Two days of WinXP install Hell. Help?

Okay, time for backstory.

Sony VGN FE550G laptop, running WinXP MCE 2005 (what it came with) DVD-RW drive works great with stamped disks, not so well with burned ones.

In the mail I get a shiny new Intel X25M G2 120GB drive. Yum!

I find a handy program somewhere on the net that exports all drivers into one handy folder. I put said drivers on a external HD (forget name of program)

I burn a DVD with vista recovery disk, boot it and partition the new drive properly.

Plan A
I try to make system restore disks using the built in hidden partition and sonys program for it. The drive does not want to burn the disks.. after 2 hours, it finally fails on the first DVD (it would have burnt 2)

Plan B
I have a burnt copy of OEM xp pro, with slipstreamed SP3. (I did not make this disk) I cannot get the computer to boot off of this disk (cd). On a different laptop (no dvd burner) I image the disk and put it on the external HD. Back to the Sony, (original HD) I take said image and burn a DVD. Swap drives again. I can get the computer to boot off the DVD, It will not install windows (It cannot read some of the files with XML in them) Damn. I take the SSD over to a ancient pc I have, plug it in and move the I386 folder off of the DVD to a folder on the SSD. Put it back into the laptop. Of course it wants files off of a DVD, not the HD. So, every file i have to CTRL-V the path onto the HD to find each file. X100 or so times. It wants the product key.. success! Input it in....... install now wants CD2 ! I do not have a CD2.. did not know MCE has a second disk. So I skip those files. Windows boots. Says its MCE 2002. (Guess the product key tells windows which version to install, thus the 2nd disc required). I install drivers from the external HD. SigmaTel audio driver wont work, the install package on Sonys Website wont run on the laptop, wont recognize the laptop being proper model for the driver. Damn. Half the networking services in windows(like firewall) wont start. Say a dependent component is not installed (remember cd2?) Find a .torrent for MCE, and download CD2. Burn it on a DVD. Run SFC /scannow at dos prompt.. demands to check from CD's..... after 1 hour of it grinding away trying to read the install DVD I made earlier, it makes it to the 2nd disk.. insert it in.. says its the wrong disk. Damn.

So, what do I do? Do I download both disk 1 & 2 from torrent and try to reinstall windows again? Do I pay sony $20 for new recovery disks and live with boatware? and if so, does their recovery program force a repartition of the new SSD, forcing loss of space, and possible misallignment? maybee Image the old drive and reimage it onto the SSD? (wont be a clean XP install.. its been running 5 years) Any other options? I've put about 12 hours into this, running out of blank CD's and DVD's and about at my wits end. /end rant /end request

 

Find an external optical drive or install off USB. Your DVD drive seems borked.

 

The bios does not explicitly state if it allows USB booting. It has a toggle for external boot devices, which would enable a external floppy. Should I go through the effort of making a bootable thumb drive (looks mildly complicated, just havnt done it before) As to a external DVD, don't have one availible, and a replacement internal drive runs about $60 on the interwebs for used/refurbed.

 

That's up to you. Is experimenting with a flash drive worth the effort compared to spending $60, then ripping the laptop open to replace the optical drive? It's typically a total disassembly to replace an optical drive.

 

takes 4 screws and 2 mins to pull out the optical drive, but your point is well taken. Just went down to the IT folk's cave here at the office and 'borrowed' a usb external dvd-rw drive. So, should I still attempt a download and burn of that MCE torrent and use the laptops key? Think I will still have problems with that sony audio driver? If I had something to follow, I would be comfortable ripping the software/drivers out of the old hard drive and manually installing them, I just am not sure how.

 

Can you not just image the old HDD onto the SSD, or is the partition too big?

 

Its definitly a option, and sounding better all the time. Only 2 issues.

1) I have never done it. Recommend a program/procedure for it?
2) This installation is over 5 years old, its a bit cluttered. A clean install should be faster.

With all the problems I've had, not much caring about issue 2 anymore

As a side note, original HD is 80gigs, new SSD is 120. I have a Desktop availible (also running xp) with the proper SATA connections and a larger HD (bigger than 120 GB I think... hadn't booted this computer in over a year.. when I last did Windows Genuine program came up and had me reactivate it)

 

- The slipstreamed SP can cause serious problems in some situations with OEM ISO's.

- OEM key's can be picky with ISO's in XP.

- You know you can make a clean install ISO out of the C:\I386 folder, right? ISO should be tested first, of course.
If you still have it.. and if this program works with MCE (I'm thinking about that second disc here).
Ask me if you're interested, you need more info.

- But if you don't have that folder, get a hold of both discs from the same source. As I said, they're picky, and that's not only with the key.

- Even if you go for new recovery discs, you can most likely make a clean ISO out of the i386 folder, after a recovery.

- A clean install would be the best, like you say.

- About drivers, if you have a hard time finding working drivers, find the device in the device manager on the working HDD, open the properties and check the Information tab. Here you might find Hardware ID's that can be useful, use google to find drivers.

- In my experience, driver collecting programs never gets all the drivers you need, or mayby not complete drivers.

 

Thanks for the above info.

Heres a update.

using the intel SSD data migration tool, made a boot disk, and hooked both drives up to my desktop. Booted, and cloned the HDD. Of course the tool is simple, so I am sure that now I am not aligned. Also, it forced me to copy over the system restore partition as well. The SSD now boots up okay, trying to run the Solid State Drive toolbox, SSD Optimizer tool (manual trim) and I get the following error..

"Intel SSD Optimizer could not run due to the presence of the Volume Shadow Copy Service data. Likely cause is a backup in progress. Please try again when the backup is finished"

I have now turned off system restore all together, yet I still get the above error. Ideas?

 

this thread is a mess....I can barely figure out what your goal is, let along what you've done so far.

Maybe I am havng a tired moment.

What key are you using, the one on the bottom of the laptop?

You need the Windows XP MCE 2005 disks. Since XP MCE 2005 was never sold at retail, that't a problem.

Does the old drive still exist with windows CME on it? Image that to the Intel drive and call it a day.

Either that or purchase the restore disks from sony for $20.

 

To sum it up, I tried a clean install, could not get it to work right. So instead I cloned the original drive using Intels software to the new SSD. This proceded to mis-align the drive, and for some reason, intel's manual trim functionality will not work.

 

So do you have the C:\i386 folder left intact on your old HDD? It must be at least 400 MB.

 

What firmware is the drive using?

Did you install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver version 9.6 ?