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#1
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Windows ME Reinstall
I have a five year old ABS Athlon system with 640MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, DVD
Drive, CD Burner, floppy, etc. I recently updated bios, then upgraded from Windows ME to XP in order to use new software. My HP printer would not install and between HP tech support and me and the possible failure of my old HDD, we messed up my system enough that it made sense to reinstall. While at it, I decided to replace the HDD. I removed the 40 GB drive, installed the 80 GB as the master and started off. After a couple of botched attempts to get the Maxtor software to setup the HDD, it finally did. When I tried to use my recovery disk and Windows disk that came with my system, I got a error message stating that this version of Windows could not be installed. SU0173. All of my software either came with the computer or was purchased from Comp USA, Staples, etc. and is legitimate. My desire is to go back and reinstall ME to make sure that I would not lose all of my initial software. How can I resolve the issue of the error message and get ME to setup? Thanks, Bruce (After I get it up and stable, I'll run the upgrade to XP again) |
#2
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Windows ME Reinstall
Bruce,
SU0173 Are you sure about this error? I ask because not only is the error not reference in KB129971 ""SU" Error Message List for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me Setup" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=129971) but I can also find no reference to this error number in the confidential partners knowledge base. What media are you using for your install? A Microsoft Win Me CD, and OEM Win Me CD or an OEM Recover disk? Note that having 640MB of RAM installed is also going to cause problems. Try temporarily reducing this and then when Win Me is installed add the lines [VCache] MaxFileCache=512000 to the file system.ini after which you can add back the rest of the memory. For details see MS KB 253912 - ""Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=253912). The reason is that allocating more than 512MB of RAM to vcache will exhaust all available upper memory addresses and thus prevent them being used for other purposes. Note that this will still mean that all memory is available to applications but is simply limiting the amount used as virtual cache memory. I do have one last question though and that is I don't really understand why you need to install Win Me if you are going to then upgrade to XP? Is this because you have an XP upgrade disk and only have a Win Me Recovery disk? -- Mike Maltby Bruce wrote: I have a five year old ABS Athlon system with 640MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, DVD Drive, CD Burner, floppy, etc. I recently updated bios, then upgraded from Windows ME to XP in order to use new software. My HP printer would not install and between HP tech support and me and the possible failure of my old HDD, we messed up my system enough that it made sense to reinstall. While at it, I decided to replace the HDD. I removed the 40 GB drive, installed the 80 GB as the master and started off. After a couple of botched attempts to get the Maxtor software to setup the HDD, it finally did. When I tried to use my recovery disk and Windows disk that came with my system, I got a error message stating that this version of Windows could not be installed. SU0173. All of my software either came with the computer or was purchased from Comp USA, Staples, etc. and is legitimate. My desire is to go back and reinstall ME to make sure that I would not lose all of my initial software. How can I resolve the issue of the error message and get ME to setup? |
#3
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Windows ME Reinstall
I'm sure about the error. I looked at the knowledge base, too, and did a
search on the Microsoft site and found nothing. I have a MAGNELL Recovery CD and a floppy disk that says Windows ME ESD111500. Both came with the computer. There are a couple of reasons that I want to reinstall Windows ME before XP. The first is like you mentioned, my recovery CD has Windows ME. Another is that the software that came with the computer is on the MAGNELL disk, too, and I have no way of knowing how to pull out the programs that I want. Three years ago when I had to format the drive, I just reinstalled everything and uninstalled the software that I didn't want before adding the software that I purchased. It worked okay then, but I had not upgraded the BIOS and I had not put in the larger HDD or added the memory. I read something on the internet about a protection that Microsoft built into the version of Windows that manufacturers used that caused it to fail to install if any components had been changed from the original configuration. Would this be what is hanging me? How do I get around it? I can and will pull the extra memory until I get everything back. Any other suggestions? -- Bruce "Mike M" wrote: Bruce, SU0173 Are you sure about this error? I ask because not only is the error not reference in KB129971 ""SU" Error Message List for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me Setup" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=129971) but I can also find no reference to this error number in the confidential partners knowledge base. What media are you using for your install? A Microsoft Win Me CD, and OEM Win Me CD or an OEM Recover disk? Note that having 640MB of RAM installed is also going to cause problems. Try temporarily reducing this and then when Win Me is installed add the lines [VCache] MaxFileCache=512000 to the file system.ini after which you can add back the rest of the memory. For details see MS KB 253912 - ""Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=253912). The reason is that allocating more than 512MB of RAM to vcache will exhaust all available upper memory addresses and thus prevent them being used for other purposes. Note that this will still mean that all memory is available to applications but is simply limiting the amount used as virtual cache memory. I do have one last question though and that is I don't really understand why you need to install Win Me if you are going to then upgrade to XP? Is this because you have an XP upgrade disk and only have a Win Me Recovery disk? -- Mike Maltby Bruce wrote: I have a five year old ABS Athlon system with 640MB RAM, 40 GB HDD, DVD Drive, CD Burner, floppy, etc. I recently updated bios, then upgraded from Windows ME to XP in order to use new software. My HP printer would not install and between HP tech support and me and the possible failure of my old HDD, we messed up my system enough that it made sense to reinstall. While at it, I decided to replace the HDD. I removed the 40 GB drive, installed the 80 GB as the master and started off. After a couple of botched attempts to get the Maxtor software to setup the HDD, it finally did. When I tried to use my recovery disk and Windows disk that came with my system, I got a error message stating that this version of Windows could not be installed. SU0173. All of my software either came with the computer or was purchased from Comp USA, Staples, etc. and is legitimate. My desire is to go back and reinstall ME to make sure that I would not lose all of my initial software. How can I resolve the issue of the error message and get ME to setup? |
#5
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Windows ME Reinstall
Thanks for your help, Mike.
I got the technical support people at ABS and here is what they told me: 1) They said that the size of the HDD would have no impact upon the recovery disk and its implementation. 2) The Magnell recovery CD is basically Windows ME, only. (I found the software CDs for Word Perfect Office, WinDVD, etc. on separate disks) 3) The Bios update that I did makes the Magnell CD unusable because they (ABS) put a Bios identifier on the CD. He aslo told me that they cannot provide support (because I have basically turned my system into a clone.) Thanks again for trying to help me. Since I have a certificate of authenticity for Windows Me, my copy of XP is an upgrade, and they have a case number for me, I may call Microsoft and see if they will help me do a clean install of XP as a work round. -- Bruce "Mike M" wrote: Any other suggestions? Bruce, I'm sorry but I don't think I am going to be able to help. The error you mention is in neither the public nor confidential partners knowledge base so all I can suggest is that you contact the OEM concerned, presumably Magnell who I have never heard of before today, and see if they can help. One possible reason for your problem is that the recovery CD is locked to a specific version of the bios so you may want to consider rolling back or reinstalling the previous version. The protection you mention is something OEMs, that is computer manufacturer's, may or may not implement and it is the OEMs who produce the recovery CDs rather than Microsoft. You mention also that you replaced your hard disk. Whilst I don't think the fact that this has changed is likely to be the cause of the problem it is possible that the recovery CD is baulking when it finds the disk to be a different size (80GB rather than 40GB). Initially I thought the cluster size changed when crossing the 64GB boundary but it seems not and that 32KB clusters are used for partitions of 32GB or more. -- Mike Maltby MS-MVP Windows Bruce wrote: I'm sure about the error. I looked at the knowledge base, too, and did a search on the Microsoft site and found nothing. I have a MAGNELL Recovery CD and a floppy disk that says Windows ME ESD111500. Both came with the computer. There are a couple of reasons that I want to reinstall Windows ME before XP. The first is like you mentioned, my recovery CD has Windows ME. Another is that the software that came with the computer is on the MAGNELL disk, too, and I have no way of knowing how to pull out the programs that I want. Three years ago when I had to format the drive, I just reinstalled everything and uninstalled the software that I didn't want before adding the software that I purchased. It worked okay then, but I had not upgraded the BIOS and I had not put in the larger HDD or added the memory. I read something on the internet about a protection that Microsoft built into the version of Windows that manufacturers used that caused it to fail to install if any components had been changed from the original configuration. Would this be what is hanging me? How do I get around it? I can and will pull the extra memory until I get everything back. Any other suggestions? |
#6
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Windows ME Reinstall
I thought the problem, as I think did you, was a bios locked recovery CD
rather than that you have changed the hard disk. Again may I suggest that you consider temporarily flashing the bios back to the version required to install Win Me using the recovery CD and then once reinstalled reverting to the latest version. I'm not sure that Microsoft will be able or rather willing to help as their attitude could be that you have an OEM copy of Win Me and that it is tied to the system with which it was supplied. Seems unfair I know but OEM copies of the OS are sold at a considerable discount, however I wish you luck and hope that you manage to wangle a key out of Microsoft. Now I know I shouldn't say this but have you considered "borrowing" a Win 95/98/98SE or Win Me CD from a friend and using that as proof of your eligibility to use an upgrade copy of XP and go for that clean install? Who's to know after the event that you didn't upgrade from your recovery CD and as you say you have a Win Me licence. -- Mike Maltby Bruce wrote: Thanks for your help, Mike. I got the technical support people at ABS and here is what they told me: 1) They said that the size of the HDD would have no impact upon the recovery disk and its implementation. 2) The Magnell recovery CD is basically Windows ME, only. (I found the software CDs for Word Perfect Office, WinDVD, etc. on separate disks) 3) The Bios update that I did makes the Magnell CD unusable because they (ABS) put a Bios identifier on the CD. He aslo told me that they cannot provide support (because I have basically turned my system into a clone.) Thanks again for trying to help me. Since I have a certificate of authenticity for Windows Me, my copy of XP is an upgrade, and they have a case number for me, I may call Microsoft and see if they will help me do a clean install of XP as a work round. |
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