Question

Installing XP Pro on an HP Pavillion 9030us

Asked by: mullinsbc

Greetings all

I just purchased an HP Pavilion 9030us.  Unfortunately it came preinstalled with XP Media Center which is incapable of joining a domain.  I wasn't too worried because I am replacing a Sony VAIO and have a MSDN/retail version of XP Pro for that.  Seeing as I will be returning the Sony to its original state with its pre-installed XP Home once I transfer files to the HP, I know I'm within my licensing rights and obligations.

Here's my dilemma:

I insert the retail XP Pro CD into the HP and I choose the "upgrade" option at the appropriate screen.  It then takes me to the screen where the CD key is entered and I get a pop-up stating "invalid key."  To clarify - this is not the 'validation' part - this is at the very beginning where all it does is the hash check on the key to determine if it's valid.  And yes, I quadruple checked my typing of the key - it was correct.  I further checked it against the key already in the Sony and it matches.

Troubleshooting steps taken:

    Updated all Windows software already on the computer

    Updated all drivers from the HP support site

    Tried different install options other than 'upgrade'

    Tried booting from the CD itself - it can't see the drives so quits (I'm not ready to go down the HD driver road yet, I can still just return the thing to the store.)

    Removed all pre-installed Norton products

    Used msconfig to perform a clean boot (disabled *everything* to make sure nothing else on the HP was interfering (this from MS technet describing a similar problem)

    Tried the CD and key on three other computers (and the Sony laptop it's already installed on) - I'm able to enter the key successfully and get past the key input screen.  I cancel the install at that point - just had to prove that it was the HP and not the software.

I called HP support but it was a classic stereotypical worst nightmare of experiences - the least of which was that I couldn't get the tech to understand what the problem was.

I've been working with computers and Microsoft products for a number of years and can normally get around stuff like this if I bang my head against the keyboard enough times but this one has me stumped.

Any ideas at all will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Bart

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Asked On
2006-12-16 at 20:22:18ID22095753
Tags

hp

,

xp

,

driver

Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
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Points
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: riteheerPosted on 2006-12-16 at 20:29:04ID: 18153795

Howdy mullinsbc
Have you tried booting to the xp pro cd and installing that way via format?  
I believe this is what you will have to do, upgrade is not an option, from MC to Pro.

Merry Christmas!
Jappo

 

by: sirbountyPosted on 2006-12-16 at 20:32:46ID: 18153802

There's a registry change that's necessary to get it to work...

01 - Insert Windows XP CD.
02 - Start > Run > X:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
03 - (replace X: with the appropiate drive letter)
04 - Acknowledge prompt by clicking 'Yes'.
05 - Skip updating process by clicking 'Cancel' or by pressing 'Esc'
06 - After installation, acknowledge success msg. by clicking 'Ok'
07 - Start > Shutdown > Restart
08 - At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'
09 - Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'
10 - (If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')
11 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd system32\config'
12 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:\'
13 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: exit
14 - At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'
15 - Start > Run > Type: 'regedit' and press enter
16 - Click on 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'.
17 - File > Load Hive...
18 - Browse and select C:\SYSTEM
19 - Specify key name 'BANANA' and click OK
20 - Expand: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > BANANA > WPA > MedCtrUpg
21 - On the right-hand side, double-click IsLegacyMCE value
22 - Change selected value to 1 and click Ok. (THAT IS NOT AN L!)
23 - Click on BANANA subkey (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).
24 - File > Unload Hive. Confirm.
25 - Start > Shutdown > Restart
26 - At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'
27 - Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'
28 - (If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')
29 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd \'
30 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM'
31 - (Yes, you want to overwrite - Go ahead and do it)
32 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'del SYSTEM'
33 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'exit'
34 - At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'
35 - Join domain.

ref: http://www.tss2000.nl/vbforum/showthread.php?t=50

 

by: mullinsbcPosted on 2006-12-16 at 21:06:31ID: 18153876

Jappo, in my original post I noted:

    Tried booting from the CD itself - it can't see the drives so quits (I'm not ready to go down the HD driver road yet, I can still just return the thing to the store.)

I also mentioned:

    Tried different install options other than 'upgrade'

Thanks anyway...

 

by: mullinsbcPosted on 2006-12-16 at 21:28:10ID: 18153899

SirBounty,

Right after step 8 I get the BSOD.  Fortunately I can still boot normally when I select the MCE.

I followed your reference link and it looks like one other person also got a BSOD after step 8 but no one has an answer to that one.

Thanks though...

 

by: riteheerPosted on 2006-12-16 at 22:01:01ID: 18153967

Sorry about missing that part in your post mull,  my guess is it's due to the hp restore partition on the drive.  First thing I would try to make sure my guess is correct.
Grab a small hard drive, replace the original and load the xp on to that drive.
If this works, then you can format the drive using a good hard drive utility, or perhaps the hard drive manufacturer's software, and start clean with a fully formatted drive.
Hope this is more helpful than my other babbling...<smile>
Jappo

 

by: sirbountyPosted on 2006-12-17 at 05:42:03ID: 18154494

Was the xp pro or mce CD used to intall the recovery console?

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2006-12-17 at 05:50:03ID: 18154512

Never tried SB's recommendation, but here are the upgrade paths that are allowed by MS:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/matrix.mspx

Note that Media Center is a big NO on the list...  Don't you have a copy of W98 somewhere that you can use for a wipe and reload?

 

by: mullinsbcPosted on 2006-12-17 at 07:47:12ID: 18154760

Jappo,

I don't have a spare hard drive to test this with but I do have the restore disks for the HP. I guess I could just wipe the hard drives and try a fresh install but thats not much different from just booting from the CD.  When I booted XP Pro from the CD it said it couldn't find *any* drives.  The HP dv9030us has two Fujitsu MHV2100BH PL drives and they are using the standard Windows Drivers (disk.sys 5.1.2600.2180 and PartMgr.sys 5.1.2600.0) dated 2001.  I don't understand why, when I booted from the CD, it couldn't find the drives.


SirBounty,

The system didn't come with any CDs so I used my XP Pro CD to run the recovery console install.


Fatal Exception,

Curse you for being the bearer of bad news.  :-)

Thanks for pointing that out though.  I guess I can stop wasting my time trying to make a smooth transition and concentrate on doing a clean install of XP Pro.  Now if I can just figure out why it's not seeing the hard drives...

Some days I really hate computers...


 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2006-12-17 at 08:04:27ID: 18154786

:)  Many days I find myself hating computers, and the profession that I am in!  Don't feel like the Lone Ranger here!

That hard drive is a SATA..  probably needs drivers!  :)

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/mobile/mhv2120bh-sata.html

 

by: riteheerPosted on 2006-12-17 at 08:53:58ID: 18154910

Disconnect one of the drives, and any non-essential externals, usb devices often cause this conflict as well.  And like Fatal said, you probably need drivers for xp to see the drive.

 

by: mullinsbcPosted on 2006-12-17 at 11:30:39ID: 18155286

Fatal,

Your comment about it being a SATA drive gave me the idea to disable native SATA support in the BIOS.  Once I did that the CD boot worked just fine and it saw the hard drives just fine.  Silly BIOS settings...

=======

I gave Fatal 300 points for being my inspiration to the correct answer and split the remaining 200 between SirBounty and Jappo for the help.

I really appreciate it folks.  

Until next time.  :-)

Warmest regards,

Bart



 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2006-12-17 at 12:11:02ID: 18155386

Thanks, and a Happy Holiday Season to you and yours...!!

FE

 

by: mullinsbcPosted on 2006-12-17 at 18:10:07ID: 18156340

OK, a few last comments on this for the archives and anyone else crazy enough to attempt to change an HP dv9030us from Media Center to XP Pro:

BEFORE you attempt this, make sure you go to the HP.com website and download ALL the update files HP has listed there.  ESPECIALLY the one for the network card.  The retail XP Pro CD doesn't have the correct drivers for the network card and you'll be installing those after the fact.  

Also, after you install the network driver and reboot, get this driver from HP:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp33501-34000/sp33890.exe

That is for the PCI devices.  That driver isn't on their dv9030us support download page and it took me a while to find it.  If you don't have that driver loaded first, you'll get error messages when you try to install the audio driver and one or two other things that escape me at the moment.  After that you can install the rest of the stuff from the support page to make your 9030 function like it was before attempting this madness.



 

by: riteheerPosted on 2006-12-17 at 19:23:49ID: 18156480

Mull,
I'm glad you got it working, hope you didn't pull all your hair out before you got it done... unless of course it was already gone...<smile>
Merry Christmas
Jappo

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2006-12-18 at 04:54:45ID: 18157942

:)  Thanks for the update!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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