Re: MCE part of XP doesn't install
- From: "Doug Knox MS-MVP" <dknox@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 18:09:55 -0400
Its Away Mode and some other power enhancements. And trust me, once you've gotten used to Away Mode, its a pain to do without :-)
--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
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"Dana Cline - MVP" <dcline@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:OS38HYluGHA.1216@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Doug,.
Has anyone yet figured out exactly what VIIV brings to the MCE party? All
I've heard so far is marketing-speak with no real information behind it. I
assume it supports the new Away mode, but hardly think that's a good enough
reason to upgrade...
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
"Doug Knox MS-MVP" <dknox@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:O6yNRnZuGHA.4472@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi, I knew it was an FIC board. Do you happen to know what board? Belarc
Advisor should be able to tell you. www.belarc.com. I know FIC makes
them, but they don't sell directly. I'm really only looking for the current
board they're using, so I can upgrade mine to support Viiv in Vista when its
released.
--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
--------------------------------
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"Steve''s wonder" <Steveswonder@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C7058BFA-54DC-4F9E-9C09-35639775CDDD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yes, ofcourse you might ask. This is not my first media center either.
I've
been running a Wellton Way MMC (whidh actually was used by Microsoft as a
raw
model for MCE) - se www.welltonway.com. It has several advantages than MCE
does not have (yet) but overall the MCE is much better.
Anyway, as I live in Sweden (like most swedes, actually... :) ), I bought
the Spectra from www.dustin.se, but it's imported to Sweden by www.pcb.se
and
the manufacturer is www.fic.co.tw if you wish to contact them for a local
vendor.
As you know from my previous posts I'm not long into my MCE on Spectra
experience, but so far I'm very pleased. This PC is one of the most quiet
I've ever experienced. You simply don't hear it. It has a large, soft vfd
and
a 945 Intel chipset mobo which works very well (even games, like for
example
colin mcrae which I like much works extremely well).
The Spectra's connectivity is extremely good, and I've never seen a PC
with
so many USB's and Firewires, in's and out's... It's pretty deep, but not
so
it's a problem. But it's worth noting if you wish to place it among your
other stuff.
Me myself threw out the DVD player, the MD player, the CD changer, the
tuner, my VCR and now only use the MCE and an amp to put the sound out
over
my speakers.
From what I've seen so far, I'd most certainly recommend the new Spectra.
And as you know, it's the same machine (but with another front) that is
used
by for example Fujitsu-Siemens Scaleo E. It's also known under a few other
names.
I still have a PCI slot available (the other full-height is used by my
Hauppauge PVR-500 dual tuner TV-card) and I'm thinking about putting in
another identical card since RU2 supports up to four tuners. This sure
would
be a killer machine then. :)
Steve
"Doug Knox MS-MVP" wrote:
You're welcome, Steve. If I might ask, where did you get the barebone
system and which motherboard's in it? I've got one of the original
Spectra machines, based on an Intel 915 chipset. I'd like to upgrade the
motherboard to something that supports Viiv, and the newer Spectra boards
do.
--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
--------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.
"Steve''s wonder" <Steveswonder@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:93222772-DC8A-4F3F-A23B-7A86DB248ED3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks, Doug.
I was thinking about slipstreaming other drivers into the install also,
but
I realized that when I previously (pre-getting-my-mce-disks) installed
XP Pro
regular on the machine, everything worked fine. So XP has all the
drivers
necessary. Except for the S-ATA drive then... :/
I turns out the BSOD occurred because I used (don't ask) the wrong
drivers
for the disk - RAID instead of ACPI - and that wasn't very appreciated
by the
drive...
I did a repair, and now I'm back in business. Got MCE running ok
yesterday,
and everything was fine.
But then...last night, when accessing a website selling video-on-demand
suddenly the computer dropped the video feed to my TV, which just said
"No
signal". The computer was still running, the VFD displayed some stuff,
the
drive was working and when I used the menu keys on the MCE keyboard,
stuff
was happening. But no image.
So I rebooted...and a sec or so into the initial Windows XP-loading
logo,
the image just dropped. This happened a couple of times.
I hit the glorius F8 key, booted with the last knows config to work,
and it
restored a faulty config file or whatever, and then I got back to
business.
Never ever had an experience like that one, and I put my first PC
together in
the early nineties... I do realize why MCE doesn't sell as retail. MS
Support
would have to hire... :o
Well, now I'm back on track. I hope. Thanks for you efforts. It's much
appreciated.
Steve
"Doug Knox MS-MVP" wrote:
Not without the details of the BSOD.
As for copying the files to the hard disk, I do something similar, but
I copy both discs to a folder on the hard disk. You could slip stream
any drivers into this, in the same manner, then create a bootable DVD
from the files on the hard disk.
--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
--------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.
"Steve''s wonder" <Steveswonder@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:4591B6E7-E9AF-4B3A-828B-F4D3240E0D4A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Doug,
thanks for your suggestion. However, I finally found an explanation.
The FIC motherboard is so fresh that XP doesn't have drivers for the
chipset, which means that the setup program can't find the
harddrive. I
worked around this by copying all of disk 1 to HD, adding drivers as
described at the Unattended Windows site. I used the free software
nLite to
help edit the necessary startup files.
It turns out that nLite doesn't "speak MCE". The XP build is the
same, which
nLite checks, but the startup file is different. So it replaced the
startup
file (TXTSETUP.SIF which is in the 386-folder) with a normal XP one.
I finally managed to feed the computer the SATA drivers by using a
USB
Floppy drive instead, meaning I could use the original shiny bronze
MCE disk
1. And voilá! Now it asks for disk two.
So...I did a fresh install. And I thought I was home free,
but...during the
final restart (befor finalizing install), after it has read Disk 1 -
Disk 2
and Disk 1 again, it just starts loading Windows and then it crashes
with a
glimpse of a BSOD and reboots. This goes on and on forever.
So now I'm stuck with a new problem. You wouldn't know what that's
all
about, would you? :)
Steve
"Doug Knox MS-MVP" wrote:
I'd return the media to the location you bought it and demand a
refund or replacement. If you have the 2 CD set, and what is
supposedly a valid Media Center CD key, you should be asked for
Disc 2, then the first disc (it will actually ask for the Windows
XP SP2 disc).
--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
--------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.
"Steve''s wonder" <Steveswonder@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:8F7A884A-EDA6-4789-A77D-E0F4914FC9C3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all. Thanks for your efforts here.
I am building a new HTPC based on the FIC Spectra barebone (same
as
Fujitsu-Siemens Scaleo E among others). It meets the Microsoft
specs for MCE
in all regards.
I bought the MCE OEM box and have been trying to install it. But
I only end
up with having Windows XP Pro instead of MCE.
I've been searching on the internet and it seems that the
installation
program uses the product key to decide what version to install.
But the thing
is I have a legal copy and on the sticker with the product key it
says
"Microsoft Media Center Editition 2005" so the key should be
fine.
But during install I am never prompted for disk 2. Any ideas?
I've been doing clean installs on a freshly formatted drive (I've
tried both
slow and quick format...). For your info I've also tried
repairing the
installation to see if I would then get the question for disk 2.
But no go.
Getting desperate here... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thx.
Steve
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