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Such as those reports about BIOS wwiping, hard drive wiping, XP beinga virus, etc. Are those stories true?

Shinova wrote:Such as those reports about BIOS wwiping, hard drive wiping, XP beinga virus, etc. Are those stories true?

The BIOS wiping is true. It did it to my system and now my 3d card doesn't operate properly because of that. Even when I went back to Win98 my 3d card is still fucked.

Alyeska wrote:

Shinova wrote:Such as those reports about BIOS wwiping, hard drive wiping, XP beinga virus, etc. Are those stories true?

The BIOS wiping is true. It did it to my system and now my 3d card doesn't operate properly because of that. Even when I went back to Win98 my 3d card is still fucked.

Hmm if winxp wiped you bios NOTHING would work after it.

I think it is some sort of conflict try changing the bios to PnP mode.

I have XP Pro, and all I can say is that its a hell lot more stable than my old ME. No major problems so far, only a few crashes.

I havent had any problems with my XP.

I think it depends on what you're using XP for.

If you're the average computer owner (i.e. has their child/relative/geek friend play free tech support when they need to reinstall their OS), or the average corporate computer user, then XP is fabulous to use.

If you're the average computer nerd/gamer/techie, then it does become a nightmare, particularly when trying to play your favorite classic game (especially the non-NT ones) or upgrade your hardware.

Personally, I won't probably have a use for it. The visual improvements made to XP over 98 are unattractive to me, the changing of the placement of icons/control panel/My Computer is idiotic (yes, I know XP can use the "classic" look instead, but it's one thing to change the default background on my desktop when buying a new computer, it's another to have to go in and tweak the OS drastically on the brand-new computer), and the few times I've ever had problems with Win98 faulting and restarting suddenly on me have been due to overheating issues and not software issues. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is my motto...

greenmm wrote: If you're the average computer nerd/gamer/techie, then it does become a nightmare, particularly when trying to play your favorite classic game (especially the non-NT ones) or upgrade your hardware.

You have an option to run a program in a specific environment (Win95, 98, ME, etc.)

Faram wrote:

Alyeska wrote:

Shinova wrote:Such as those reports about BIOS wwiping, hard drive wiping, XP beinga virus, etc. Are those stories true?

The BIOS wiping is true. It did it to my system and now my 3d card doesn't operate properly because of that. Even when I went back to Win98 my 3d card is still fucked.

Hmm if winxp wiped you bios NOTHING would work after it.

I think it is some sort of conflict try changing the bios to PnP mode.

Well as I was told it didn't wipe the bios, but it rewrote it. I do eventually plan on getting off my ass and doing something about it, but that will be later when I have the time to alter my computer. Right now its to important for my school work.

Well as I was told it didn't wipe the bios, but it rewrote it. I do eventually plan on getting off my ass and doing something about it, but that will be later when I have the time to alter my computer. Right now its to important for my school work.

Even if XP could rewrite your bios, which Im almost positive it cant. It still would not work like Weemando said. Something else must have happened.
Flashing the BIOS on a motherboard follows a very specific procedure. You cant do it from WIndows.

Is there any way to "lock out" the BIOS so that it can't be written unless you actually go there via Delete key during bootup?

You can password protect your BIOS so that the machine will not boot at all without your password. But I dont think that is what you were looking for.
If you are worried about your BIOS being flashed unintentionally never keep a floppy in your drive at start up and use virus protection to keep a trojan from being put on your machine.

I also run XP Pro on my Dell laptop, and I don't have a problem with it at all. *shrugs*

There is a *very* nice restore mode in XP. Just do a restore back to the date before it happened... anytime I fuck with something like that and screw something up.. even to the point where it wouldn't boot without having to be in safe mode.... it completely fixes it.

TrailerParkJawa wrote:

Well as I was told it didn't wipe the bios, but it rewrote it. I do eventually plan on getting off my ass and doing something about it, but that will be later when I have the time to alter my computer. Right now its to important for my school work.

Even if XP could rewrite your bios, which Im almost positive it cant. It still would not work like Weemando said. Something else must have happened.
Flashing the BIOS on a motherboard follows a very specific procedure. You cant do it from WIndows.

He's right, if the BIOS were wiped, your computer would do nothing. My friends MB fried somehow and wiped the BIOS... *nothing* would happen. So it's not that.

Is it possible to downgrade to Win2k after going up to XP?

I've had no problems with XP.

Of course someone stealing my computer durring a LAN meet is another factor.

I've had no problems with XP other than a lack of drivers for some older hardware such as old parallel port connected scanners.

It's much more stable than any 9x OS.

Glocksman wrote:I've had no problems with XP other than a lack of drivers for some older hardware such as old parallel port connected scanners.

That could be why it' not seeing my scanner any more. No matter what i do, it refuses to see it at all, even using the Scanner wizard, and i have the latest Xp drivers for the scanner from the manufacturer.

So far as an average consumer XP is better than pretty much their other OS.

And as for Bear's problem I say hunt the slime and whomp him one good un!.

The Yosemite Bear wrote:I've had no problems with XP.

Of course someone stealing my computer durring a LAN meet is another factor.

How the hell did they manage that????

Wiley cunning computer gnomes?

Seriously, that takes some skill and effort and Bear I dunno being asleep or unconcious from exhaustion or some sort.

Shinova wrote:Is it possible to downgrade to Win2k after going up to XP?

Anytime you change your OS up or down I recommend you do a clean format first and start from scratch. It can save a lot of headaches.

However, back to your question, I've never seen anyone downgrade an OS once a newer version is installed.

Just an FYI, you can remove newer service packs from OS' like NT and 2000 in case something does not work. Im assuming it is still true with XP.

No, I haven't had any problems with XP, not counting the fact that I shut my PC down every night it's been running without problems for over a year.

So, Alyeska, your BIOS totally lacks an option that prevents programs from flashing the BIOS until you turn said option off?

I seriously doubt XP actually writes to the BIOS. I think you were told incorrectly.

You guys must be tired of me asking all these XP questions


Anyway, I did install XP pro...not corporate I believe (does it say it's corporate somewhere?). Funny thing is, I wasn't required to activate it. Might have something to do with the serial key I was given.

Or it might be cause I installed Win98 first, then did clean install (not upgrade) of XP, overwriting win98.

Does XP come with boot disks?


(By now you guys have probably realized that my copy of XP is not 100% legal ^_^)