xprpo media edition oem probs

[elleon30033]

i recently purchased an oem copy of xpmedia edition. All legit with holographic sticker and it took the product key no prob. During the install it asked for the sp2 disc to copy a file. I didn't receive a separate sp2 disc but had a burned copy and it would not copy from that so i cancelled out and the install continued. After the install i added sp2. It allows me to load chipset drivers and adaware and spy bot but when i try to add my system suite virus protector it errors out saying the windows installer maybe damaged or not operating properly. Anybody understand why it might be doing this and what i can do to get around it. I haven't activated yet and if i need to reinstall, now is the time. I don't want to activate a crippled install. Any advise would be helpful...thanks...oh it also errors out when i try to install sygate personal firewall but loads firefox with no prob...this is very strange...:confused:

[crossedup]

It asks for that disc after it reboots one of the times, if I remember right. Ive run into that with mine. I just put the disc back in and make it read it and it finds what it wants.

I dont currently have it installed, im waiting for a few more parts to complete the rig before the final install

[BipolarBill]

Isn't the Media Center edition new? It should already include SP2.

As always, it's best to do a clean installation. That may necessitate formatting the drive.

[elleon30033]

yeah bipolar its new and comes with the sp2 it says, that is why i'm confused. Crossed up i'm reloading it now, i'm responding on my linux computer, i just don't understand why it says insert the service pack 2 cd if its already inserted, but i'm impatient so i'm giving it another go and will try to force it to find it on the install cd. thanks to both of you i will let you know how it goes. Oh and i beg to differ if someone says its harder to do a linux install than a windows install...maybe in the old days, but with Suse 9 or recent redhat/fedora distros, it just ain't so anymore.:cool:

[elleon30033]

Oh and a word to the wise> If bipolar hints at reinstall, you might as well start reaching for the cds, cause otherwise you're done......yanno?:D

[elleon30033]

Ok, initial indications suggest you were both absolutely right. I reformatted according to bipolar's suggestions, and i reinserted the disc for the sp2 prompt and it did indeed load sygate personal firewall this time. In retrospect, i think i must have loaded sp2 twice, that must have been the prob. So thanks as always, i know where to come when i really need advise:cool:

[crossedup]

Sorry the late reply, just installed media center edition again to test the theory.

The CD its prompting you for is the first one, that is just what it is calling it. It asks for that a little bit after you are prompted to insert the second one which it calls something different, but it does just want the first CD back.

Glad you got it sorted out though, posting this for possible future help

[elleon30033]

i think i'm probably in an unrecoverable state here but here's my problem now. I got xp media edition loaded and activated, i have xp home on the first partition of the same drive and it boots up fine as well. The problem is my mbr is on my windows 2k drive which is C:. When i boot to 2k, i get a blue screen.....says a "k mode exception has occured...can't boot to last known good configuration ...can't boot to safe mode.....and yet, it boots the other two operating systems and it shows all three boot options available. Is there any hope of getting 2k back up, i can see the files from the other systems, but can't boot. The 2k is also an oem edition......any wild suggestions will be considered....

[BipolarBill]

You can repair Win2K - just like WinXP. Unfortunately, you will have to then repair the MBR for XP. The same goes for reinstalling Win2K.

[elleon30033]

I have truely got an unbelieveable head scratcher here.... I was hooking up my aver tv card to my soundblaster audigy 2 ..it has the 51/2 bay accessory. Anyway, i was in xp home and the puter froze. I rebooted using the reset button and totallly lost the card in xp home and xp med edition. I kept trying to reseat it through the bottom grill using a butter knife with the system off of course but it will not see the card......just for the fun of it i booted into 2k and i'm typing from there now. This is the operating system that was blue screening before i could get to desktop.....i am so confused....what in the world should i do next? I have no sound at all. Should i open the case fully and reseat it, reload drivers, buy a new card, risk losing 2k again? Man , this is spooky.....just weird...

[elleon30033]

rebooted back to 2k, back to the blue screen. Bad soundcard? bad pci slot? what? How would you proceed?

[BipolarBill]

It's almost never a bad PCI slot.

Update your BIOS. Try again. Since this all started with the addition of one card, assume that the card is bad.

[elleon30033]

bp, this makes no sense but i think i found the problem. I switched my sound card to pci slot 4 form 5. Still had random hangs. deleted and reloaded the driver only for the audigy card...still random hangs. Then tonight i realized it only hung when i had my external usb iomega zip drive on. turned it off and it booted into 2k, xphome, and xpmediaedition fine. then i deleted the iomegaware software package and turned on the zip and it has booted fine so far. So i think it was a simple software conflict that almost had me reformatting and reloading 3 complete operating systems.....i was a breadth away from doing just that. Anyway, things are fine tonight...thanks for all the advice and suggestions ....i think its done now:D

[BipolarBill]

So you uninstalled IomegaWare and that fixed it? Another strike against Iomega...

[elleon30033]

(long sigh)..........Yup, affirmative

[crossedup]

Just proves how hard it is to troubleshoot w/o actually touching or seeing the unit. Enough information was given but I guess you can never have too much information.

Who would have thought. Software conflicts are so hard to figure out.

[elleon30033]

Crossed, you and BP put me on the right road immediately with the original problem. After i got xpmediaedition loaded and activated, I was stunned i couldn't boot into all three operating systems. I was assuming maybe a conflict because it was two oem copies in the multi boot, or some limitation of windows to handle 3 operating systems in one mbr but i was soooo wrong. If i had not had a minor sound card problem, and just happened to try to boot into 2k before i moved the card, i would never have known any better. For a while i also assumed it was the the audigy card driver or software but noooooo....lol..The one thing i have learned is sometimes with a computer you just have to leave it alone and do nothing or you'll miss the real problem in a rush to judgement. Thanks for your input.