You could set up XP installed on FAT32 as opposed to NTFS. This way, 98SE can "see/access" the XP files/partition.

As stated, in general, the oldest OS is installed first, then newer OS's. (Dual/tri/quad boot.) There are ways around this, I just can't find the info/links at the moment.

Thanks guys for all of the help.

I think the one computer with XP and 98 operating systems is the way that I am going to proceed.

I have tried a new hard drive, a new power supply, reseated the memory and replaced the battery. I still can not get to the "post" function on the old 98 computer.

I believe it has something to do with the BIOS. Is there anything I can do in checking the BIOS before making a door stop?

Remove or disconnect everything, including ram, hard drive, CD/DVD drives, any addon PCI cards. Turn it one and you should hear some beeps. If you get them, then power off and put back one stick of ram. Power on again and see what happens.

If no luck, replace the ram. If there was more than one stick swap with one of the others. If you get it to boot, start connecting devices one at a time, powering up to test after each. Lastly put the PCI cards back in.

You might not get 98 to run on the XP computer:
1) findimg the hardware drivers might not be possible, some of it will depend on how new/old the XP comp is.
2) cpu speed could be a problem (?)
3) the amount of ram you have in comp. may need to limited during install.

If you post the XP comp specifications some of the other might have more information if the above is pertinent or not.

The computer is a HP Vectra 420 with a Pentium 4 processor and 512gb memory. I think the speed on the cpu is 1.9

I have a HP Vectra VL400D 866 MHZ, 384 MB RAM. It's not running at the moment as I've mounted a "new" WD 40Gb hard drive. (Added to the two existing WD 40Gb drives.)

XP will be loaded on the "new" drive and this will be my "backup" machine.

One thing you can do is create of virtual machine of 98 to run on top of Xp & not even have to actually install it on your computer. No need to worry about getting a dual boot to work. You will need either Virtual PC, Virtual Box, or Vmware. Virtual PC is from Microsoft so it works well with windows virtual machines. Virtual Box is by sun but I didn't like it. Virtual PC & Virtual Box are free however Vmware costs money for the ability to create virtual machines. What you could do to avoid paying for Vmware is to download the workstation trial so you can create it and then get rid of it & install the VMware Player which is free; the main difference is that VMWare player doesn't allow you to create virtual machines which you will initially need. For more info on Virtual Machines go here.

Just to add,,,, my HP Vectra VL400D has run;

MSDOS 6.x
Win 3.0
Win 3.11 (WFW)
Win 95
Win 98SE
Win 2000 Pro
Win XP Home
UBUNTU
Knoppix

Never had an issue with it. As can be seen from above, I've been running it for years with no problems.

From 98SE on, I've run it as a dual-booth machine;
Win 98SE/Win 2000 Pro
Win 2000 Pro/Win XP Home

It's a rugged machine.

The HP site does list 98 for your comp, but does not say if it is for SE or FE. The driver/OS page:
HP Vectra VL420- Download drivers and software - HP Business Support Center

Thanks to all of you that made suggestions. A special thanks goes to Ztruker. His suggestion that I disconnect everything and see if the computer would beep. I did and sure enough it would beep. To make a long story short the problem was with the ethernet card. With the card installed the computer was dead, pull the card and it would boot up.

Thanks again Ztruker...