[geeks] in need of XP assistance

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Tue, 21 May 2002, Brian Hechinger wrote:

> i didn't have to do any of that.  i was able to share just fine
> between XP and 98 after some poking around (the machine i was sharing
> from was NOT a healthy install, although i have no idea what went
> wrong)

It sounds like stuff got installed, but a lot of stuff didn't get
registered/set-up.  I think you should give up and try the install again.

> all i did was go into the services, turn on Server and i could share
> the disk, and the win98 machine could see it.

Out-of-the-box Win98 should be able to -see- it, but not attach to any
shares on it, unless this is the "home" edition of WinXP, of which I am
blissfully ignorant.  The whole concept of a "home edition" of an 
operating system (unless it's running my home) is unbelievably stupid, and
I refuse to familiarize myself with any such waste of electrons.

> however, XP is pretty straight forward to install, so i didn't figure
> it would be that hard.

Yeah, it pretty-much runs on auto-pilot, just like Win2k.  I don't really
like that, but I suppose it saves me from ever having to use the CD until
the next reinstall.

> so i installed.  formatted the disk NTFS, which complained that it
> couldn't verify the making of the FS since i didn't have enough memory
> (128MB RAM) and then went on in to the install.

Well, if my Time-Warner cable service weren't b0rken (don't ask me why SSH
works, but nothing else--that's okay, I need SSH the most, anyway) right
now, I'd look up the minimum requirements and tell you.  But, for -any-
desktop/workstation/server OS to require more than 128MB of memory to do
-anything- related to the install is pathetic.

Not that I don't own a machine (other than the NAT box) with less than
half a gig of RAM, but to completely eat 128MB just to create a filesystem
and toss bits on the disc in a predetermined arrangement is sick-sick-
sick.

If NTFS is going to bomb without that much memory, you're probably stuck
with FAT32.

> i never got the setting up your computer wizard after it was all done
> (the one where you can create the list of users and so-on) and i never
> got the Tellitubby interface, got straight old classic interface right
> from the start.

Okay, it's fscked.  Your registry is probably devoid of all that ActiveX
goodness that makes Windows do its thing.  All that's done in the wizard,
and IE, OE, and half the system require those ActiveX controls.  Now I'm
-really- suggesting a reinstall.

On the plus side, if you get that machine happy as is, and install Mozilla
for a browser, you'll probably have the most stable and secure install of
WinXP ever. ;)

> IE and OE don't work, it's missing stuff (like the icons for the users
> when you go to the user admin thing, and the wallpapers are all
> missing)

It sounds like you've basically got a kernel, the shell, and a smattering
of drivers.  Did the system, perchance, crash after the first reboot?
I've had NT and XP installs that did that.  The system got it stuck in its
head that it had already run the setup wizard, but crashed before the
wizard launched.  The only recourse is to roll the registry back to
preinstall state.  There's an OEM tool (rollback.exe) that does this, but
it's easier to just start over.

> i installed the second machine in the same exact manner as the first,
> and yet the second machine installed everything and works just fine.

Flaky RAM in the first machine, possibly causing an unwanted reboot upon
launch of the setup wizard?

> something is *seriously* screwed up with that machine, but i don't
> have a clue what.  i don't want to just go ahead and re-install, since
> that doesn't really guarantee that i'll get a perfectly working
> system.

It's Windows, where the vendor-approved fix for anything:
   fdisk, format, reinstall;
   doo-dah, doo-dah.

Pay careful attention to the machine and see if it bombs during the reboot
prior to launching the setup wizard.  If it does, I'd suspect the RAM.  If
everything works, well, that's Winders.

I had a similar experience with my last Win2k install.  Somehow, somewhy,
Winders incorrectly detected my system type and installed the wrong HAL,
so all -sorts- of crap was broken.  I couldn't fix it manually because my
boot device isn't supported out-of-box with Win2k, and the Recovery
Console was just confused.  It reinstalled great, of course.  It runs
fine, except for those damned nVidia and Creative Labs drivers.

> also, after a reboot, the network adapter wouldn't get its IP from
> DHCP, so i tried to manually set it, but that wouldn't work either.  
> i had to Disable it and Enable it, and then it just started magically
> working.

Check the Event Log (Right click "My Computer", select "Manage").  Is that
driver throwing up an error upon startup?

--Jonathan