PC Freezes after upgrade to XP

telecomops101

A friend of mine has a gateway computer that was running fine prior to an OS upgrade from ME to XP. He says the computer freezes at certain points during the boot process. He has to keep restarting the computer. He cannot get passed the splash screen. Im thinking it could possibly be a memory issue, not enough. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Im going to look at the PC tonight. Thanks in advance.

Silver Bullet

I would recommend doing a clean install over an upgrade from ME.

What errors are in the event log once, if ever, it loads?

It could be memory but doubtful since it didn't start happening until the upgrade. You can run memtest86 to test it though.

sthomas

Silver Bullet wrote:

I would recommend doing a clean install over an upgrade from ME.

I agree with this statement. Windows ME was a horrible OS. I have upgraded several PCs from Windows 98 SE to XP and usually run into problems getting the computer to work acceptably. Once I get it working it still isn't always quite right. I would recommend telling your friend just to backup their data and do a fresh install of XP.

networker050184

Another vote for clean install. I always do a complete install when I upgrade a computer. I have had a few people come to me with upgrade to vista from xp issues. My advice is always a clean install and it almost always works.

JDMurray

Does it boot in safe mode? Did you upgrade to XP SP2? And is it a newer or older Gateway computer?

It sounds like a driver incompatibility issue. It might need the latest motherboard (or other hardware) drivers loaded before it will boot properly. It might be still using a driver that ME was using too.

Remember that XP will be six years old this month; even the latest XP install disc does not always have the "best fit" drivers for the newer motherboards.

badpapajj

Since you are upgrading from ME I will take it to mean it is an older PC. Therefore things to look for are Hard Drive space, since this is an upgrade you need space for the new OS, how much free HD space is there available. I would also look at the upgrade disk to make sure you can upgrade ME with this disk, I have an upgrade disk that I upgraded Windows 98 with and it upgraded fine. Unfortunately these upgrade disks do not allow for a clean upgrade, if you donot have the prior OS installed it will not work. If everything looks fine, try saving all the important stuff and fdisk to wipe out all OS and presuming he has his ME disk, install ME then install the upgrade and it should work.

blackmage439

Another vote for clean install. In my experience, software "upgrades" almost never work correctly. There's always something the software writers overlook. Microsoft, and specifically Windows, have bad luck when it comes to upgrades. I've never witnessed a Windows upgrade, but I have heard ugly things about the process and results. A clean install ensures that no holes were left unplugged.

Also, another suggestion is make sure that the PC meets the recommended requirements. I never go off of required hardware. It's just never enough to run programs or operating systems effectively.

Mishra

NEVER use the Microsoft upgrade paths. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.