

[Scott Tiger]

Reinstalling would be the easiest, if not the only, path.

Sorry, can't help you with the motherboard. I would contact Gigabyte or newegg.com to see that something gets done though.

[Mntsnow]

Gigabyte has a good RMA policy...

[Bob The Great]

There isn't a whole lot to learn with XP. I'd talk a bit with her about it, perhaps give a demonstration, and tell her how much more stable it is. But if she wants 98 a reformate is probably your only bet since it's probably NTFS right now.

[Dokeman]

jsut switch it to the "classic theme". It looks almost just like win98/2000

[twistedbrntucker]

You could get Partition Magic or System Commander and run both OS's. It will run as a dual boot. Upon startup it will ask which OS to boot.

[bill1971]

blinky:
Glad that you found the prob you were having. Just curious what
mobo that was.
I'm not sure what I think of XP. XP defaulting to 60Hz refresh rate
stinks. It also wants to not allow DMA on the CD-RW and DVD
drives, it's taken three tries to get Soundblaster Live working,
and taking that display problem, which really screwed up my
display with an AIW Radeon(all new ATI/XP suite of drivers),all the features of which are still not working, it's been somewhat of a pain.
Old folks, huh. . .how old is your Mom, 35 - 40? I'm old enough to be her. . .older brother! Does she have a sister? hehe

blinky- just set her up with the classic windows look, and she'll be
fine. Good luck!
(Sorry,Dokeman - I was typing while you were posting!)

- Bill

[Richard Cranium]

If the HD is set up to NTFS, then a format will NOT allow W98 to be installed.

you'll have to run FDISK and delete all partitions, reboot and start over.
This is using a W98 boot disc so that your file system goes to FAT32.

[Brainchild]

Uninstall Windows XP
I think this is what you need. I would change to the classic look and see if she can use it . Windows is windows, IMO.they're all basicly the same

[surreal]

I vote for the classic look too..

[blinky]

Hey, I just switched it to classic view and told her that everything is pretty much the same and to yell at me if she can't figure something out. lol bill, she's 49 or so, and the mobo is GA-7VRXP. You think there's anyway I could get Gigabyte to give me a refund or replace it with a GA-7VAXP, 8x agp, pc3200, etc. =P
Still waiting for them to respond to my e-mail though. My friend e-mailed ASUS about a problem with his mobo and they responded within the hour =\

blinky

[Bob The Great]

Right, thanks for correcting me Richard Cranium. My bad, I wasn't thinking

[Makaveli]

I also vote for just switching to the classic look. Would be much easier IMO.

-MaK

[Theophylact]

She is used to how 98se works and doesn't want to have to learn something new. (you know how old folks are =P )

she's 49 or so

I'm at least a dozen years older than your mom -- you young sprouts are still taught what a dozen is, I hope -- and speaking from the lofty heights of geezerhood, I'd advise going with the classic interface, too. I use the new one, myself, but I think Microsoft's practice of changing the look of the GUI every couple of years is like the fashion industry changing hemlines; sells clothes to people who feel out of style, but that's about it.

[Epidemic]

I just loaded XP and I have converted it to a semi classic look.

I like the classic look but some of the new features are nice.

Had some trouble with the drivers causing a lock up when I updated the Creative sound blaster live from the MS website. But I just rolled them back. But this happened even in win 98 se.

All in all I thought the xp plug and play worked grrrreat.

[PoonDoggy]

Another thing to think about ...

If this is a pre-manufactured computer ie: Compaq, H.P., Sony, etc ..., if you change the O.S. you will void the mfg warranty. The way to get around this is to reinstall original O.S. before submitting the unit in for repairs.