If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
I'm trying to re-install Win Me onto an old laptop and keep getting the error
code SU0173 and a message telling me that I need a different version of the OS. Is there any way to fix this? The error doesn't appear in the list of SU codes available on Microsoft's site. thanks, calum |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
calum wrote:
I'm trying to re-install Win Me onto an old laptop and keep getting the error code SU0173 and a message telling me that I need a different version of the OS. Is there any way to fix this? The error doesn't appear in the list of SU codes available on Microsoft's site. What is the Full Text of the error message please? Does the laptop have an operating system currently installed , in other words are you trying to upgrade from say Win 98SE or is it "clean"? What media are you using to install Win Me and what was its source? For example is it a full Microsoft copy of Win Me or an OEM copy? If the latter it could be bios locked to the make and model PC with which it was first sold. You may also get more information by looking at the last few lines of the file setuplog.txt in the root of C:\ that will have been created as part of the installation. -- Mike Maltby MS-MVP Windows |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
"Mike M" wrote: What is the Full Text of the error message please? Sorry, I can't remember the exact wording but I'll verify it when I get home. Does the laptop have an operating system currently installed , in other words are you trying to upgrade from say Win 98SE or is it "clean"? Yes, it curently has Win Me and was already on the machine when I recieved it. Its performance has degraded to level that I felt a fresh installation was required. I'm using a genuine Microsoft Win Me CD which was supplied with my old (and now dead) PC. I choose the option to boot from CD and the installation begins. After achieving around 10% installation, it halts with the given error code. What media are you using to install Win Me and what was its source? CD, from PC vendor. thanks, calum |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
I'm using a genuine Microsoft Win
Me CD which was supplied with my old (and now dead) PC. Are you sure about that? Most if not all Win Me CDs supplied with new PCs are what are known as OEM copies and in many cases can only be used to install the operating system on PCs from the same manufacturer, possibly even tighter than that, such as PCs having the same identical motherboard and/or bios. Reinstalling Win Me over itself. This is an area fraught with potential problems. I hope you have taken the necessary steps before attempting this such as removing, if installed, WMP9 (Win Me comes with WMP7) and IE6 (Win Me comes with IE5.5). If you don't do this then the system is going to possibly be far worse after the reinstall than it ever was before due to many of the files being incompatible with each other. You can remove IE6, if installed, via Add/Remove Programs but no such luck with WMP9 and the trick here is to rename the file wmploc.dll (found in the windows\system folder) to wmploc.old which in most cases will then allow the original WMP7 to install without problem. Of course, once Win Me is reinstalled you can then upgrade WMP7 to WMP9 and IE5.5 to IE6 SP1. So how to proceed? Well one way is to forget about the CD you have and to reinstall Win Me using files that are already on the laptop and placed there as part of the original Win Me installation. So having noted my previous paragraph, using Windows Explorer look for the file BASE2.CAB which by default should hopefully be located in either C:\Windows\Options\Cabs (if originally installed from OEM media) or C:\Windows\Options\Install (if originally installed from Microsoft media) although some OEMs for reasons known only to themselves locate the cab files elsewhere, sometimes even on a different partition. Once you have located BASE2.CAB you should be able to locate a file setup.exe in the same folder. Now boot to DOS using a floppy and at the DOS A:\ prompt enter: C: then either CD Windows\Options\Cabs or CD Windows\Options\Install which depending on the location of setup.exe and then SETUP.EXE This should then start the reinstallation of Win Me. Note that having reinstalled Win Me over itself you will need to reinstall many of the various hotfixes and patches from the Windows Update site although they may not appear as being required when you visit the Windows Update site due to the various flags in the registry used to indicate that the patches have been installed are still present following the reinstall despite many of the original versions of the files having been restored. I would therefore strongly urge you to download and run Belarc's Adviser (http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) as this will help you to identify any updates that are broken and might need to be reinstalled. Belarc uses a different mechanism to check than the Windows Update site. One patch that you really need to ensure is installed is the 290700 patch for system restore as without this system restore is dead in the water and therefore unavailable to help you get out of any holes you might dig yourself in to. Required patches not offered by the Windows Update site can usually be obtained from the Windows Catalogue (http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.co...n/default.asp). -- Mike Maltby MS-MVP Windows calum wrote: "Mike M" wrote: What is the Full Text of the error message please? Sorry, I can't remember the exact wording but I'll verify it when I get home. Does the laptop have an operating system currently installed , in other words are you trying to upgrade from say Win 98SE or is it "clean"? Yes, it curently has Win Me and was already on the machine when I recieved it. Its performance has degraded to level that I felt a fresh installation was required. I'm using a genuine Microsoft Win Me CD which was supplied with my old (and now dead) PC. I choose the option to boot from CD and the installation begins. After achieving around 10% installation, it halts with the given error code. What media are you using to install Win Me and what was its source? CD, from PC vendor. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
"Mike M" wrote: I'm using a genuine Microsoft Win Me CD which was supplied with my old (and now dead) PC. Are you sure about that? It's designated as such and has the usual proclamation about not making illegal copies. Thank you, Mike, for such a quick and comprehensive answer. I can see how my Friday evening is now going to be filled! Calum |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
Calum,
It's designated as such and has the usual proclamation about not making illegal copies. Nevertheless I suspect that this is what is called an OEM copy, all the more so given the SU error you report which is an OEM error and not one generated by the basic retail setup. What is the part number of the CD please? Forget it, I've just realised that my copy of Win Me is a complimentary copy received for being a beta tester so its part number differs from the retail version even though its contents is identical. I can see how my Friday evening is now going to be filled! I hope that all goes well. If not I'll keep an eye open for any posts you might make to this newsgroup. -- Mike Maltby MS-MVP Windows calum wrote: I'm using a genuine Microsoft Win Me CD which was supplied with my old (and now dead) PC. Are you sure about that? It's designated as such and has the usual proclamation about not making illegal copies. Thank you, Mike, for such a quick and comprehensive answer. I can see how my Friday evening is now going to be filled! |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
"Mike M" wrote: Nevertheless I suspect that this is what is called an OEM copy, all the more so given the SU error you report which is an OEM error and not one generated by the basic retail setup. Mike, I think you're right. I tried your solution of reinstalling from base2.cab and, while the process completed successfully, it did not change the situation. Perhaps foolishly, I decided to format the drive and try a clean install. However, I got the same error message: "This version of Windows ME cannot be installed on your computer. Please obtain the correct verysion from your computer manufacturer." After a lot of digging around I found this comment on a tech support site: "SU0173 is a copy protection feature built in to many vendors OEM versions of Windows ME. It blocks installation when it can't validate code from your vendors bios. This makes it almost impossible to install it on other machines. We have established that this protection lie in the precopy1.cab file. Taking this into consideration I discovered the workaround. All you need to do is copy the contents of the Windows ME disk to your hard drive. Then replace the precopy1.cab file in the windows9x folder with a non-vendor specific precopy1.cab. Then you can burn yourself a fixed copy or run setup from your hard drive." I've searched for this non-vendor specific precopy1.cab file but any link I find is long since dead. Do you know where I could get this file from? thanks, Calum |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
"Mike M" wrote: Calum, I did mention the likelihood of the version of Win Me you were attempting to use as being a bios locked version in my original post. I should pay more attention! What was the situation you were trying to fix? The machine was very sluggish when I got it. Then when I installed CA Security suite it became unbearably slow with frequent freezing. Efforts to uninstall the suite proved fruitless and since there was nothing on it I neeed to keep, I went for a clean install. Do you know where I could get this file from? Not legally I'm sorry to say. Sorry Mike, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I thought that since my Win Me CD was legitimate and it was no longer installed on another machine I could use it for this laptop. In any event, I have since traced a non vendor-specific copy of precopy1.cab which has allowed a successful installation. CA Internet Security Suite just won't run on this laptop so I'm looking for another solution for a firewall (preferably free) and I'm currently using AVG free anti-virus. Many thanks for your help anyway, I appreciated your assistance. regards, Calum |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Installation error - SU0173
Calum,
I suspect the problem here might be the firewall component I'd Look for a much lighter weight set of apps. AV - Nothing wrong with installing just the AV component of the CA suite but admit I haven't tried the more recent versions so some you might want to consider include free and paid for versions including Avast (from Atwil), AVG (from Grisoft), Panda, Trend, Computer Associates, NOD32 and Kaspersky. I wouldn't recommend McAfee although this has improved and strongly recommend that you avoid any product with the Symantec of Norton label as most cause major problems with Win Me. I note you have chosen to go with AVG. Firewall. How is the PC connecting to the net? I prefer to let my router take most of the strain here but suitable firewalls commonly used are early versions of Kerio, formerly Tiny, (v2.1.5 works well with Win Me) and Zone Alarm (versions up to and including 6.1.744.001). AntiSpyware - Lots of possibilities here but here again personally I tend not to have anything actually running but do use AdAware SE and Spybot Search & Destroy with Win Me. I'm pleased to read that you've got your system back up running. Let's hope it stays OK however it is essential that at the very least you install the 290700 patch for system restore (available from the Windows Update site) otherwise SR is dead in the water and IE6 SP1 (even if you use an alternative browser). -- Mike Maltby calum wrote: "Mike M" wrote: Calum, I did mention the likelihood of the version of Win Me you were attempting to use as being a bios locked version in my original post. I should pay more attention! What was the situation you were trying to fix? The machine was very sluggish when I got it. Then when I installed CA Security suite it became unbearably slow with frequent freezing. Efforts to uninstall the suite proved fruitless and since there was nothing on it I neeed to keep, I went for a clean install. Do you know where I could get this file from? Not legally I'm sorry to say. Sorry Mike, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I thought that since my Win Me CD was legitimate and it was no longer installed on another machine I could use it for this laptop. In any event, I have since traced a non vendor-specific copy of precopy1.cab which has allowed a successful installation. CA Internet Security Suite just won't run on this laptop so I'm looking for another solution for a firewall (preferably free) and I'm currently using AVG free anti-virus. Many thanks for your help anyway, I appreciated your assistance. regards, Calum |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
.NET Framework installation error WIN ME | Lorne | General | 5 | April 19th 05 09:18 PM |
su0173 error | briboy | General | 1 | December 3rd 04 09:25 PM |
installation error | V.P. Suresh | Setup & Installation | 1 | September 29th 04 03:33 PM |
W 98 Installation Error | Cheap | Setup & Installation | 3 | August 10th 04 04:22 PM |
Windows 98 Installation Error | Setalone | Setup & Installation | 2 | August 10th 04 04:14 PM |