The New Computer Problems Thread

[Ryudo Lee]

Well I'm sure that if MS actually cared about it, they'd have already sent them a Cease and Desist letter.  They do pay people to look for that kind of thing.

EDIT:
A thought occurs.  These aren't full copies of Windows or the full version of MS-DOS.  These are recovery disks, which is perfectly legal.  Even the MS-DOS recovery disk is simply a skeletal system with boot functionality and basic system utilities.  It's practically the same as the old Win98SE bootdisks that you can find anywhere.

[Tapewolf]

Well I'm sure that if MS actually cared about it, they'd have already sent them a Cease and Desist letter.  They do pay people to look for that kind of thing.

True, although it took them a while to close down that slipstreamed service pack thing.

A thought occurs.  These aren't full copies of Windows or the full version of MS-DOS.  These are recovery disks, which is perfectly legal.  Even the MS-DOS recovery disk is simply a skeletal system with boot functionality and basic system utilities.  It's practically the same as the old Win98SE bootdisks that you can find anywhere.

It's still the OS kernel.  Caldera made a tidy sum just licensing their kernel (i.e. ibmbio, ibmdos and command.com) for use in PartitionMagic and the Ontrack disk manager.  General Systems did too, and there was another company as well whose name I can't remember.
**EDIT - Datalight ROM DOS.  That was it **

Either way, I'm not sure it would actually do what he needs since MSDOS 6 won't support disks bigger than 8 gigabytes without help 

[Reese Tora]

...

The windows XP install disk should not be failing when you go to install. (I've installed XP from newly bought XP disks on five or six vista laptops in the last few months)

When you boot from the CD, what options do you select to get to the point where the install fails?
you should be moving the cursor over the Vista partition, pressing 'D' 'enter' and 'L' then either selecting the newly unpartitioned space or pressing 'C' to create a new partition if you want something smaller than the entire drive

(side note: do make sure to identify the devices on your ocmputer and get copies of the XP drivers for them, I've wasted hours getting the right drivers for the laptops I reinstalled...)

[Goatmon]

What you can do is make a DOS boot CD and then format the drive there.
Just scroll down to the section that says "Boot CD – DOS 6.22 boot CD with internal CD-ROM support (USA)".  They come in ISO format so all you do is use your favorite CD burning software.  Then you just boot from the CD and start playing with FDisk and Format.

Another problem with this is that MSDOS 6 isn't going to support LBA, which the Vista machine will almost certainly need.  It might garble the partition table enough to throw XP off the scent, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I think the GPARTED disk is probably the best for what you (Goatmon) are trying to do.  Either that, or make some Vista recovery disks.

I'm quite sure Vista doesn't make recovery discs.  I went through the system looking for a recovery wizard that would enable me eto do so, and it informed that, unlike XP which made users go through the trouble of having to make a new disc, Vista allowed it's users to recover and all I would need is the Windows Vista Installation disc. 

It's very good that it informed me of this, because otherwise I never would have realized that such a thing is actually better, and not a gigantic fucking inconvenience. 

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

My laptop keyboard isnt working, I had to compile this post with a copy paste method.

[Reese Tora]

Rebooting didn't help?
Is it still under warranty?

Right click on 'my comptuer' and select the manage option, select 'device manager' from the left box.
Is there an entry in the right pane with a yellow triangle or a red x on it?

It's likely to be a hardware malfunction, you're best bet would be to send it in to the manufacturer for service.

Alternately, if you think the keyboard mayu have come loose and you're comfortable with opening it up, you can go to the manufacturer's website and find instructions for installing the keyboard, and use them to open your laptop up and check to make sure that the keyboard is properly connected. (if it is, you'll still need to send it in... or get a replacement keyboard and install it yourself.)

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

Well, this isn't the first time this has happened, and I suspect it happened this time due to my cat most likely walking on the keyboard while I was gone. The last time this had happened it was when I had fallen asleep at the desk, with the laptop still open. (I suppose I ought to be embarrassed by that...)

However, due to it being a shared computer, I wanted to see if there were any other options open before needing to shutdown.

Compiling messages from other ones was definitely getting old though...

[Reese Tora]

By shared, I assume you mean that it has fast user switching enabled, and other people are logged in and have applications running?

How long has it been since the last time it was restarted?

If it's been longer than a couple days, a restart really is a good idea anyway.  It's amazing how many problems in windows can be solved with a reboot.

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

Well it's Windows Vista and I would assume this to be the case, however my mother and I just share the same account/I use hers.

Edit: Right, and doing what you said, it actually tells me the keyboard is working properly.

[Reese Tora]

BTW, as opposed to cutting and pasting, you might go and use the on-screen keyboard

if it's in the same place in vista as XP (no promises ) then you go to start>programs>accessories>accessability>On-Screen Keyboard

atleast, until you can get your keyboard working properly again...

(the pretentious geek in me wants to say "using vista, well THERE'S your problem!" but I know that this sort of thing can happen with any PC style OS)

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

It's kind of sad to me that you can't get XP anymore (even if it did laugh at me every time I started it... *grumble*) Anywho, every post except for the first one was done on a different computer, so I havn't been doing too much.

Also, once I got my mother to sort out her files, a good shut-down was all it needed (we were both right, yay!) So it works just fine now. For future reference though... I might give the on-screen a chance.

Thanks.

[Goatmon]

Actually, PC Buzz sells copies of XP, at a pretty good deal.  I got XP Home Edition for about $120, and that was including sales tax and shipping.

[Reese Tora]

Newegg also carries copies of XP... though I think you are required to make/have made qualifying purchases.

PC club has copies of XP too.

Why in the world someone would want a copy of XP home, though...
(oh, right, power user here, carry on...)

[Goatmon]

I wanted professional, but I didn't have an additional $50 in my budget.   

[Reese Tora]

where do you live? that's something like $20 over the normal market price (by which I mean how much I'd end up paying for an OEM copy from one of the stores I mentioned... I always go OEM 'cause you get the important parts: the disk and license key, and you don't have to pay for the extra packaging you don't need anyway.)

[Goatmon]

Well I could have gone to the store but, it's a pretty good round trip so, whatever I made up for in the retail would have probably been half consumed by gas money. 

At least that's what I'm telling myself to feel better about it.   

[Tapewolf]

Why in the world someone would want a copy of XP home, though...

Because I was earning peanuts at the time.  The upgrade to Home was $200 and Pro was about twice that.  I should have upgraded to W2K there and then, but that was about the same price.

[DarkAudit]

If you're going Newegg or similar, why not go MCE instead of Home if the price is right?

[Reese Tora]

If you're going Newegg or similar, why not go MCE instead of Home if the price is right?

'cause MCE is teh suxxor

I like Pro because it has a number of management tools not available in home, but MCE just adds in listener services that I don't care about, and other stuff for acting as the center of an entertainment center.

MCE's listener services also interfere with programs I use at work (they scan all ports in the computer at regular intervals, which prevents the test software my company uses to interface with cell phones, fortunately, we can disable those services in the MMC services manager)

[Dannysaysnoo]

The only reason i use XP-MCE is cause it came packaged with my Pissy World Laptop. Actually it was curries, but what ever, its the same store group.

Why in the world someone would want a copy of XP home, though...

Because I was earning peanuts at the time.  The upgrade to Home was $200 and Pro was about twice that.  I should have upgraded to W2K there and then, but that was about the same price.

Isn't it Y2K? 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Isn't it Y2K? 

No. Y2k is "year 2000". W2k is "Windows 2000".

You're not about to install the year two thousand on your PC.

[Dannysaysnoo]

Isn't it Y2K? 

No. Y2k is "year 2000". W2k is "Windows 2000".

You're not about to install the year two thousand on your PC.

...let me save you the bother...

Isn't it Y2K? 

FAIL.

[superluser]

Isn't it Y2K? 

Congratulations.  You had me thinking that this was some sort of middle-case gamma or something, and thus part of an obscure joke.

[Brunhidden]

i don't even know if this is suitable for the thread but recently i found my diablo 2 disks and the expansion packed away in a box. i was able to install the game OK but on the expansion it says that the number on the paper sleeve was not the correct number to install the game. i only have two numbers, one was on the game and the other was on the expansion, but both say they're not for that disk. is there anything i can do?

[Reese Tora]

Did you do any patching before installing the expansion?

(quick lesson in product keys: the key is not tied to the disk, it is a number that hashes to a private key embedded in the game's code, and uniquely identifies only the package. any key for the expansion should work with any disk for the expansion, with a few exceptions)

It's possible that your key has been put on a blacklist that was downloaded with a patch, it's possible that they key is incorrect (the numbers damaged by age, perhaps?)

If you successfully installed before, I'd say human error or enemy action are the most likely culprits for the failure.  Try contacting blizzard and see if you can get support from them; the worst they can do is tell you that they won't support you.

[Goatmon]

...

The windows XP install disk should not be failing when you go to install. (I've installed XP from newly bought XP disks on five or six vista laptops in the last few months)

When you boot from the CD, what options do you select to get to the point where the install fails?
you should be moving the cursor over the Vista partition, pressing 'D' 'enter' and 'L' then either selecting the newly unpartitioned space or pressing 'C' to create a new partition if you want something smaller than the entire drive

(side note: do make sure to identify the devices on your ocmputer and get copies of the XP drivers for them, I've wasted hours getting the right drivers for the laptops I reinstalled...)

Oh, was this directed at me?  Heh, I'm so slow.

Vista specifically refuses (Not blocks, flat-out refuses) to let me downgrade while it's OS is still intact enough to be recognized.  Vista has taken Microsoft's method of controlling a user's computer the next step further, by enabling it to completely refuse to do what I want it to do.  In this instance, it's 100% unwiling to install XP. 

I pretty much washed my hands of the issue for a while because I get frustrated extremely easily and this sort of thing is high-stress for me and I really am not good enough with this stuff to go into it with much confidence, which makes it even more stressful.  I'm currently downloading ubuntu, though it's going to be a while before it's finished and ready to be burned. 

[Reese Tora]

@Goatmon
wait, what? no...

you are booting from CD, yes?

No copy of windows will allow you to run the installer of an older version through windows, ever, but the OS isn't on to stop you when you boot from CD.

[Goatmon]

Booting from the CD changes nothing.  It ignores the disc in that scenario, and I've already configured it (From the boot menu) to boot from the disc before it turns it's attention to the hard drive. 

[DarkAudit]

Booting from the CD changes nothing.  It ignores the disc in that scenario, and I've already configured it (From the boot menu) to boot from the disc before it turns it's attention to the hard drive. 

That ain't right.

Some computers have a "press any key to boot from CD or DVD" pause. If there's no input after a certain amount of time, it will proceed on to the normal boot sequence.

Does this happen when you put in a bootable CD/DVD that's *not* an XP install disc? (Like say, Ubuntu?)

[Goatmon]

I figured something out earlier this morning.  The guy who was helping me out earlier had me extremely confused about a very small little detail during the booting process.  We kept going into what I thought was the boot menu, but what was actually the setup (BIOS) menu.  By some random moment of what I like to call "Oh, hey, duh?" I found the actual boot menu, and got it to boot from the disc instantly. 

several hours later, I am now sporting XP once again.  And there was much rejoicing.  (yay...)

I appreciate all the help from everyone, although much of my stress and irritation seems to have been a tremendous waste of effort.  Oh well.  Thanks a bunch regardless, it's always appreciated when people try to help however they can.
*Hugs the forum* Mmmmm....


quick question: Where and how do I tweak the settings for windows that stops it from chugging so much while scrolling?  Whenever I click and drag a window it wants to display the entire window while It's being moved, and it's sloowing things down quite a bit.   And, as I said, it's chugging a lot while scrolling, as though it's loading more than it usually does for some reason, and I dunno what to adjust to fix this.