[wildbill]

I know some of you super-geeks out there can help.

[VOA]

sorry I can't help...except to bump for publicity...

[TomServo]

I'd make sure you had any HD drivers available for the HD (on floppy). You may need them. Other than that, make sure you can boot off the CD, reboot and follow the prompts...

[Mr Ramsbotham]

There shouldn't be any trouble at all, apart from the fact that your RAM is pretty weak. I'd get at least another 128 MB if I were you. Install XP from the bootable CD if you can, and re-format the drive in NTFS.

[Mark]

128 ram won't work from what I understand-- need minimum of 256- 512 better.

[Gorzaloon]

I run both Linux and Windows here, so have no axe to grind. If a person that age will be starting fresh, are you sure you want to remove Lindows? Yes, it might be a clunky neither fish-nor-fowl, but for email and word processing and maybe a database, why bother stripping it and installing one or the other...Unless she wants to be a Power Gamer, or intends to do heavy Photoshopping.

[mlbford2]

You'll need more than 128mram for XP. It takes 110mRam just to boot up. It needs around 512 or something near that.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

You'll have no prob. I like to clean with gateways GWSCAN program and write zeroes to the drive first.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Oh, and if you get ram, go to www.crucial.com and put in the system type and it will bring up what you need.

[DB]

On any newer system you shouldn't have any problems using XP.

128 MB or RAM isn't enough for XP. It will run very poorly. And I do mean very poorly. The installation and everything that follows will go much quicker and smoother if you add another 128 MB before you start.

If this computer is going to be on the Internet, as soon as you get it online, start Windows Update and download all the service patches and security updates. The machine is vulnerable to attack until this is completed.

If you have high speed Internet access, use it to do the updates even if it is going to be using dialup access later. Otherwise it will take hours to complete.

[jnarcus]

Your first mistake was purchasing ANYTHING from Fry's...all hope is lost abandon ship

[JerseyHighlander]

Well first, Microsoft is the devil incarnate. And Macs, only Communists and Michael Moore fans use them. Now let me tell you about this new 3-D holographic monitor I got my grandma, who's also 82.

Kidding, let me tell you this, To run XP, Internet Explorer, Norton anti-virus, and Zone Alarm, assuming your mom will be surfing the net a little, take 242 MBs of RAM, with only 2 IE windows open. That's completely stripped of all other programs except her modem program, also necessary. Without an email program open.

Going to crucial.com for memory is the easiest way to go, and priced competitively to boot.

[Not A Snowbird]

I completely reformatted my husband's gateway and reinstalled Windows XP. The only problem I had was getting the correct drivers. This may have been just a Gateway problem, but I would definitely back up your hardware drivers first on a floppy disk.

Good luck!

[Mannaggia l'America]

Where are you going to get XP? If you try to install your copy, you may run into problems with WPA (Windows Product Activation).

The Full Version of XP Home is $179 at Staples. You may be able to get it cheaper elsewhere, but let's say its $179. So now you are spending $179 for the PC and $179 for XP, totaling $358. You're nearing the price of a new Dell, without the hassles of reformatting or upgrading the RAM. Just a thought.

But as for reformatting, you shouldn't need to. Just let the PC boot from the XP CD and it will take care of it. The XP installer will not recognize the Linux partition and will let you format it from the installer (if I recall correctly).

[MediaMole]

If you do want to reformat and install XP, I would recommend two things.

1. Add more RAM. Unless it is an ancient motherboard, you should be able to get 256mb of DDR RAM for under $40.

2. Partition the drive into two drives. 10 gigs for the system and software. The rest for data only. That way it will be easy to backup data and if you need to reinstall Windows, you don't wipe out the data on the other drive.

With all the nasty spyware and viruses out there, expect that the XP install will be corrupted at some time in the next year.

That being said, if she only needs e-mail, word processing and web access, consider keeping Lindows. It provides all the basics and is far less susceptible to viruses and spyware.

One hint. If you need to find drivers but don't know who made the motherboard, look for the FCC ID number on the board. You can plug that number into a search engine on the FCC website and get all the info on the board and manufacturer.

[Reeses]

I found a cheap system $179.00

Keep in mind a legal copy of XP Home Edition will set you back $189.00. When XP first came out you had to contact Microsoft to get a key. I'm not sure if they still do that. It's not easy to install the same copy of XP on two machines and not have Microsoft find out about it.

[ABE]

Well, my one computer is an old Dell Pentium II 400MHz with 192 Megs of RAM. It runs XP very well - believe it or not.

Very few crashes and in fact it runs faster than my brother-in-law's Sony VAIO 1.8GHz with 512 Megs of RAM (Go figure).

As said before, go ahead and reformat. If you do need drivers, XP will have enough to get going and once you get online you can grab the rest. If you you do need more RAM, it's pretty cheap nowadays.

Good luck.

[Honcho Bongs]

I've got Windows XP Pro running on an old Compaq Presario with an Athlon 798MHz processor with 128MB or RAM and it works fine - reasonably responsive, but obviously not a screamer.

I don't think the people telling you it won't run on 128MB have actually tried it, but RAM is so cheap that you might as well bump it up to whatever your budget and the motherboard allow.

[SupplySider]

Lot of good advice here. I would just add, before you start put in a CD and restart to see if it gives you the option to boot from a CD. If not, you have to go into the system setup (aka BIOS) and find the option to enable booting from a CD. Usually you get into the BIOS by pressing the delete key when prompted while the system is starting up. Then you just boot from the XP CD. Good luck!

[Malsua]

Tossing my hat in the ring as I do this for a living(check my homepage :))'

As others have said. XP will run on 128mb but it's going to be sluggish. You really should get another 128mb. Seriously. It's going to be worth every penny.

Definately do a windows update immediately and spend the next few hours getting all the patches. If on a Dialup, spend the next few _DAYS_.

At a minimum, get Spywareblaster. Available at www.download.com and install it.

I'd also suggest getting spybot search and destroy and install the immunize options for it.

If it's for someone who's new, go whole hog and don't tell the about Internet explorer. Download Mozilla Firefox and tell them that is how they browse the internet. At this time, it's going to be the best vector to avoiding spyware grief that you're going to have in a few months of a newbie hitting the internet.

Also get a virus program loaded. Avast has a freebie. Look it up on Google. It's better than nothing.

Good luck.

-Mal

[lonewacko_dot_com]

Fry's? Reliable?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

But, seriously, I bought a refurbished eMachines from them, which promptly failed. They replaced it, so, like a sucker I bought a Great Quality (just like the linked system) from them. http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/001415.html

I bought additional Kingston RAM since then. Also since then it kept failing to fully start up for some reason. I switched the two RAM chips, which seemed to have worked for a couple weeks. Until earlier today when it restarted itself a couple times.

So, it might be a RAM problem, or a software problem. It might also be a problem with the GQ motherboard.

GQ is also built in (mainland) China. And, bear in mind my GQ is a higher model than yours. It cost a whopping $299 or so.

I don't know if there would be problems installing XP over Lindows, but you'd (presumably) still need to buy XP, so you might be better off just buying a system with XP pre-installed.