Just Trying to Help Out - Activation Nightmare In My Future?

[Guest]

I relative of a friend needs to have their system wiped and rebuilt due to
horrific malware problems. They live several states away and my friend was
just there. After hearing of their problems and what a local computer shop
was going to charge for the service I suggested my friend bring the HD and
all the install disks to me.

My plan was to Fdisk and Format the HD in a test system and then load it
into my system to build XP. I have their disks and it is a legal copy from
Dell. I too have a legal copy for Dell, but our systems are vastly different.

My plan was to build the system and mail it back to them. I'd then work
them through the reinstallation of the HD in their system. I've just
remember the whole activation "thing" though. If they call MS and explain
what has happened will they be given a code to be able to use the HD I've
built for them?

They are very novice users and I hope this has taught them a lesson for
allowing the security updates and anti v update that I set up when I
installed their system at their home a couple of years ago.

Is there any way for this to work, or should I mail back the disk and send
them to their local shop?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

A Dell Reinstallation CD will only work and activate
on the Dell original Dell system it shipped with.
Does this answer your inquiry?

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I relative of a friend needs to have their system wiped and rebuilt due to
| horrific malware problems. They live several states away and my friend was
| just there. After hearing of their problems and what a local computer shop
| was going to charge for the service I suggested my friend bring the HD and
| all the install disks to me.
|
| My plan was to Fdisk and Format the HD in a test system and then load it
| into my system to build XP. I have their disks and it is a legal copy from
| Dell. I too have a legal copy for Dell, but our systems are vastly different.
|
| My plan was to build the system and mail it back to them. I'd then work
| them through the reinstallation of the HD in their system. I've just
| remember the whole activation "thing" though. If they call MS and explain
| what has happened will they be given a code to be able to use the HD I've
| built for them?
|
| They are very novice users and I hope this has taught them a lesson for
| allowing the security updates and anti v update that I set up when I
| installed their system at their home a couple of years ago.
|
| Is there any way for this to work, or should I mail back the disk and send
| them to their local shop?
|

 

[D.Currie]

I relative of a friend needs to have their system wiped and rebuilt due to
horrific malware problems. They live several states away and my friend
was
just there. After hearing of their problems and what a local computer
shop
was going to charge for the service I suggested my friend bring the HD and
all the install disks to me.

My plan was to Fdisk and Format the HD in a test system and then load it
into my system to build XP. I have their disks and it is a legal copy
from
Dell. I too have a legal copy for Dell, but our systems are vastly
different.

My plan was to build the system and mail it back to them. I'd then work
them through the reinstallation of the HD in their system. I've just
remember the whole activation "thing" though. If they call MS and explain
what has happened will they be given a code to be able to use the HD I've
built for them?

They are very novice users and I hope this has taught them a lesson for
allowing the security updates and anti v update that I set up when I
installed their system at their home a couple of years ago.

Is there any way for this to work, or should I mail back the disk and send
them to their local shop?

If they're really novices, what you're going to hand them is a bundle of
problems. First, they're probably going to need to do a repair install of
the system, just to get it to boot. If they're going to have to do that,
they might as well just do the complete install.

And that's assuming that the install in your computer even works. There's a
good chance their Dell cd will simply refuse to work when you try to run it
on your computer because it's going to be looking for their motherboard and
components. This has nothing to do with activation, it has to do with how
oems build their cds.

They're also going to need to install all of the drivers for their hardware.
The way Dell CDs work, it;s not all that easy to help someone with that
install over the phone. And it's not something you can do for them while the
hard drive is in your computer. If they're truly novices, you could be
looking at spending a couple hours on the phone while they read menus to
you.

And then you're dealing with mailing a hard drive back and forth, and a lot
of handling. And having a novice inside a computer can be a problem because
all you need is something slightly unplugged, and they end up with hardware
issues you can't see. They could create new problems that didn't exist
before.

If you think the one shop they contacted is too expensive, have them call
around and see what other places charge. Of course, cheapest is not
necessarily the best. But they might be best off finding a good local shop
that can give them hands-on help when they need it.

 

[Larry Samuels]

That won't work. You are headed for installation nightmares if you load the
OS on different hardware and expect things to work properly when plugged
back into the original system. There is a very good chance that they will
have to perform a repair install to get the system to boot, then they will
have to load the correct drivers.
Activation is the least of your worries in this scenario.

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[Guest]

Thanks everyone. I had planned to send a disk with all of their drivers and
knew of the headache of getting those in over the phone. What I didn't know
was that I couldn't use the install disk in a different system. That's lousy
for those people who need help and have someone to help for free.

 

[D.Currie]

Thanks everyone. I had planned to send a disk with all of their drivers
and
knew of the headache of getting those in over the phone. What I didn't
know
was that I couldn't use the install disk in a different system. That's
lousy
for those people who need help and have someone to help for free.

If they truly need help for free -- they're disadvantaged, senior citizens
on a limited income, etc., there is probably free help available if they're
willing to look for it.

If they're ready and willing to pay something, but have a tight budget, they
might be able to get a reduced rate at a local shop if they plead their case
and/or have something to offer in trade. I've known some techs who would
work for a home-cooked meal or some baked goodies.

While your goal of giving these people free service is nice, in the end it
could cost them more than having it repaired locally. A clean install with
all of the drivers available shouldn't take all that long if the shop is
fair and competent. But if that hard drive gets drop-kicked by whoever
delivers it, these folks might end up buying a new drive. And while they're
working inside the case, they could damage something else that could end up
being more costly.

It's nice that you want to help these folks for free, but doing it
long-distance just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

 

[Guest]

OK, the tower is being shipped up to me as that will be a whole lot less
expensive and I'll take care of more than just a vanilla OS install for them.


I'm considering installing a second hard drive for them so that I can have
a Ghost image on it. My plan would be to talk them through a Ghost image
from the second drive to the primary drive the next time they have a problem
like this.

Will this work - the ghosting?

 

[Larry Samuels]

Yes.

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[D.Currie]

OK, the tower is being shipped up to me as that will be a whole lot less
expensive and I'll take care of more than just a vanilla OS install for
them.


I'm considering installing a second hard drive for them so that I can have
a Ghost image on it. My plan would be to talk them through a Ghost image
from the second drive to the primary drive the next time they have a
problem
like this.

Will this work - the ghosting?

That sounds like a good plan. You might also want to look into some of the
backup software programs that they can use to back up documents in case they
ever need to use that ghost image.

There's a little tool on MSs website that does a synchronization between 2
folders. If your friends manage to keep everything in the My Documents
folders, you could set that up to synch between the folder on the main drive
and a folder you set up on the secondary drive.

As far as shipping the computer: if they don't have the original packaging
(and who does?) have them take it to one of the places that will pack it and
ship it, and make sure it's insured. I've seen plenty of PCs damaged in
shipping, and if they pack it themselves the shipper will probably claim bad
packaging and there goes your insurance. If the shipping place does the
packaging, they would have to take the blame for the bad packaging, so
you're still covered. It will cost more to have the shipping place do the
packaging, but it's probably the only way the insurance will cover any
damage. I've been through this a few times, and it's not very pleasant.

Unless of course the computer isn't worth insuring. That's up to you and
them.

Another hint: Open the case and peek inside before you plug the computer in.
I've seen a few where the heat sink got ripped off the motherboard in
shipping, or the processor gets yanked out of the socket. Mostly the issues
are loose cables and whatnot, but you don't want to fry something if there's
something rattling around loose inside. Maybe take photos of the inside of
the case and have your friends do the same check when they get the computer
back. The outside doesn't have to be damaged for things inside to get
jostled around.

I hope your friends don't get sticker shock when they see what packaging and
shipping might cost. It's wise to shop that around a bit. I've seen people
pay in the range of $100, one-way, within the same state.

 

[Guest]

It should be arriving here today. They did have the shipping place pack it
and mentioned that the packing cost as much as the shipping itself! Oh well,
maybe this will prompt them to keep up with the security updates now.

I'm not looking forward to the mass that I'll be bringing down for them
myself. I have an XP SP2 disk so that will help. My sister has cable vs my
DSL. Is there a way for me to download all the updates for this "new system"
from my sister's system and then burn those on a CD? If it is legal and
possible I'd like to save some time doing that.

Also I've always ended up downloading the fixes and allowing the restarts
when asked. Can the updates be "batched" in so that I can wait until they
are all installed before restarting?

 

[D.Currie]

It should be arriving here today. They did have the shipping place pack
it
and mentioned that the packing cost as much as the shipping itself! Oh
well,
maybe this will prompt them to keep up with the security updates now.

I'm not looking forward to the mass that I'll be bringing down for them
myself. I have an XP SP2 disk so that will help. My sister has cable vs
my
DSL. Is there a way for me to download all the updates for this "new
system"
from my sister's system and then burn those on a CD? If it is legal and
possible I'd like to save some time doing that.

I'm not sure what you mean. The new system is your sister's system, isn't
it?

Also I've always ended up downloading the fixes and allowing the restarts
when asked. Can the updates be "batched" in so that I can wait until they
are all installed before restarting?

Depends. Some installs won't let you continue until you reboot.

In the end, it's probably better to reboot when you're asked to. If you
don't and the install screws up and you have to start over, you end up
wasting more time.

If you know in advance which won't screw up by not rebooting, then you can
just keep going.