How safe is it?

Lucky me got a laptop as a birthday present, however it came with 98 on. I would like to put 2000 or XP on it (it is a 900Mhz so should run fine on either). However the BIOS is not uptodate and the IBM website reccomends upgrading it before installation

I have tried installing 2000 and XP without doing it, but it is very flaky.

Basically I don't want to do it and end up with a dodo'd birthday present if it goes wrong but then I don't want to be stuck on windows98 :(

Anyone have any experiences of doing it?

what laptop is it?

usually there is a tutorial on manufactures website explaining what utilities to use and how to do it...

It is a IBM Thinkpad, there are instructions. Following instructions isn't exactly what worries me....

Anyone have any experiences of doing it?

Plenty. Unforunatly, the way it's done on most new thinkpads is using the Thinkvantage Software Installer (to get the latest bios and bios update tool) which I believe only runs on 2000/XP. This obviously doesn't help you too much.

The update tool only seems to reboot the machine straight into the bios updating program anyway, so I guess from this point onwards its much the same as using a floppy or cd to do it (which is the route I guess you will have to go down).

I've done my Thinkpad a number of times and it's never gone wrong. Of course... That doesn't mean something won't go wrong for anybody else. Just make sure you have a full battery and make sure its connected to the mains and you *should* be ok. The bios installer usually says it will finish within a minute but always seems to take longer (or maybe it just feels like longer!). Obviously, whatever you do, don't reset the computer or switch the power off because you think it's taking too long. Just wait it out.

If the worst does happen you might still be under warranty and I've always found IBM customer services to be the best in the business. I believe all thinkpads come with a 3 year warranty as standard but it might be worth ringing them up and checking if they will replace/repair it if a bios update fails. I'm guessing by the fact that the software update utillity now includes bios updates that they will replace/repair it in such circumstances. But it's definatly worth checking out with them before you potentially make your laptop into a doorstop.