stokednihilist Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 i just installed xp prof. on a dual core notebook.the only icon on the desktop is the recycle bin.the network connections folder is completely empty.i have cable internet (roadrunner) that is up and running,the lights flash on the laptop but no internet connection.tried manually configuring, but it says it should already be set up.what could be the problem? no sp2? bad install? unknown (to me) incompatability?please help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 If there is only one desktop icon then this suggests a faulty/incomplete install.Can you give some more information regarding the computer and how you are carrying out this install? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stokednihilist Posted November 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 phew! someone is online! lets see... it is this computer:http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in..._code=341653#tsi have a win xp pro cd from my last computer. i put the cd in the drive, rebooted from the cd, deleted some partitions so there was only one, then used the key from my old computer (maybe this you can't do? though, i thought it was okay as long as it was only installed on one comp at a time?)... no errors came up...it is an old version of xp pro so i tried to install small version of the xp sp2, but got an error. then tried installing sp1, but it needed to connect to the internet to download drivers or something so that failed too.any ideas? thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Is this machine new? Why are you installing an old version of XP when it is supplied with MCE?I think your first problem is that HP use their own version of Windows such that you require this special version to be able to install/re-install on their machines. If you have deleted partitions then it is possible that you have deleted important software that the machine relies on for a re-install.Regarding whether you can transfer XP from one machine to another, this depends on the version you are trying to install but I'm doubtful that you will be able to do it on an HP machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stokednihilist Posted November 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 so the only thing i can do is re-install the media center os that came with it? damn them for not giving me a CD!i just prefer xp prof... and can't stand all the junk software that always comes with these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 I'm pretty sure that is the case - it's the same with Dell, Sony Vaio and probably many others.You may be able to dump a lot of the junk software from Add/Remove or from the software's own un-install but I think it would be difficult/impossible to put your own Windows version in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stokednihilist Posted November 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 just one more question , and thanks again for all your help.i am in an interesting spot since i just found out HP charges you for CD's with the OS since they expect you to make your own CDs from their backup partition on the hard drive .... THAT I DELETED.now... if i somehow obtain another version of Windows XP Media Center, and use the product key i have on the bottom of the laptop, will that work? or does HP have their own version of this, too, which i would absolutely need to get from them to make anything work again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Not absolutely certain but I expect that HP do have their own version to match their machines. I understand that there is some code in the BIOS that detects what O/S is loaded or trying to be loaded and, if that doesn't match, the machine fails to work properly. If you "somehow obtain" an HP version of MCE then it might work with your product key. There is a question over this, though: what does the HP disk actually contain? Is it a full recovery version of everything for the machine or just a special disk to point the machine in the direction of the recovery partition. I know both methods are used but I don't know who uses which. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D4\/!d Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 ... media center os that came with it...i just prefer xp prof... and can't stand all the junk software that always comes with these things.Hello stokednihilist, btw Windows Media Center (MCE) is XP Pro, just with "all the junk software that always comes with these things". ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stokednihilist Posted November 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 isn't their EULA for media center more restrictive?thanks for the help. that is a good question... from what i've read in random cyberspace niches, it sounds like it is a barebones recovery CD.i'll repost how i solve this problem when i do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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