:
Well, that's just it, I don't have a friend or colleague that I know of that
would have one of those discs that you tell me I should get and make a copy
of. Chances of finding one are like winning or hitting the lottery. About 1
in 10 million chances.
Anyway, this is why I need them. I bought this computer from someone that
sold him this and other computers as well and I bought this one from him and
when I did the Windows Updates it told me that this copy of Windows did not
pass genuine Windows validation and that I might be a victim of software
counterfeiting.
Well I turned off Windows Update (I know, not a smart thing to do---grill me
if you must) because for one, the computer has only 16 GB of Hard Drive space
as you can see and a forth of it is used up already from programs that are
needed on there already, and I've been told that that's way too small of a
space for updates to occur because you need more Hard Drive space for the
latest ones that come out which would be way to big for the Hard Drive
itself. They may have told me wrong. I don't know. I've deleted a bunch of
useless programs on there to gain more space, but it still didn't seem to
help much as far as trying to do Windows Updates.
Heres the problem I encountered which is why I say I need to do my operating
system with the recovery discs.
When I tried to do the Window Updates this is what happened.
I get a Window that says: Product Key update failure. The application has
encountered a disk-write error while updating system components. The system
may be low on disk space. Please check available disk space. [Error:
0x800402c9]
And this error message as well: This copy of Windows did not pass genuine
validation.
The product key found on this computer is a Volume License Key (VLK) that
has been blocked.
Then it wanted me to buy this Windows Genuine Advantage Kit for Windows XP
Professional $149.00 from microsoft so it would make the copy of Windows
legal. They told me I won't have enough disk space to do this. Obviously the
one that had it before me pirated all of the software that's on this
computer. That's what I'm trying to get fixed and because as a result of me
trying to update the system with these Window Updates, my computer is running
very very sluggish now, where as before it was running so very very smoothly
and fast until I started updating it, and now it's too late to go back at
this point, unless I can turn it back to day 1 with the recovery discs.
Then I get this error message saying: Service Pack 3 Setup Window that says:
(with an X inside a large red circle) An internal error occurred as it was
trying to install the updates.
Then I get this next error message saying: Service Pack 3 Setup Error Window
that has a large X inside a large red circle that says: Service Pack 3
installation did not complete.
Then I get this Window Update window that says: Some updates were not
installed. The following updates were not installed: Windows XP Service Pack
3 (KB936929)
Had I known what I know now, I never ever would have ever run Windows
Updates at all. I hope now I make more sense to you. It's not that I was
afraid of getting caught with the goods so to speak, I just thought it would
be an easy thing to do with no questions asked, but I'm glad you did anyway.
Maybe now, hopefully I can get somewhere with it now.
Even if I do get the Windows Genuine Advantage Kit for Windows XP
Professional $149.00, and it makes the copy of Windows legal, would the
recovery discs work if I used them? Please answer this one for me. Thanks.
This is another reason I want these recovery discs to turn it back to day 1
so hopefully it would make the copy of Windows legal and I would be good to
go from there and that I wouldn't have to buy the Windows Genuine Advantage
Kit for Windows XP Professional $149.00 . I've been told that yes, that's
very true. What do you say?
I guess now my big big question would be this, if I do get the recovery
discs, being that the computer already has a partition on there and that's
what it uses to draw from when you recover it with the recovery discs, would
it be able to turn the computer back to day 1 and create a new partition with
the recovery discs or is it going to use the partition already on there even
though it doesn't have that partition on there already? I really need an
answer on this one please as I'm still confused on what I should do at this
point. Thanks.
Any more advice I might try now?
Probably the best thing to do now would be to purchase an external USB hard
drive and copy all of your data (documents, pictures, music, email, etc.) to
it. Go to the Microsoft website and download the Service Pack 3 iso image
here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=2fcde6ce-b5fb-4488-8c50-fe22559d164e
and burn the image to CD.
You will need the installation media of all your installed applications,
hopefully you haven't lost those as well.
Use the recovery disks suggested by David Webb. They will restore your
computer to "as shipped" condition. This will wipe out everything on the hard
drive, so make sure that you have your data copied to the external drive and
your application media before doing this.
Apply SP3 and turn on the Windows firewall; set Automatic Updates to "notify
me but do not download or install updates" before connecting to the internet.
When prompted of available updates by the yellow shield in the system tray,
select "Custom Install" and deselect any updates you don't want, install the
ones you do. You will be prompted if you want to be notified again of the
updates you deselected; check the "no" box and you won't be notified again.
After your machine is updated, uninstall (from "Add/Remove Programs" in
"Control Panel") any preinstalled software that you don't want that came with
the recovery disk set. Reinstall your applications and copy your data back
from the external drive.
Rather than spend $149.00 on a Genuine Advantage kit, spend $35.00 on the
recovery disks and about $60.00 on an external drive. You will now have a way
to back up your data.
:
OK, I did like you asked me too. I hope this helps you out so you can help me
out. See below. msinfo32
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name DELL-D163ABB8F2
System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
System Model OptiPlex GX240
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 1 Stepping 2 GenuineIntel ~1694 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Dell Computer Corporation A03, 3/1/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5508 (xpsp.080320-1628)"
User Name DELL-D163ABB8F2\dell
Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 640.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 263.13 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 789.78 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
I need them because I re-do my operating system to keep it refreshed and
running like new about once a year to keep it fresh. I thought that it was
recommended that a person do that to clean it up so it won't get bogged down
all of the time with registry junk etc.
When you say, "You would be well served to borrow a genuine bootable XP
installation CD that matches your system (XP Home, XP Pro) and just make a
copy of it, then you will have something useful for now and in the future..".
Where would I get a genuine bootable XP installation CD that matches my
system?
Is it the same as a recovery CD itself?
Please answer these questions and thank you for helping me out. I really
really do appreciate it more than you could ever ever know.
:
Just one question. When you say, "> See the replies you received to the same question in the Win2000 newsgroup,
and in particular the hints to post full details about your machine.."
If you have XP, you need to stay here.
It might be good to have Recovery CDs, but they would be old and
unless you want to recover to some time in the past, use them for
coasters or make them into an attractive mobile.
What is your issue that makes you think you need them?
You would be well served to borrow a genuine bootable XP installation
CD that matches your system (XP Home, XP Pro) and just make a copy of
it, then you will have something useful for now and in the future.
Here is how you can post your system information:
Click Start, Run and in the box enter:
msinfo32