Yeah, if you set CMOS settings to boot from the CD and it still fails to boot from the CD (the Windows installation CD's are bootable), then you've got a problem there.

If you're thinking new mobo...then you're on that one too.  Priceline puts a 1.6 Athlon XP and mobo at $190...a 1.7 is $210.  For a P4, the sweet spot in pricing is the 1.5 at $218.

I'm still waiting for the Athlon MP 1.8's to fall in price...hehe

Someone enlighten me....

Why in the world would anyone want to "upgrade" to this OS?

Maybe there are really good reasons, but as a non-typical consumer (OK, I develop software, don't have kids, etc.), I can't figure it out. AFAIK, XP just locks you into huge problems, like if you upgrade some hardware and suddenly XP thinks you're a pirate and wants you to re-register.

A somewhat related note: try to get a copy of MS-DOS from Microsoft. Suprise--it doesn't exist anymore. On a couple occasions, I've wanted to install plain DOS just to get something done quick. No dice unless you know someone smart enough to keep a copy around. The lesson here is don't ever destroy your copies of good old simple Win9x, because if for some reason in the future of upgrade-hell you want to do something, but don't want the hassle of XP, MS may have deprecated Win9x and you're up a creek. Or get to know that other....free OS.

brouhaha-First if you can't boot your cd and its a copy make sure they copy the bootable part. it a little tricky to cop some time. If you are upgrading I highly suggest AMD over Intel. Most power user I know have switch to AMD.

wakebrdr- I have been running XP final for about 2 months It is much more stable then my 95 or 98 every was, it boot faster and seem to do almost every task faster. (run SCSI 10k or 7.5k hd so it may on help me I don't know) As far as the activation for the user who would be upgrading hardware enough to rest the activation code the would probably already have the work around. For you info with XP RC2 it took 5- hard changes to have to get a new activation code.

XP fan (after a few minor mods)
Clinth

I've been running WIN XP RC2 for about 2 months on an old beat up 400 celeron, 256 RAM.  Now, all else being equal, it boots and runs faster than 98SE or ME on the same machine.  Sure, there are some upsides and downsides to the upgrade.  Some CD burning programs don't work, XP comes with one, so no biggie.

Overall, I'm impressed with the speed of the OS and its stability.  If your machine is running fine on the OS you have now, I wouldn't bother upgrading for a while.  It's not THAT big of an upgrade.

Your CC drive might fail to boot from a CD if it is not an ATAPI CD drive, though unless your drive is a freaking dinosaur, it should be ATAPI compliant.  Check your cables to the drives, both the data and power cables.  I've spend weeks with $1500 of software trying to track down a problem with a $.50 cable.  Very liberating experience.

If you do upgrade, go with the AMD.  Faster, cheaper and 99% as stable as a pentium.  MSI makes a mean AMD board, Supermicro makes my favorite pentium boards.  Whichever processor vendor you choose, try to get a board that uses DDR memory.  Faster than the old SDRAM stuff.

Fair enough.

Technical:
XP is using the Windows 2000 kernel underneath.  This is basically the reason it's more stable.

Microsoft's Guilty-until-proven-innocent approach:
Without going into the details...I hate it too.  And I don't plan on getting the consumer version for just that reason.  If you come accross the "corporate" version, it apparantly does not have the "activation" feature.

Or a person could just go out and get Windows 2000 and still have the stability of XP.

Have been using Win2000 for about a year.

Stable as hell, no BSOD

I can't figure out why I need XP if I have win2K

[beer]

Mobo-wise, the new KT266A chipsets are out, and the boards are supposed to be quite hot.  AnandTech.com posted a review of three of them yesterday.  EPoX is fastest, MSI's is slowest but seems to have some nice features.  Newer BIOSes will probably boost the speed a bit. . . .

Right now, I'm leaning toward an MSI mobo and an AMD 1800+ for about $300-$350. . . .  And with memory prices dropping, I can add 768MB of 2400DDR for something like $50-$60. . . .