Service Pack II help??

[briarrose]

Thanks for making me laugh, Craig! The shoemaker's children always go barefoot, right?! (I'm always so glad to hear that I'm not the only one with these bad habits! )

CJ--thanks! We all stand on the shoulders of giants, don't we...and there's nothing like sharing what we've learned. That would be why I teach, in addition to my "day" job! (Well, that, and the fact that I can't help myself. )

[Gary Richardson]

I'm pretty sure you can't do a repair using a Windows CD on an OEM installation.

Just reading a little on Registry today, and a paragraph I was reading on repairing corrupted registry using Windows Recovery Console struck me as relevant to your situation.

Do not use the procedure described here if your computer has an OEM installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use this procedure to repair, you may not be able to log back into Windows Recovery Console to restore the original registry hives

Seems likely that there are keys, permissions and passwords installed along with an OEM installation that would make it incompatible with an original Windows install.

Gosh CJ I'm blushing, thanks for the kind remarks.

[Kraellin]

hot damn and little fishes! she works! sp2 is installed and so far, NOT bogging down! i havent tried much yet, but i could tell almost instantly the difference. in addition to Ro's linked fix, i did a number of other things to prepare for the install. i have this wonderful little application called 'API Monitor' (ver 1.5). i dont use this app very often, but there are times, like this one, where it is invaluable. what it does is monitor and log ALL API calls! basically, what that means is that any process that is running in the background or any calls to harddrives (and probably a few other things i'm not aware of), get monitored and logged to a file. on running this thing, i became aware of quite a few calls being made and a number of them were failing consistently. that meant a lot of api calls and a lot of failed api calls.

so, i called up my startup routine and killed these things in the startup routine, rebooted and checked the api monitor again. when i had things trimmed down to just about only explorer making its normal calls, i rebooted one last time and killed one item in my systray that could possibly interfere with things (not all things in your systray are necessarily called with the msconfig startup).

after fixing the windows registry earlier, i had already backed up the new registry and set a restore point.

so, with a barebones systray and startup, i let microsoft do its thing. because of earlier restore points uses i had to install the updates installer yet again. another reboot.

now, i already had all the sp2 files on my drive (restore points dont wipe those out), and updates confirmed this. so, all that was needed was for the install cycle to take place. it went smoothly, albeit a bit slowly (i suspect the microsoft servers are a bit slow with all the new auto updates going on).

rebooted again and the new automatic update window comes up. since i NEVER allow ANY automatic updates from ANYONE, i turned this off and the rest of the boot cycle took place. the next scare came when the new security control panel came up. i was a bit worried that the new windows firewall would conflict with mine. but, it turned off just fine (their's, not mine). it also saw my anti-virus. AND, my network connection showed up in the systray this time!

so, all that's left is to turn things back on, kill the near worthless microsoft control panel in startup and test a few more things! but, like i said earlier, things are running more like they shld now... so far

thanks to Ro for finding and posting that link! and to gary for his long standing help and willingness to help and to everyone else for bearing with me!

two miracles in as many days! i may have to lay down for a while

craig

[Bryan L]

The OEM and the Retail Version as far as the code is concerned are exactly the same. Its the License Key on the COA (Certificate of Authenticity) that tells whether its OEM or Retail. (Microsoft has actually changed it even more for us System Builders so that the key is colored and shaped different).

Now, as far as installing over the top. I MSN'ed one of my techs at the shop to make sure of the order. It is on the screen that I was thinking it was and the selection reads "To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R" HOWEVER, he said that sometimes this selection does not show and did not know the reason.

IF IT DOES SHOW. It will look just like it is installing for the first time. I'm almost positive that it asks you for the CD KEY. This should work as its looking at the disk to confirm the CD KEY (I could be wrong though, I dont' work with Retail keys that often).

ACTIVATION. You may need to activate you installation again at startup. Not a problem at all. If you do need to activate then it should activate without a hitch if you have never activated that key before. If it doesn't and you need to call, don't sweat it. Just go through the phone stuff, it won't activate and they will transfer you to a operator. He will ask you questions. Assuming that your copy is legit (and you don't have it installed on 3 computers in your house and all the neighbors), just answer the questions honestly and they will read you numbers to put into the 'boxes'.

Like I said though, I don't deal with retail CDs very often. I would hope that it should work though. There is no coded difference between the two versions. If one was to look at a OEM install and a Retail install you could not tell the difference.

Good Luck!


Additional Useless Knowledge- OEM vs RETAIL.

(Note: Any information regarding licensing with Microsoft will usually change depending on who you talk to, what day of the week it is, the fullness of the moon, and the direction of the wind...multiplied by 2 and divided by 4.)

OEM software gets no support from Microsoft. Traditionally OEM operating systems have had to be purchased with hardware (namely a motherboard). OEM software from Microsoft has always come in 3 packs. They are a nice little box that basically says on the outside "Mr. System Builder open this box and you support the software inside". Last fall MS made it so you can buy OEM in single packs. Also they lifted the "have to buy with hardware" restriction. However, if someone walks into my store and wants to buy an OEM Microsoft I have to sell it to them in the original single pack envelope that says the "Mr. System Builder" statement. OEM software can only be installed on ONE machine EVER. According to MS rules (at the last System Builder Workshop I attended) if you upgrade your motherboard then you have to BUY a NEW Windows XP (nuts I know). If you have to replace a dead motherboad you are ok.

RETAIL software gets full MS support. It can be installed on ONE machine at at time. So, if you build a machine and you decide to replace the other one you can format the other drive and use the retail OS on the new machine. You also don't have to be a lawyer to understand the retail software.

[Kraellin]

bryan,

thank you! that's good to know.

the problem is resolved for the time being. i've got sp2 installed. and with sp2 installed i was then able to install my new video card and drivers. they required sp2 i was also able to install photoshop elements 4 and got it up and running as well! all that's left now is photoshop premiere elements and the point of all this will be satisfied

not sure i like this trend in hardware and software, though. first .net being required by a lot of new software and now sp2 being required as well. that must be leaving a very LARGE community out there in the rain without any hope. cant say as that pleases me very much. and being just a tiny bit paranoid, not sure i like it for that reason either.

and briar,

The shoemaker's children always go barefoot, right?!

yes, but they have tougher feet for it (whatever that means )

craig

[briarrose]

LOL!!! I'm not sure what it means, either...but it sounds good! :P

[Gary Richardson]

Craig, glad to hear things went well for you. have fun with your new set up.

Bryan, good informative post, thanks for it. I laughed over your comments on M$ and licencing, ain't it the truth.