[PCuser499]

OK I'll give the recovery partition a try.

[spike]

[quote name='PCuser499']It did not work Spike.> > > > I copied the I386 folder to my C: drive so that I now have a folder called C:I386. I then modified the registry as directed so that the sourcepath says C: instead of what it said which was C:Windows. scannow still asks for the CD2 !!You should have REPLACED the I386 file , with a fresh one, from your DVD.The sfc /scannow is not foolproof,and only works in some cases, but, ordinarily, it's easy, in your case Microsoft did you a disservice to begin with.This should be a very valuable lesson, in more ways than one, most importantly(yes.....even more than believeing anything from microsoft), is to ALWAYS GET A BACK-UP COPY OF WINDOWS, not a recovery disc, but a full version on windows.Yes....I know how much they cost, .........but wouldn't you just love to have one now????

[PCuser499]

I know exactly what you mean. Chalk it to being naive, but I assumed the "recovery disks" would be the Windows disks. I recall reading in the past that there was a way to use the files on these recovery OEM disks or I386 folders to create real Windows installation CDs but I can no longer find how to do it. The DVD vs CD issue was a new one to me.(I did copy the I386 from the DVD to the C: drive).

[spike]

[quote name='PCuser499']I know exactly what you mean. Chalk it to being naive, but I assumed the "recovery disks" would be the Windows disks. I recall reading in the past that there was a way to use the files on these recovery OEM disks or I386 folders to create real Windows installation CDs but I can no longer find how to do it. The DVD vs CD issue was a new one to me.> > > > (I did copy the I386 from the DVD to the C: drive).If that were true, than everyone could just get recovery CD's, from third party providers, and by-pass paying windows retail $$$$ , ................................'think 'ole bill would go for that?

[PCuser499]

Well, I'm just an end user and don't know much about all this. It does seem ludicrous to me that you could buy a PC with an installed operating system but not be able to re-install the system without destroying the entire partition.Anyway apparently it is possible (unless I am misunderstanding this) to create Windows installation CDs from a pre-installed system. Here are some sites that seem to explain how: http://www.easydesks...recovery.htm#XP http://www.howtohave...updisk.shtmland several other sites one can Google for.Somewhat too complicated for me to do, and maybe I am misunderstanding what kind of setup CDs they are creating, but apparently it is not impossible. I'm now looking around for a friend who might have the "real" XP Professional CDs. I may have found one who has a recent Dell PC and believes his came with Windows XP Professional CD instead of the OEM "recovery DVDs" which - as I found out - are totally useless in the real world. Hope he is right.

[rgreen4]

It won't do you any good.Let me recap for you. There are three different sub versions of XP (and Vista) for each version produced. The sub versions vary based upon the method of installation. First is the OEM. This is a version sold to and installed by a system builder or manufacturer. In the case of PC manufacturers, they actually get a Master and create one master HD, and then image that master onto all the thousands of PC they sell with that version and software choice. This version had an OEM Certificate of Authenticity number which is generally called the COA. This COA can only be used with an OEM install disc.Second is the Upgrade. In the case of XP, it requires the presence of a recognized upgradable version of Windows, either on the machine or you must insert the install CD for the previous version when asked for during the clean install upgrade process. This disc can oly be used with an Upgrade COA. Attempting to use an OEM or Full Install COA will cause rejection of the COA during the install process.Third is the full install version. This will do a clean install on either a new HD or previously installed HD, but will probably wipe out the the previously installed software. This verision can only be used with a Full Install COA, any other will be rejected.A COA can only be used once. If you attempt to activate a machine with a COA that already exists, Microsoft will treat it as a pirated copy and will not activate it. Attempting to install any version of Windows with a COA that has already be activated on another machine, unless that machine has been disassembled, is ILLEGAL.The only version of Windows that will not completely overwrite the existing windows installation is the upgrade, and it can only be used if the existing verion on the HD is lower that the upgrade. For example you cannot upgrade from Vista to XP. You cannot upgrade from XP Pro to XP Home. You cannot upgrade from XP MCE to XP Pro. You cannot use upgrade discs that have XP SP1 if you have SP2 on the HD. Microsoft only allows you to go upstream. To go downstream take the full version and a format of the HD.The restore DVD's do not destroy the partition, quite the opposite, they restore the partitions to the as shipped condition. The HD after restoring from the restore DVD will have the recovery partition intact and when you turn on the machine the software will be as it was when you first turned on the machine.Attempting to use cross versions on a Windows disc will do signifant damage to the sofware and render the machine unusable, until the HD is restored from the restore DVD's. We have just been working with someone who attempted to "repair" a windows XP MCE installation with an XP Pro disc and she has a mess because she did not burn the recovery DVD's. Now she either has to purchase a new copy of Windows or the recovery DVD's from her computer support site.If your machine is usable, back up all data that is not already backed up somewhere, and the use the restore discs. It is not a pleasant process as it will take several hours to go through the entire process. The actual restore time should be about an hour. Reinstalling all added software, resetting preferences and restoring data will take the rest of the time.I speak with experience for I have the been there, done that T-Shirt and Coffee Mug. Everyone complains about Vista being unstable, I have only had one episode with Vista Home Premium and I caused that (XP video drivers inadvertently installed in Vista cause the machine to be useless, as there was no display). I must have restored the Media Center Edition form the restore discs at least a half dozen times before I got my Vista upgrade. I think most of my problems were tied to Norton's and other pre-installed "free" software.Look at it this way, if you had started the restoration process after you made the first post, you'd be done by now. If you start now, you might be done before you friend got over with the XP Pro disc.

[PCuser499]

First Spike, thank you very much for taking the time to explain all that. Because you are obviously very knowledgeable - and I am not - please allow me to summarize my situation, because I think we are talking across each other.I have a XP MCE system that now works just fine. So what is the problem? I had trouble in my last Windows update because it stalled and I emailed Windows support about it and that got me in all sorts of trouble. In fact I have since discovered - on my own - that the problem I was having with Windows update was because I had turned on the the "resident tea timer" in Spybot and had forgotten about it. It apparently conflicted with the Windows update and prevented it. When I turned Spybot's resident teatimer off, the update worked fine.So why do I worry about the restore DVD? Because - before I figured out the Spybot problem on my own - I followed MS email support "advice" to solve this by running sfc /purgecachesfc /scannowthe former of which screwed things up and the second of which revealed to me that I needed some files restored. Even though I found both my Toshiba restore DVDs, neither one was accepted by scannow which insistently asked for "Windows XP Pro CD2".Fortunately, before I did the purgecache I had made a full image backup of my C: partition using Acronis True Image. So when I discovered that my problem with the updates was simply caused by the resident part of Spybot teatimer and nothing else, I restored my C: partition from the backup ad was back to where I was before all my troubles began. The Windows update now went through fine and all is well. BUT, because scannow had shown that some files were missing and needed to be restored, I ran scannow again on the restored working C: partition - this time without running purgecache (because I was told that had destroyed a bunch of files and I did not wish to repeat that error). Again, scannow found that it needed to replace or restore some files, and again it would not accept the Toshiba restore DVDs that came with this notebook PC.So here is my present situation: 1. a system that works fine and updates fine.2. scannow that still tells me it needs to replace some protected Windows files and will not accept my PC's "restore DVDs" as suitable to find them.3. I do have (after restoring from the image backup) a I386 folder located in C:WindowsI386 (as well as an identical I386 on the restore DVD)4. In regedit, my HKEY LOCALMACHINESOFTWAREMicros oft WindowsCurrentVersion Setup is presently (after the restore) at the factory setting of C:Windows which should permit it to access the C:WindowsI386 folder, but it apparently cannot find the files it needs there nor on the recover DVDs.I am hesitant to mess with a system that works fine but am concerned that scannow tells me all is not well.I do have an image backup of the C: partition which I did right after I purchased the notebook and had removed the bloatware, but unfortunately no other image of C: between that one and the one I had the foresight to do before running purgecache and scannow.I am now tempted to just leave everything alone but am intellectually intrigued as to WHY scannow is asking specifically for "Windows XP Professional CD2" (even though my OS is actually its close relative Windows XP Media Center Edition) but cannot find what it needs in the factory supplied restore DVDs or the I386 folders.Hope I am clear.

[smax013]

[quote name='PCuser499']I am now tempted to just leave everything alone but am intellectually intrigued as to WHY scannow is asking specifically for "Windows XP Professional CD2" (even though my OS is actually its close relative Windows XP Media Center Edition) but cannot find what it needs in the factory supplied restore DVDs or the I386 folders.> > > > Don't you hate it when that happens...get all "intellectually intrigued" by something and cannot just leave it alone?!? :D I suffer from the same problem from time to time! :wink:

[spike]

Well,.......so it needs some files,.........i need stuff too, :lol: let it be, for now, but keep looking for an XP CD and when you find one, use it for the sfc /scannow, until then,.......no big deal.

[rgreen4]

Amen, Smax. I have been known to swap out a drive, reformat and install a different OS, just to perform an experiment. With 3 primary machines (Vista, XP Pro & XP Home, not to mention my old Win98 machine) I can do a lot of puzzling.PCUser499 - I will be honest with you. Before a week or so ago I had never heard of SFC. When I ran it on my XP Pro machine other than the agonizingly slow process it did not encounter any problems. In the interest of being Intellectually Intrigued I put my original as shipped Widows XP Media Center Editon back in my HP Media Center desktop and got the exact same results as you did.I think the answer lies in the way the Media Center Edition was done. As I said in the earlier post, it is the red-headed stepchild of Windows. It has never been offered in a retail or upgrade version, only the OEM. The only way you can get it is as an installed OS on a "Media Center" PC. It has the three sections TV, Musis and Video grafted onto XP Professional.In the movie "The Hunt for the Red October" the Sonarman Jonsey says that whenever the tracking program gets confused it calls an unidentified sound as a magma displacement. It was a modified volcano eruption program to track subs, and the default was "magma displacement".Well, I think that whenever XP Media Center Edition gets confused it calls home and thinks it XP Professional. It is and it isn't. My MCE HD is almost as it was shipped from HP. It has had Acronis and Seagate Discwizard added, but nothing removed. As soon as the new disc was set up and clonned, this disk went into the cabinet. I still got the 5 missing files, which means they were missing when the drive was shipped from HP.If I was going to have kept XP MCE, I would have bought the four components and then the OEM install disc for XP MCE, just to have a clean install disc, but I got the free upgrade to Vista. As I also said, I was glad to get rid of XP MCE and go to Vista which I find much more stable. I am not about to run SFC on Vista, I might not like the results.As I was about to close I found this article,, note it applies to MCE 2002 but not MCE 2005. I personally am going to forget it exists. I have gotten along this past 4 1/2 years of using XP without it, I can get along a bit longer without it.

[PCuser499]

Thanks everyone. It's been a hectic ride, especially after the purgecache scare, but now that I discovered that what messed up Windows update was simply Spybot, and nothing worse, I will forget I ever heard of scannow!Your similar experience when you ran scannow on your freshly installed MCE makes me think that scannow is looking for files that actually belong in XP Professional but which maybe have been modified for the MCE install. That is why it could not find them in my restore DVDs. Had it found them in an XP professional CD that I had located somewhere, it would have used those files and maybe messed up the MCE install. So the hell with scannow on my system and down with my stress levels <grinning again>Thanks everyone for holding my hand as I suffered through a (probably) non-existent problem.

[smax013]

[quote name='rgreen4']> > > > In the movie "The Hunt for the Red October" the Sonarman Jonsey says that whenever the tracking program gets confused it calls an unidentified sound as a magma displacement. It was a modified volcano eruption program to track subs, and the default was "magma displacement".> > > > If I remember the exact quote from "The Hunt for the Red October" correctly, it was something like "...runs home to mama..." - always liked that line! :lol:

[PCuser499]

[quote name='rgreen4'] As I also said, I was glad to get rid of XP MCE and go to Vista which I find much more stable. This is completely out of the topic of this thread but I am intrigued by your statement of liking Vista better than XP. From all I've heard Vista has all sorts of problems. My brother in law has a PC with preinstalled Vista which he bought for his wife and he is seriously thinking of installing XP on it. I recommended against doing that because of all the problems with installing an OS from scratch. I have 3 home PCs and they all have XP which I have found very satisfactory. (The notebook that was the object of this thread is the only one that has the MCE version and I have yet to use any of its "Media" components).My understanding is that Vista is anything but stable to the point that some manufacturers like Dell are even replying to market forces by offering to sell new PCs with XP preinstalled instead of Vista or even Linux. What gives?

[spike]

Well..........while I have never used MCE,I have installed it on several computers, you CAN get an instalation disc, from many retailers, if you buy hardware of some kind, .....so the installation disc's ARE availble to the public here; http://www.tigerdire...1833&CatId=306I believe, although haven't proven, that at least 2 problems may be preventing sfc /scannow to run on your machine, 1) DELL, they want you to call them, ............. beacuse of poor backup software ( cd's or dvd's with the OS on them, Microsoft also has a hand in that, piracy and all ) and just plain poorly traind "support" personel. 2) The "managment" software in XP pro, does not appear in MCE, ...so using an xp pro disc, will cause a few hiccups, as those protected files DO NOT EXIST in MCE, or the reg. entries, or root files, .........so , you'll get a few hiccups

[rgreen4]

My HP Media Center arrived in Nov, 2006 with XP MCE. I had constant problems with it. I liked the interface better than the standard XP, but I had to restore it at least 3 times before the end of the year because at one point or another, I would get various pop-up error messages. It lost the nVidia drivers for the video card one time. Norton's Internet Security 2006 came on the machine and I was on the phone so much with them, they sent me a link to a free upgrade to 2007. It really didn't help. I was seriously thinking of retrofiting to XP Pro which is on my other desktop, and it's 4 1/2 years old and had never had to be restored. I decided to wait for my free Vista upgrade which arrived in late April and I did a clean install of it in early May. The only problem that I have had to date, is the time I accidentally installed an XP video driver. The results were not good, no display. I restored the machine from the master (I clone drives) and then segregated all my drivers on my data drive (networked) by OS.I never reinstalled Norton and have been using AVG Free and the free SuperAntispyware ever since. By the way, my Norton's subscription runs out in Feb, 2008 and I most defintely not be renewing. I think I have even blown it off my download folder. I blame a lot of the problems on the "free" and "trial" software they provide. Unfortunately, with an from the factory install, when you do a restoration, you get the bloatware back.Once you get the Vista installation cleaned up from all the bloatware, it should run fine. I only have one device that won't work with Vista, a 5 year old HP Scanner. But with two XP machines still, one of which I can't upgrade to Vista (a laptop), as long as they run, I can use it on them. The Vista machine is networked with the two XP machines, two laser printers with network interface, a color injet with printer sharing off an XP Pro machine and a networked drive with Raid enabled. In fact, its the machine I turn on first, and the one I'm using to respond on this form. It connects to the network wirelessly.I have heard people complain it is slow, but without the bloatware, it is just about as fast as my XP Pro. The XP pro boots from switch on through log on to desktop in 55 seconds. The Vista boots from switch on through log on to desktop (with sidebar) in 65 seconds. I am also running Office 2007 on the Vista desktop vs Office 2000 on the XP Pro. Its a little slower because the operator (me) is not yet as familiar with the new interface as with the old. I use Quicken 2006 on all three machines, and the only difference I see on the Vista machine is that the cash register "kaching" does not work in Vista. This fall I will upgrade to 2008 (I alternate years), and I will probably get it back, but it's not a big deal.I find Vista much smoother and subtler because of the transition. XP everything just "pops" in. That may fuel the perception that Vista is slower. Certain applications that are not fully Vista certified may run slower, but I have not encountered any. BTW both desktops have 2GB of Ram and the XP Pro is P4 3.2GHZ, the Vista is Core2Duo 6400.

[spike]

[quote name='PCuser499']Thanks everyone. It's been a hectic ride, especially after the purgecache scare, but now that I discovered that what messed up Windows update was simply Spybot, and nothing worse, I will forget I ever heard of scannow!> > > > Your similar experience when you ran scannow on your freshly installed MCE makes me think that scannow is looking for files that actually belong in XP Professional but which maybe have been modified for the MCE install. That is why it could not find them in my restore DVDs. Had it found them in an XP professional CD that I had located somewhere, it would have used those files and maybe messed up the MCE install. So the hell with scannow on my system and down with my stress levels <grinning again>> > > > Thanks everyone for holding my hand as I suffered through a (probably) non-existent problem.Well, like I said earlier, sfc /scannow ,is usually, very easy to run, and is a tool I use to repair ,boneheaded mistakes, people make to the OS, at least 3 times a week, and it works flawlessly, so your fears an unjustified. What happened to you was the purgecache thing, THAT is what you shouldn't have done, and microsoft told you to do it, .............blame their lousy support. Using an XP disc, was an attempt to get you up and running, ........of course it wasn't perfect, as I explained, there are files in XP that do not appear in MCE, so there were hiccups, but it did workGlad you found the problem with spybot,.....if any thing, this program is what you should be "afraid" of as it caused your problem to begin with.