Learned a hard lesson a few days ago

Ken Oaf wrote:
On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 06:20:43 GMT, "Fred Smith" wrote:

Long story short....Windows activation system sucks. Keep this in mind if
you think you'll try to install ANY hardware that MIGHT be bad. Windows
monitors hardware through its activation system to prevent a licensed copy
from being run on multiple PC's. If your hardware fails and you try to
install it, Windows may very well fail as well.

Exactly. That's the reason so many people are running pirated copies of
XP with the activation system disabled, even though they own legitimate
copies.

I know what you mean, but it's more an annoyance than a problem.

I had to reinstall XP on my new system after upgrading, and it told me
that it was already installed on another computer (i.e. too many
hardware changes.) It was abot 10:30pm, but I tried calling the MS
hotline anyway - it appears to be 24 hours. After quoting a ridiculously
long number to the person on the other end and getting another ridiculously
long number, XP was activated again.

--

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Paul Taylor Veni, vidi, tici -
I came, I saw, I ticked.

See you're using WD drives. Are you using CS jumper settings? Or, master
alone. Then master w/slave when you added the slave drive?
"Fred Smith" wrote in message
.com...
Just built a new PC:
p43.2EGhz
p4c800-E Deluxe
1GB DDR 400 ram
Enermax 430watt PSU
FDD
Sony DVD-RW
etc...

I built it and everything went fairly well. In my old PC I had a Western
Digital 80GB HDD w/8MB cache as the master and a WD160GB HDD as slave/data
storage.

I built the new PC, added the old master drive, reformatted, installed
Windows XP Pro OS, and all the software. Then, after I was all done, I
decided to put my 160GB storage drive in. I had updated XP Pro to SP1, so
it supported it, as it did on the old PC.

When I put it in the new PC I also did a reformat from the WD boot disk
and
continued to boot up the os. Windows XP recognized the drive and assigned
a
letter, BUT it could not open the drive. SMART diagnostics from within
Windows said there was a failure. Ok, not the first HDD I've had fail.
So
I removed it and rebooted. On the new boot I get an error message saying
Windows can not authenticate this version. This message appears at the
login screen. I click ok (that's the only option). NOTHING HAPPENS....

ok...so I try to rebooot in safe mode and see what's the problem, and if
necessary do a system restore. In safe mode I get the same message. I
can't get into Windows at all.

Call Microsoft...after about two hours on the phone the guy finally tells
me
it can't be fixed. I told him I HAD to have the data on the good master
drive. So he tells me how to copy some files from the XP CD into my
c:\windows\system32 drive from the DOS prompt on the XP CD. Then I'm
finally able to get Windows to boot. He gives me a new activation code
since it recognizes this as a new install. Then I can get to my data to
transfer it to another drive, but all my programs are zapped, and I didn't
have a registry backup.

So I transfer the data to another old HDD and then have to reinstall
everything.

The problem was that since the new drive I was installing failed, Windows
hardware manager did not get a chance to recognize it, and thought
basically
that the HDD had been moved to a new PC.

Long story short....Windows activation system sucks. Keep this in mind if
you think you'll try to install ANY hardware that MIGHT be bad. Windows
monitors hardware through its activation system to prevent a licensed copy
from being run on multiple PC's. If your hardware fails and you try to
install it, Windows may very well fail as well.

Fred Smith wrote in message
Just built a new PC:
p43.2EGhz
p4c800-E Deluxe
1GB DDR 400 ram
Enermax 430watt PSU
FDD
Sony DVD-RW
etc...
(SNIP)

Long story short....Windows activation system sucks. Keep this in mind if
you think you'll try to install ANY hardware that MIGHT be bad. Windows
monitors hardware through its activation system to prevent a licensed copy
from being run on multiple PC's. If your hardware fails and you try to
install it, Windows may very well fail as well.

Honestly Fred... I think you are MORE than ready for Linux...
Try Linux Mandrake friend.. Thank me later !
ftp://ftp.linuxforum.net/ISO/Mandrake10-Official/

Insert picture of me p*ssing on Mr Megalomaniac BG.
I use OLD original Win98 and 2K, for backward compat;
.......NEVER XP....EVER !
Regards

"Art Simpson" wrote in message
news
Fred Smith wrote in message
Just built a new PC:
p43.2EGhz
p4c800-E Deluxe
1GB DDR 400 ram
Enermax 430watt PSU
FDD
Sony DVD-RW
etc...
(SNIP)

Long story short....Windows activation system sucks. Keep this in mind
if
you think you'll try to install ANY hardware that MIGHT be bad. Windows
monitors hardware through its activation system to prevent a licensed
copy
from being run on multiple PC's. If your hardware fails and you try to
install it, Windows may very well fail as well.

Honestly Fred... I think you are MORE than ready for Linux...
Try Linux Mandrake friend.. Thank me later !
ftp://ftp.linuxforum.net/ISO/Mandrake10-Official/

Why do all the Linux nuts push Windows users into trying Linux, and then
when the newbies show up in the Linux groups asking for help they just get
****ed on?

When I can get a stock version of Linux to properly support my ATI Radeon
card (with full acceleration) on my P4C800E I might try it again. Damned if
I'm going to try and ask for help updating the kernel/drivers.

On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 01:39:53 GMT, "Noozer" wrote:


"Art Simpson" wrote in message
news
Fred Smith wrote in message
Just built a new PC:
p43.2EGhz
p4c800-E Deluxe
1GB DDR 400 ram
Enermax 430watt PSU
FDD
Sony DVD-RW
etc...
(SNIP)

Long story short....Windows activation system sucks. Keep this in mind
if
you think you'll try to install ANY hardware that MIGHT be bad. Windows
monitors hardware through its activation system to prevent a licensed
copy
from being run on multiple PC's. If your hardware fails and you try to
install it, Windows may very well fail as well.

Honestly Fred... I think you are MORE than ready for Linux...
Try Linux Mandrake friend.. Thank me later !
ftp://ftp.linuxforum.net/ISO/Mandrake10-Official/

Why do all the Linux nuts push Windows users into trying Linux, and then
when the newbies show up in the Linux groups asking for help they just get
****ed on?

When I can get a stock version of Linux to properly support my ATI Radeon
card (with full acceleration) on my P4C800E I might try it again. Damned if
I'm going to try and ask for help updating the kernel/drivers.

I haven't been "****ed on" in the Linux forums, but I share your
disdain for the proselytizing. I installed the free Open Circulation
Edition of Xandros. It's great for a free OS, but, as a newbie, I can
install programs only through the Xandros Network. I went through a
lot of hassle getting my sound to work even though I use the single
most common sound card in N. America (SB Audigy). Windows set up
network printers effortlessly whereas it took me a week and about a
dozen forum posts to be able to print from Linux. There is no
existing GUI backup utility for my DAT tape drive whereas Windows XP's
built-in backup utility supports it perfectly.
In other words, Linux is great for the enthusiast and for Web servers,
but I don't think Microsoft is losing ANY sleep about it sweeping
Windows off the desktop. It's not even close to being able to pose a
threat.


Ron