hi my friend got a brandnew notebook(acer)with linux installed..and to be honest i got no idea how to operate linux,so i tried switch it to a window base OS,but the thing is the only os that works is win98 and thats the only thing i can do...after installing win98 i tried upgrading to winXP but it keeps on giving me a BSOD 0x7B.need some help please thanks guys....

This is a GUESS! Wait for some other opinions. The HDD may be formatted to FAT32. This may be preventing the install. Anybody else?
You need to be careful with anything to do with reformatting, many manufacturers are now installing the back-up copy of the OS on a partition in the HDD, not on the recovery disc. However, I can't speak to Acer.

the formost issue will be the pc vendor specific drivers that are required.

the right sequence for install is to provide them directly during the OS install.
this requires however, a removable media device like floppies or USB
(which also requires drivers and my not work). Frequently however, it is possible
to ignore the issue and add them after the install completes.

Win/XP loves NTFS, but FAT32 works for partitions <= 137gb. If your HD
is 200gb or bigger, you should format it (during the install) to NTFS.