Slightly Off-topic but not way off?

[ManyBeers]

I have a Sony Vaio PCGFXA 47 notebook with WindowsXP sp3. The computer came
with Recovery cds and not a WindowsXP cd. So there was no Recovery Console
originally with my computer. However about 6 months ago I was at this website
http://www.aumha.org/ and there was a procedure in a thread outlining the
steps to installing the Recovery Console on any WindowsXP computer. I
followed the procedure and I now have the Recovery Console listed as a boot
option on my Boot.ini file.
A few weeks ago i deleted Screenblast Sounforge&Acid;
Photoshop Elements; and WinDVD from their default install locations on my
C:\drive so I could make a smaller image to burn. These programs are OEM to
my computer. Anyways after burning the image i wanted to reinstall those
programs so I put in the Application Recovery cd to do so but was given the
message "This application is not designed to run on this computer". So I
could not install the programs. My question is this: Did my installing either
SP3 or The Recovery Console cause this effect?
I know this isn't specifically a Windows XP question but
some of you posters here might have insight to whether this could be the
case. I know one thing
--The tech at Sony's chat site didn't know.

 

[RJK]

Well, I think it is an XP question, and you're probably right in that SP3
has lost you the ability to restore applications from your Sony cd's.

Have you examined this Application Recovery cd, to see if you can drill
through to application directories and run their setup.exe program directly
from those directory's ?
....instead of running a cd menu-program ...if that's what you're doing ?

A worrying thought, (if you meant "deleted" rather than "uninstalled"),
"some programs from their default locations" is that this can cause
problems - if programs aren't uninstalled using their uninstall routine/s.
i.e. uninstall routines are usually a token gesture and better than nothing
but, manually deleting program folders is ridiculous !

Failing that,
You might like to uninstall SP3, (if possible), then run this "Sony"
'Application Recovery' disk, then reapply SP3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/sp3/default.mspx

regards, Richard

 

[Anthony Buckland]

I have a Sony Vaio PCGFXA 47 notebook with WindowsXP sp3. The computer came
with Recovery cds and not a WindowsXP cd. So there was no Recovery Console
originally with my computer. However about 6 months ago I was at this
website
http://www.aumha.org/ and there was a procedure in a thread outlining the
steps to installing the Recovery Console on any WindowsXP computer. I
followed the procedure and I now have the Recovery Console listed as a
boot
option on my Boot.ini file.
A few weeks ago i deleted Screenblast Sounforge&Acid;
Photoshop Elements; and WinDVD from their default install locations on my
C:\drive so I could make a smaller image to burn. These programs are OEM
to
my computer. Anyways after burning the image i wanted to reinstall those
programs so I put in the Application Recovery cd to do so but was given
the
message "This application is not designed to run on this computer". So I
could not install the programs. ...

Could I venture the suggestion that uninstalling (or, heaven forfend,
actually deleting) applications to make a smaller backup image
and then reinstalling them is a strange way to deal with limited
backup space? I back up myself to a USB-connected hard drive,
which has more than adequate space for many backup images.
Making do with smaller backup media is risking losing, as you
may have done, applications you may regret not having later.
If you deinstall, make _sure_ in advance you have the means
to reinstall.

Meanwhile, do you have an earlier full image you could restore,
and then use the later partial image to recover things like My
Documents, your mail files, etc? There might still be
complications like reinstalling things you installed between
the earlier image and the later one, but at least you'd have
the lost applications back? I assume you're using something
like Acronis True Image which has a facility for restoring
selected files from an image.

 

[ManyBeers]

Well, I think it is an XP question, and you're probably right in that SP3
has lost you the ability to restore applications from your Sony cd's.

Have you examined this Application Recovery cd, to see if you can drill
through to application directories and run their setup.exe program directly
from those directory's ?
....instead of running a cd menu-program ...if that's what you're doing ?

A worrying thought, (if you meant "deleted" rather than "uninstalled"),
"some programs from their default locations" is that this can cause
problems - if programs aren't uninstalled using their uninstall routine/s.
i.e. uninstall routines are usually a token gesture and better than nothing
but, manually deleting program folders is ridiculous !

Failing that,
You might like to uninstall SP3, (if possible), then run this "Sony"
'Application Recovery' disk, then reapply SP3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/sp3/default.mspx

regards, Richard

I meant uninstalled. I just wanted confirmation that the
problem is with the updates and changes my computer has gone through over
time. Or at least you agree that is a likely possibility?
I was able to get ScreenblastSoundforge&Acid, and Photoshop
Elements installed through plain dumb luck. In the root of my C:\drive is a
Sonysys folder and in it a Checkdmi.exe which i clicked on with the 1st
Application Recovery cd in my cd drive and low and behold it went ahead and
installed them. But there are many other small programs on the application #2
cd which I can't access. So no WinDVD....yet.

 

[Lem]

I have a Sony Vaio PCGFXA 47 notebook with WindowsXP sp3. The computer came
with Recovery cds and not a WindowsXP cd. So there was no Recovery Console
originally with my computer. However about 6 months ago I was at this website
http://www.aumha.org/ and there was a procedure in a thread outlining the
steps to installing the Recovery Console on any WindowsXP computer. I
followed the procedure and I now have the Recovery Console listed as a boot
option on my Boot.ini file.
A few weeks ago i deleted Screenblast Sounforge&Acid;
Photoshop Elements; and WinDVD from their default install locations on my
C:\drive so I could make a smaller image to burn. These programs are OEM to
my computer. Anyways after burning the image i wanted to reinstall those
programs so I put in the Application Recovery cd to do so but was given the
message "This application is not designed to run on this computer". So I
could not install the programs. My question is this: Did my installing either
SP3 or The Recovery Console cause this effect?
I know this isn't specifically a Windows XP question but
some of you posters here might have insight to whether this could be the
case. I know one thing
--The tech at Sony's chat site didn't know.

Call Sony and speak to another tech.

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm