XP is installed! Thanks everyone!

[javeryh]

I've got an old computer with Windows 98 running on it.  It's a Gateway PIII, 766GHz, 256MB of RAM.  It's a mess of files (mp3s, various programs, etc.) and I want to start fresh and turn it into a dedicated MAME box using MaLa as the front end.  I'll only be running vertical games so I don't think I really need a high end computer. 

Is this possible?  I heard about something called TinyXP - should I try to get that running?  Any help or advice you can give would be great.  I can build a pretty good cab - I just don't have any idea how to get it working!

Thanks!   

[Thenasty]

Boot XP from CD, delete partition, create partition/format with NTFS and BINGO.....

[BobA]

After your do create partition and format with the XP disk then boot the Tiny XP disk and do the install of Tiny XP.  Tiny XP expects a clean HD to do its install and cannot be used to do the partitioning and formating.

[turbo6]

After your do create partition and format with the XP disk then boot the Tiny XP disk and do the install of Tiny XP.  Tiny XP expects a clean HD to do its install and cannot be used to do the partitioning and formating.

I guess it depends on which version of Tiny XP you are using... I used Tiny XP Beast Edition and it did the partioning and formatting with no problems. Just a heads up for those using Tiny XP....

[Dmod]

With TinyXP Beast, I think you still need to have an empty partition first.  On my PIII, I experimented with TinyXP and DrewKaree's Nlite setup.  I didn't want to destroy my data, so I used PartitionMagic to create some new partitions and then did the install using the TinyXP disk.

One problem I did run into was that my old Dell PIII has an ATA Ultra PCI card that the drives connect to instead of the motheboard IDE connector.  You need to have the driver for this card at install time in order to install XP correctly.  Otherwise, at least in my case, the install wouldn't complete.  The normal WindowsXP disk will contain the necessary drivers, but the TinyXP and NLite installers don't.  In order to do the install, you'll need to have any required drivers on floppies.

Once I figured out it was the Ultra card that was giving me problems (and it took me a long time to figure that out), the installation went smoothly.

In the end, I opted not to use a TinyXP installation and just kept my old one.  The TinyXP install did boot faster and take up less disk space, but it wasn't running games any faster than my normal XP install.  Instead, I just used Windows to disable a bunch of the services that I didn't need, and uninstalled a bunch of junk that was launchng at startup

[javeryh]

So I install regular XP first and then TinyXP over top of it?  I'm about to install XP now.  I'm just going to click on "setup" and follow the instructions I guess. 

[javeryh]

Well, I started it.  I picked the "advanced" setup because I wanted to get rid of everything on the hard drive (I'm running nothing but MAME and MaLa on this machine.  I've never done this before and I'm a bit nervous - I hope I don't ruin the computer.  It sas it will take approximately 73 minutes to install it.  Oh, I also didn't see anything having to do with "partitions" and I'm NOT connected to the internet.  Am I in trouble already?

[javeryh]

Crap.  The computer rebooted (which looked like part of the install process) but the screen has been blank for about 15 minutes (which seems unusual).

[AtomSmasher]

So I install regular XP first and then TinyXP over top of it?  I'm about to install XP now.  I'm just going to click on "setup" and follow the instructions I guess. 

No, just use the regular XP disk to delete the partition and format the drive, once it's passed that step, reboot the computer and start with the tiny xp install.

Don't worry about ruining the computer because if you screw up the install, all you need to do is format the drive again and restart.  Theres really no way you can permanently mess up a computer by screwing up the install since you can always start over and try again.

[RayB]

I recommend Swiffer cloths.

[javeryh]

I recommend Swiffer cloths.

Do they go in the floppy drive or the disc drive?

I have a Gateway and used "Gateway GoBack" and restored the computer to about a week ago so I am back with Windows 98 working like it did.  I guess I'll try again. 

When does it ask about partitions?

AtomSmasher - it's good to know I can't mess it up completely!

[Dmod]

Right near the beginning of the install process it checks for an empty partition to install into.  If there's only one empty partition, it might not flag you for anything.

Check to make sure your drive is not plugged into a PCI card as I discussed earlier.  It sounds like when the PC rebooted, it couldn't find the disk.

If so, you're going to need to hit a key at the beginning of the install to manually load the drivers for your disk controller card.

[javeryh]

It is hanging again on the blank screen.

How do I check for the partitions and how do I check my drive/PCI card?  Thanks for your patience - I really don't know what I'm doing... obviously.

[Dmod]

Open the PC and look at where the ribbon cable from the drive is going.  Is it going directly to the motherboard, or is it going to a PCI card?

EDIT::
One other thing to check is to make sure you're not running into a video card driver issue, where the computer's actually doing something and you just can't see it.  You'll probably see the hard drive light flashing if the computer's continuing with the XP install.

If you have two VGA connectors on the back of your computer, one is wired to the motherboard and the other to a PCI slot.  Try connecting the monitor to the VGA connector that is going to the motherboard.

[javeryh]

Boot XP from CD, delete partition, create partition/format with NTFS and BINGO.....

Hmmm... I think this is actually working now.  I ran the configuration diagnostic and it said I had a "blocker" program installed which wouldn't allow me to install XP.  It was the "GoBack" program which allows me to revert the hard drive to an earlier point in time in case of a problem.  The dilemma was that if I uninstalled it, I couldn't use it to go back in case I messed up. 

Anyway, I am working through a lot of scary blue screens right now...  I deleted the partition which contained all of the stuff on my computer, then made a new one and selected "Format with NTFS" and that's where I'm at right now...

[javeryh]

It worked!  Now on to compiling MAME, installing MaLa and configuring everything!