Activation
Moving XP Pro to a new motherboard/CPU
10/04/06 Filed in: Microsoft
Since I have a 478 socket motherboard, upgrading to a 3GHz was just as expensive as getting a new 775 socket motherboard and a 3GHz processor. Well, that was an easy sell for the sales guy. However, as soon as I'd swapped out all of the components I found that my good and stable XP PRO system was just rebooting and rebooting and rebooting.
I tried adding and removing cards/ memory/ BIOS motherboard BIOS upgrade but nothing was fixing this and I was getting worried that I would need to reinstall all of my Windows XP operating system. Fortunately I found that there is special Repair Install feature of Windows XP that allows me to reconfigure the system for the new board while saving my previous software configurations.
However, this meant loading up the original XP CD and waiting about 30 minutes for everything to finish. Finally I would need to reactivate the Windows installation.
Part of the problem was that I was using a SATA boot drive and the first Windows XP install CD's do not support this. This means that to do anything with my Windows XP CD I need to have a floppy drive holding the SATA drivers. These drivers are motherboard specific and should be on the CDROM that came with your new motherboard. For my new ASUS board they were under the RAID driver directory and ASUS even had a utility to make the floppy.
In the end I had a restored running system but I could not run any other updates and the system seemed to have a lot of problems. I finally just reinstalled it all and did all of the SP1 & SP2 updates. It might have been a problem with me adding a domain name where none existed before but if the sales person sells you on the new board be ready with a lot of transfer time.
Maybe make a nice backup to, while you are at it. Acronis True Image Home is not bad (though my backup seemed to have become corrupted for one of the 2 computers I backed up... so I guess 50% success is better than nothing.
Instructions for the Microsoft Repair Install itself are HERE:
I tried adding and removing cards/ memory/ BIOS motherboard BIOS upgrade but nothing was fixing this and I was getting worried that I would need to reinstall all of my Windows XP operating system. Fortunately I found that there is special Repair Install feature of Windows XP that allows me to reconfigure the system for the new board while saving my previous software configurations.
However, this meant loading up the original XP CD and waiting about 30 minutes for everything to finish. Finally I would need to reactivate the Windows installation.
Part of the problem was that I was using a SATA boot drive and the first Windows XP install CD's do not support this. This means that to do anything with my Windows XP CD I need to have a floppy drive holding the SATA drivers. These drivers are motherboard specific and should be on the CDROM that came with your new motherboard. For my new ASUS board they were under the RAID driver directory and ASUS even had a utility to make the floppy.
In the end I had a restored running system but I could not run any other updates and the system seemed to have a lot of problems. I finally just reinstalled it all and did all of the SP1 & SP2 updates. It might have been a problem with me adding a domain name where none existed before but if the sales person sells you on the new board be ready with a lot of transfer time.
Maybe make a nice backup to, while you are at it. Acronis True Image Home is not bad (though my backup seemed to have become corrupted for one of the 2 computers I backed up... so I guess 50% success is better than nothing.
Instructions for the Microsoft Repair Install itself are HERE:
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Evil Adobe activation process for CS2 products
14/02/07 Filed in: Graphics
So, I upgraded my SATA PCI card in my Windows XP Pro computer and now all of my Adobe products are saying that they have become deactivated. Instantly none would work and would offer me the chance to activate over the Internet. The newest product that I had just purchased reactivated quickly but another, Indesign CS2 said there were too many activations and that I needed to call in to get a number change.
The automated phone system kept saying my numbers were incorrect. After 2 tries I decided to try the option to connect to a service agent, at which point the system hung up on me.
I do not consider this a way to treat customers of their expensive products. I am loosing work because of this very impressive activation process. I can only hope if I add memory to my computer or a newer firewire interface that everything will not break again. At least they could add a warning that your Adobe programs will become deactivated if you change anything about your computer. At the very least they can inform me of mow many activations I have left.Even my After Effects trial was instantly deactivated.
I'm trying again but I'm just listening to "What a night" and other music from their phone service instead of finishing work for my clients. Thanks Adobe.
The automated phone system kept saying my numbers were incorrect. After 2 tries I decided to try the option to connect to a service agent, at which point the system hung up on me.
I do not consider this a way to treat customers of their expensive products. I am loosing work because of this very impressive activation process. I can only hope if I add memory to my computer or a newer firewire interface that everything will not break again. At least they could add a warning that your Adobe programs will become deactivated if you change anything about your computer. At the very least they can inform me of mow many activations I have left.Even my After Effects trial was instantly deactivated.
I'm trying again but I'm just listening to "What a night" and other music from their phone service instead of finishing work for my clients. Thanks Adobe.