windows xp professional--adding new external hard drive

[Gerald D. Pine]

I installed a new external usb hard drive on a sony pcg
srx99 laptop computer. The next time I rebooted I got a
message "Error loading operating system." I have been
unable to get beyond this error message. Is this a product
activation issue?

I decided to try to reinstall windows xp, but my version is
an upgrade version, so that I am asked for a cd with the
full version on it. My computer came with Windows XP home
on manufacturer oem cds, and the disk I am trying to
install from is the Windows XP Professional upgrade cd. I
really don't want to go back and install the Windows XP
Home edition and then do the upgrade again. Am I screwed
here? Or is this a totally different problem?

Any suggestions?

 

[MGGP]

The short answer is, yes you're screwed ;-) AND
No it's not a product activiation issue, per se.

It sounds to me like you're being asked for the CD for the
previous version of Windows, the qualifying product for
the upgrade CD, and you don't have it (and you shouldn't
be trying to do what you're trying to do). If your system
came with an OEM CD, or a Restore CD that's the disc to
use.

That said, why don't you try to resolve the ISSUE instead
of taking the sledgehammer approach = re-installing XP
(which will not miraculously fix it, necessarily).

If your system was running fine, then you installed the
external drive, then the system had a problem when
booting . . . fix the problem (uninstall the drive ?),
talk to the vendor from whom you purchased the drive,
visit the manufaccturer's web site and look at the FAQs,
call them on the telephone (they love phone calls), talk
to SONY, search Google for other people with the same
problem, try to find a newer driver, etc.

In short there's no simple, pat answer . . .

Good Luck !

 

[hermes]

I installed a new external usb hard drive on a sony pcg
srx99 laptop computer. The next time I rebooted I got a
message "Error loading operating system." I have been
unable to get beyond this error message. Is this a product
activation issue?

I decided to try to reinstall windows xp, but my version is
an upgrade version, so that I am asked for a cd with the
full version on it. My computer came with Windows XP home
on manufacturer oem cds, and the disk I am trying to
install from is the Windows XP Professional upgrade cd. I
really don't want to go back and install the Windows XP
Home edition and then do the upgrade again. Am I screwed
here? Or is this a totally different problem?

Any suggestions?

No, this should cause you no activation problems. You should be able to
activate over the internet unless it has been under 120 days since you
orginally activated. Otherwise, activate by phone. Hmmm, a usb external HD
is causing this. That seems odd, many of those are not even bootable. Have
you tried going into the bios and looking at the HD settings? For future
reference, check out the below site for info on activation.

http://microscum.com/mmpafaq/
http://microscum.com/crapolammpafaq/

Good luck.

--
hermes
DRM sux! Treacherous Computing kills our virtual civil liberties!
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html

Windows XP crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that

 

[Guest]

I have the oem cds, but it was not obvious to me that i
needed to use them. they are system restore cds, and there
was no separate windows xp home cd. thanks for your reply.

actually, i would prefer to just switch to linux, but i
also hate to just throw away the substantial investment in
Windows xp professional and ms office xp.

 

[granny]

can you boot OK if you turn off the external drive? I had this problem with
one of my computers using USB external drive. Solved problem by returning
the drive and getting a Firewire external drive.
I could boot into Windows with the USB drive IF it was powered off

jeanette harper

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I decided to try to reinstall windows xp, but my version is
an upgrade version, so that I am asked for a cd with the
full version on it. My computer came with Windows XP home
on manufacturer oem cds, and the disk I am trying to
install from is the Windows XP Professional upgrade cd. I
really don't want to go back and install the Windows XP
Home edition and then do the upgrade again. Am I screwed
here? Or is this a totally different problem?

Do you have an installation CD of Windows 95, 98, 98SE, or Me?
The requirement to use an upgrade version is to *own* a previous
qualifying version's installation CD (not an OEM restore CD), not
to have it installed. When setup doesn't find a previous
qualifying version installed, it will prompt you to insert its CD
as proof of ownership. Just insert the previous version's CD, and
follow the prompts. Everything proceeds quite normally and quite
legitimately.