OK, so I got a working microdrive and I got my hands on a PPC2K3 upgrade disc. So, now that I have this, I have a few questions.

First, if I install the CF Patch from Dell, will my microdrive continue to work? Its a Microstor 2.2gb drive...

Second, my wifi card doesn't work on my friend's X5, runnin PPC2K3. I don't think he has the CF update though. It uses the PRISM driver and no matter what, it tells me to make sure the card is inserted. Do you think that installing the patch would work? I don't wanna install 2K3 if my Wifi won't work. I know this probably isn't an easy anwser. In the end, I'm really more concerned with the microdrive, but I'd liek to be able to use my Wifi too....

Thnkas in advance.

Why do you want to upgrade if all your stuff works already ? 2002 is better than the buggy 2003 upgrade anyways.

 

Well, part of it is because some of my favorite sites don't work on 2002 but have worked on my friend's X5 with 2003.

Plus, I spent the money on teh upgrade disc, and I don't want it to go to waste...

How much did you spend?

In any case, if you really want to upgrade, then make sure you do a full backup.

Despite what SOME people tell you, the 2003 upgrade wasn't any more buggy than any other operating system version. I have one X5 that came with 2k3 and my wife's came with 2k2 and I upgraded it to 2k3 (legally, of course). No problems, and saw marked performance improvements. Those who had problems are the exception rather than the rule.

The only issue with 99% of WiFi CF cards that didn't work on X5 with WM2k3 (or any other machine with WM2k3) was that the manufacturer didn't have drivers at the time. With the X5 there was also a slight issue with the CF slot. The patch fixed any problems I ever had with the CF slot. I purchased a Linksys WCF-12 card and the drivers that came with it didn't work. However, I did search the internet and found the generic PRISM drivers that got me up and running until Linksys finally came out with updated drivers. At that point I removed the generic drivers and installed the newer Linksys ones and everything's fine. My friend just bought the Sandisk WiFi/128MB memory combo card and ran into a similar issue. The drivers on the CD were for PPC2k2 and his X5 was a WM2k3 unit. We pulled the CF patch from Dell, then pulled down the latest WM2k3 drivers from Sandisk and it all went smoothly.

Unfortunately, I can't speak to the microdrive issue. You said you tried your WiFi card on your friend's WM2k2 X5 but didn't think to try your microdrive on it......that's going to be your quickest answer there. Since it's not much different in use than regular flash memory, I should think, with the CF timing patch from Dell to correct issues, the microdrive would work just fine.