I got suckered into fixing a neighbor's computer. Turns out that their hard drive had gone bad. No problem, really. Just get them to get a new hard drive and reinstall Windows. I was able to use GetDataBack, and my refrigerator, to recover virtually everything off the bad drive, so restoring the data shouldn't be a big problem. I was even able to load the computer's registry as a hive to recover its CD Key. Which is where the problem comes in.

I've tried installing Windows a number of ways from a number of different install media, and I can't get it to accept the CD Key. The computer is a discard from her previous employer, so I have no idea how it was initially installed. Also, (I assume) she doesn't have a Windows install CD.

I ended up calling Microsoft licensing support and they told me that if I gave them the part number printed on the original CD, they would give me a new Key. But I don't have the original CD; if I did I (probably) wouldn't be having this problem to begin with.

As I was typing this post, it occurred to me to search Google for the CD Key, and I found that it's an OEM/SLP key, which apparently is a key used en masse by big computer integrators to simplify installation. (That is, apparently, your preinstalled Dell computer probably has the same CD Key as "every" other Dell computer.) And those keys won't activate in the normal manner.

So what do I do now? Sadly, there's no CD Key sticker on the computer itself. Half the stickers are worn off, so I don't know if it ever had one or not. But the key matches the manufacturer, IBM. I have no reason to believe that it's an illegal installation.

I think you need an IBM-specific XP install CD. I have got Dell CD keys to work with various generic XP OEM CDs before, one was a full-hologram style disc.

edit: I think a retail CD might work too, but it might ask to be activated, which should work ok.

Here's a suggestion. Don't know if it will work, but it may.

1. Use any other key you can get your hands on (I'll leave that up to you) to perform the install - this is only temporary, just to get you to the desktop.

2. Use a key changer tool to put the original CD key back into the registry, replacing the temporary one used above.

3. Activate.

Obviously you can force #3 with yet another tool if it doesn't work automatically/properly.

When I initially encountered the issue, that's where I went, and #3 is where I'm having the problem. I don't really want to hack it, because she had a legit copy before and I don't want to put her in that position.

A retail CD does not work. I didn't think to try an IBM OEM CD. I think I have one lying around work here somewhere.

I wonder whether you can modify one of your install CDs with an altered i386\setupp.ini so that it accepts the OEM preinstallation code you took from the registry? A bit of Googling on setupp.ini will get you some helpful hits, perhaps this is useful: http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Product_IDs

I'm confused. If you have the original install media, why can't you use the CD key that came with that install? Are they all pirated?

(At first) He didn't have the install media required for the CD key recovered from the friend's computer.

I think he still doesn't have the original CD Key. Or maybe I'm confused as well. The original run-down has me a little confused.

Bitt, if I understand correctly, you have another XP CD, and you're trying to get the old CD key to work with this other install disc? Why not just use the new install disc and its own CD key?

I'd understand any hesitance you might have, but as a last resort you could just install Windows 7 RC on there. IMO it's ready for prime time, and that'll give you until next June to convince them to actually buy a computer

Yeah, that's what I meant.

You can't expect an OEM key to work for a Retail installer, or vice-versa.

I'm assuming the retail disks Bitt tried came with their own CD keys which are already in use and that Bitt would rather not have running on his friend's machine. Seeing as he's trying to stay within the spirit of the licensing agreement and all.

Bitt, did that IBM install CD work for you?

I had a similar problem with an IBM Thinkpad running XP Home. After reading around for solutions I installed a dodgy (warez) copy of XP Home to the laptop and failed the 'Geniune Windows' test on purpose. I then followed the instructions on the screen and entered the Windows Key on the bottom of the laptop into a box and voila - all activated and working.

This was a while ago, so I'm not totally clear on the details. I tried to find some better information but this page on WGA Failure Scenarios from Microsoft is the best I could find right now.

Okay, answering all these questions at once.

I have the computer, but not the original install CD.

I extracted the CD Key from the bad drive, but it turns out that it's IBM's non-unique preactivation key, which won't activate with the activation tool.

There is not a Windows sticker on the computer. Don't know why.

It wasn't until immediately before I initially posted that I realized that it was an OEM key. I could have sworn that OEM keys contained the string "OEM" in them.

I have a random variety of XP install CDs, specifically a retail CD, a volume license CD, and a couple of OEM CDs. The only IBM OEM CD I have, which I haven't had an opportunity to try yet, is about five years more recent than the computer. I don't have high hopes. I may try to recreate an install CD with an appropriate product ID. Don't have high hopes for that, either.

The "five years more recent" line above might indicate why I'm uninterested in installing Windows Se7en.

If the people making the software thought it was ready for prime time, it would be on retail shelves. Since it's not final yet, thats good enough reason for me to consider it not ready as well.

And besides, if the people didn't get a new system by next March or shell out for an OS they likely don't need, then they have a computer that will shut down every two hours. Even if they did buy the new OS, they would have to reinstall.

Windows 7 might be fun to play around and evaluate the compatibility of software, but there is no way I'd ever consider using it in production, much less have someone else I support use it.

Hey, I'm working with what I'm given I did say last resort!

I just get a little bugged when people don't want to spend any money at all on one of the most important tools in the house these days. It's twice as annoying when they don't want to spend any money after that tool breaks. Bitt, you really should have insisted that it wasn't even worth the price of the replacement hard drive to keep a five year old machine going. Not when they can get a brand new Dell that will be good enough for them for about $300.

If you do end up convincing them to buy a new Dell drop me a line.

Just put Ubuntu onto the beast, and tell them it's the latest thing (which it is, actually). They'll be happy.

-ml

The time you've spent messing around with the machine's got to be worth more than $300 by now, surely? Just pick up the cheapest comparable Dell machine and go with either what's on it, or stick (as Mark says) Ubuntu on there...

I just cannot agree that Ubuntu is ready for the average consumer.


It most definitely is. That's probably right about 4-5 hours from Best Buy's Geek Squad.

Definitely not the install process, improved though it is, I still have two machines that it the graphical installer won't even boot on. Both of them had the same problem with 8.04 and still have the same problem with 9.04

Also, I was stunned to find that 9.04 still won't install and boot cleanly under Virtual PC without some tweaking. Surely that has to be a high priority to fix ? They must be losing out on so many potential switcher whose first experience when trying it out as a virtual machine crashes and burns at the first hurdle.

Do they not offer a pre-build virtual machine?

I got tired of dealing with this and figured I'd call up IBM/Lenovo and buy a recovery CD. The odd thing is that this laptop must be seven years old, yet it's still under warranty. So I'm getting a recovery CD sent to me for free.

At the same time, I think a netbook might be a distinct step up.

7 year warranty? That is pretty unusual. Great that they're able to send you a disc though. You can order any random part from IBM even for some ancient machine. It may cost you tho...


Assuming that they don't mind the smaller screen, a cheap netbook would work well. Even the slowest x86 model should be faster than what they've got. Make sure they don't buy one of the non x86 ones though...

This one has a 12.1" 1024x768 screen. The Dell Mini 12 beats that. For like $450.

For the record, it's an IBM Thinkpad X23 with an 800MHz Pentium III Mobile CPU and 128MB RAM.

128mb ram? That has to be horribly unusable under XP these days. SP2 seemed to bump the memory the OS uses up a bit witl all the new plugs for security holes.

A "netbook" with a decent sized screen and keyboard would indeed seem to be a good replacement.

Depends on what apps you're running on it. XP SP3, when quiescent, uses about 80-90Mb.

My XP laptop has 256MB, although with only a 600MHz processor, and even though it only runs Firefox, it thrashes like a stuck pig whenever AVG decides to do one of its regular updates, and takes a long time to become usable after waking up from hibernation.

Peter

Not that I am aware of. Even if they did it wouldn't really deal with all the use cases for trying out Ubuntu under Virtual PC.

For example the last two times I wanted to try out Ubuntu it was to see how the install process now coped with RAID. Virtual PC (or VMWare) are a great way to experiment with RAID setups before committing to the hardware need.

I was annoyed when I spent half a day getting 8.04 to work under Virtual PC. I was bemused when tried 9.04 recently and found it had similar problems. At which point I decided not to waste another half a day and put my Redhat 7.1 -> Ubuntu RAID upgrade off yet again.

The default Ubuntu LiveCD/Installer is very much for the typical desktop / notebook. Andy's uses tend to the extreme, so it's not really suitable for him.

But installer issues can pop up for any O/S, other than MacOS of course. I recently threw in the towel after 10 hours attempting to get WinXP to install boot in a VM (VirtualBox, VMware, etc..).

So it happens. Other than the odd failure, though, Ubuntu is very simple to install on the typical system. And it would be a much easier install than XP is proving to be on the system Bitt is fighting with. Thus, an option.

Cheers

You are partly right Mark, in that my experiences with Ubuntu and Virtual PC were in an attempt to install software RAID. However it wasn't down to anything extreme that the issue occurred.

If you install Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10 or 9.04 under Virtual PC then the earlier versions simply won't boot once you have installed. Once you fix them so they will boot X comes up with a garbled screen. In 9.04 it boots after install ok, but X is still garbled and if I remember rightly the mouse doesn't work. I really don't understand why someone didn't address this somewhere between 8.04 and 9.04, the issues were bugged.

While running Ubuntu under Virtual PC might be an extreme activity in some circles, in the Windows "power user" community it is the natural thing to do when you want to try something new out without building a new machine. Sure you could just boot the live CD, but that isn't quite the same.

At this point someone is going to suggest WUBI. Which is a great idea, except that WUBI is broken on the 9.04 CDs !

Also, when I talked about a couple of PCs I have that won't boot the live CD, they aren't extreme examples at all. One of them is a Dell desktop, the motherboard of while is/was used in a whole series of Dell models (both consumer and small business targeted models) and is therefore sat on hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions) of normal users desks. The live CD failed to boot on it in 8.04 and it still fails to boot in 9.04, for the same reason (issues with not liking the SATA controller when it isn't in RAID mode or something like that).



True, I had huge "fun" getting XP onto Eryl's Dell mini 9, convincing XP to install from USB is not easy, even when following online instructions. And getting XP onto modern hardware can be a challenge without all the slipstreaming nonsense.