I'm going thru similar situation on a stylistic ltp600. I don't know if I can install the os on another machine. I tried it by switching my hd to a laptop, all worked fine with the new os on the laptop but not when i switched the hd back to the tablet.
I got a new hd to play with. I imaged the hd that I know works, then will drop the old hd in a laptop and load on that image on it via the network. The I want to try to load XP or at least win2k by A. loading on the laptops cd, or B. dropping that hd back in the tablet and loading from a mapped network drive.
So at least I've got a new hd that work if the whole thing doesn't work.
I once tried a little usb pcmcia dongle thingy but didn't work. I guess just a usb prob? I just don't knowhow to fix. some usb stuff works, some doesn't . I know win98 has usb support issues.