# Running bare-bones Windows XP



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Sigh... after almost two years, I'm have cleared out my computer so all that's left is to transfer everything to CDs. The plan is to install XP, apply all the patches, Office 2000, all the patches, Mozilla, Maxthon, Firebird, Acrobat, and such, then Ghost the drive. 

Before I perform a wipe, I'll probably do one final Ghost of the drive just in case. I wonder if Norton 2005 Professional will include an automated utility to perform automatic drive Ghosting. What I might do is get one of the Samsung 160GB hard drives as the master and my current 80 WD as the slave, and perform automated drive backups.


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## CoriBright (May 30, 2002)

Rather than clean install XP and then all the updates, you can create your own slipstreamed bootable CD using your original XP CD and SP2. (SP2 includes everything also included in SP1) and use your newly made CD for the clean install. Voila, a clean install and no updates to download aferwards.

It's a lot quicker, particularly if ever a Repair Installation is required.

http://www.msfn.org/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=49


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

Yes, I've already made a slipstreamed copy of my XP install CD with SP2 on board. Very easy using the NLite utilitiy.


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

Is there an equivilent procedure for slipstreaming Office service packs like there is with the base OS install?


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## CoriBright (May 30, 2002)

cdru said:


> Is there an equivilent procedure for slipstreaming Office service packs like there is with the base OS install?


I'm not 100% sure but I don't think Office Service Packs are cumulative so it wouldn't be so easy.


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

CoriBright said:


> I'm not 100% sure but I don't think Office Service Packs are cumulative so it wouldn't be so easy.


Exactly, the Office packs are not cumulative, you must apply them one after the other. I have never seen any method of "slipstreaming" them into an install, although you can script their install along using administrative tools that server administrators typically use for mass installations.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I did create the streamlined installs, but I haven't tried them out yet. A friend of a friend of mine needed a computer repaired, and it's talking a lot longer than expected. Whoever built that computer needs to be shot!

Primary Master: CD-R
Primary Slave: 120MB HD
Secondary Master: CD-ROM
Secondary Slave: 40MB HD
Motherboard: El-cheapo board from a no-name manufactuer with no web site.

And this was _supposed_ to be a easy repair, not a complete reinstall.


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> I did create the streamlined installs, but I haven't tried them out yet. A friend of a friend of mine needed a computer repaired, and it's talking a lot longer than expected. Whoever built that computer needs to be shot!
> 
> Primary Master: CD-R
> Primary Slave: 120MB HD
> ...


Any particular reason the CDs are set as master with the hard drives as slave? That would be, in many cases, detrimental to performance.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Indeed, and I told that person point blank that. Someone else assembled the computer, not me. I built my PCs to last and run trouble free. Usually, if it's a no name motherboard with no web site, then there is only one thing to expect: trouble.

Right now, my hard drive is running that system until I get the data copied over tonight. The only way I'm online now from home is that I'm running a Knoppix disk.


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

HappyGoLucky said:


> Exactly, the Office packs are not cumulative, you must apply them one after the other. I have never seen any method of "slipstreaming" them into an install, although you can script their install along using administrative tools that server administrators typically use for mass installations.


Looking around for information on slipstreaming XP SP2 into a virgin XP disc, I found this site that has information on doing a slipstream install for OfficeXP. Following the basic instructions create a disc fairly quickly. Longest part was just creating the administrative install point.

I needed to reload a Dell laptop. Using the quick format for an NTFS volume, I had XP and Office XP up and running in less then a half hour fully updated, loading from a CD. Not to bad. Definitely beats downloading and installing service packs and individual updates, rebooting, rinse, repeat.


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

cdru said:


> Looking around for information on slipstreaming XP SP2 into a virgin XP disc, I found this site that has information on doing a slipstream install for OfficeXP. Following the basic instructions create a disc fairly quickly. Longest part was just creating the administrative install point.
> 
> I needed to reload a Dell laptop. Using the quick format for an NTFS volume, I had XP and Office XP up and running in less then a half hour fully updated, loading from a CD. Not to bad. Definitely beats downloading and installing service packs and individual updates, rebooting, rinse, repeat.


Exactly, that's how corporate desktops are built. The tools are available, but they're generally not apparent to anyone outside the corporate IT world. You can build in XP (or 2000) install that preloads Office, Norton AV, and almost any other applications you so desire using the administrative tools.


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> Indeed, and I told that person point blank that. Someone else assembled the computer, not me. I built my PCs to last and run trouble free. Usually, if it's a no name motherboard with no web site, then there is only one thing to expect: trouble.
> 
> Right now, my hard drive is running that system until I get the data copied over tonight. The only way I'm online now from home is that I'm running a Knoppix disk.


Sometimes even a "no-name" mobo can be dealt with if you know what to look for. Look at the chipset it has, is it Intel or SiS or other? Look at the model #s on the chipset. Also, the silkscreened motherboard name/model might give a clue as to what the motherboard is based upon. I once had a no-name board that, once I got to digging I discovered was essentially a reboxed Asus board. Asus manufactured it for another company and it was pretty much just a rebadged Asus board. Even one of my Compaq computers has an Intel made motherboard. Compaq stopped producing any updates for the computer after a year, but there was some serious bios issues they just wrote off (never buy Compaq again!). I discovered that the motherboard was really a rebadged Intel board using a Compaq modified bios. I downloaded an Intel bios for the same model # board and loaded it (crossed my fingers!) and it works like a champ and fixed the bios issues.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> I did create the streamlined installs, but I haven't tried them out yet. A friend of a friend of mine needed a computer repaired, and it's talking a lot longer than expected. Whoever built that computer needs to be shot!
> 
> Primary Master: CD-R
> Primary Slave: 120MB HD
> ...


well you don't even seem to no the difference between Mb and GB


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Megabytes, gigabytes, just a big difference. When one operates on less than a usual amount of sleep....

According to the paperwork, it's a "ECS" motherboard.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

http://www.ecsusa.com/


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> Megabytes, gigabytes, just a big difference. When one operates on less than a usual amount of sleep....
> 
> According to the paperwork, it's a "ECS" motherboard.


ECS isn't a "no-name", they're one of the top producers of motherboards. Some of their boards are very popular among over-clockers and other custom builders.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

HappyGoLucky said:


> ECS isn't a "no-name", they're one of the top producers of motherboards. Some of their boards are very popular among over-clockers and other custom builders.


I don't know all of the major motherboard manufacturers by heart, only a few (Abit, ASUS, Gigabyte, Soyo, LAN Party). But the ECS was only listed as the "$49.95" motherboard on the sales invoice itself. It doesn't appear on the motherboard, and the manual is too thin for a quality motherboard, and doesn't mention a brand name at all. (The first ten pages, double sided, were listing the board specs in different languages). Every motherboard that I have owned had thicker manuals that covered EVERY aspect of the board in details. It should list out the specs of the memory, not just "It supports DDR in these two slots, and SDRAM in these two slots."

When I checked out the ECS web site with the model number that I thought I remembered, none of the pictures resembled the motherboard that I was working with. If you say that this board is popular with overclockers, then there should be a setting to adjust the timings and voltages. None found. It may be in a hidden menu.

I'll investigate that web site a little more, but everything suggests that the board didn't come from that manufacturer.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> I don't know all of the major motherboard manufacturers by heart, only a few (Abit, ASUS, Gigabyte, Soyo, LAN Party). But the ECS was only listed as the "$49.95" motherboard on the sales invoice itself. It doesn't appear on the motherboard, and the manual is too thin for a quality motherboard, and doesn't mention a brand name at all. (The first ten pages, double sided, were listing the board specs in different languages). Every motherboard that I have owned had thicker manuals that covered EVERY aspect of the board in details. It should list out the specs of the memory, not just "It supports DDR in these two slots, and SDRAM in these two slots."
> 
> When I checked out the ECS web site with the model number that I thought I remembered, none of the pictures resembled the motherboard that I was working with. If you say that this board is popular with overclockers, then there should be a setting to adjust the timings and voltages. None found. It may be in a hidden menu.
> 
> I'll investigate that web site a little more, but everything suggests that the board didn't come from that manufacturer.


look fo rthe fcc id number i do not remeber the site to check that on but i know simon will know


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## music_beans (Mar 21, 2003)

Mark Holtz said:


> I did create the streamlined installs, but I haven't tried them out yet. A friend of a friend of mine needed a computer repaired, and it's talking a lot longer than expected. Whoever built that computer needs to be shot!
> 
> Primary Master: CD-R
> Primary Slave: 120MB HD
> ...


 I thought the main hard drive was supposed to be the primary master. (I do have a primary slave HD that runs Mandrake Linux.)


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

music_beans said:


> I thought the main hard drive was supposed to be the primary master. (I do have a primary slave HD that runs Mandrake Linux.)


It doesn't matter. Master, slave...it doesn't matter performance wise as only one device can talk at any given time. I always set up my drives chip select and let the computer worry about what is what.


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> I don't know all of the major motherboard manufacturers by heart, only a few (Abit, ASUS, Gigabyte, Soyo, LAN Party). But the ECS was only listed as the "$49.95" motherboard on the sales invoice itself. It doesn't appear on the motherboard, and the manual is too thin for a quality motherboard, and doesn't mention a brand name at all. (The first ten pages, double sided, were listing the board specs in different languages). Every motherboard that I have owned had thicker manuals that covered EVERY aspect of the board in details. It should list out the specs of the memory, not just "It supports DDR in these two slots, and SDRAM in these two slots."
> 
> When I checked out the ECS web site with the model number that I thought I remembered, none of the pictures resembled the motherboard that I was working with. If you say that this board is popular with overclockers, then there should be a setting to adjust the timings and voltages. None found. It may be in a hidden menu.
> 
> I'll investigate that web site a little more, but everything suggests that the board didn't come from that manufacturer.


Sounds as though you might have a knock-off or a board made by ECS for someone else. I've had ECS boards before and they are well-documented. Try putting just the model # into a Google search and see what you come up with.


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## HappyGoLucky (Jan 11, 2004)

cdru said:


> It doesn't matter. Master, slave...it doesn't matter performance wise as only one device can talk at any given time. I always set up my drives chip select and let the computer worry about what is what.


With newer UDMA drives it can matter, depending on the cable type used. Some cables only have 80-conducter support on the first connector, not the second. This is true for many OEM cables, especially. So with cable-select, if you're putting a UDMA drive on the second connector, you're losing valuable bandwidth.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Well, just to make matters worse....

I brought in my box to work so that when I went over to my friends house, we could test out the video card. Instead, my system conks out. Preliminary testing indicates that only the power supply (an Antec 430W) went south, and since it has a three year limited warranty, I can't crack the case and try and replace the fuse. 

As for my friend, we got what we believe to be all of the files copied over. It's just a matter of ghosting the 80GB over to the 120GB.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Well, almost back up and running. 

The power supply arrived last Friday, and it appears that the only thing that was friend was the power supply (thank goodness). However, because of the holiday, I was unable to get my parts back until last night.

Went over to my friends place who went "wow" over the size of my cast and my configuration. I let her test my memory while I was waiting for the replacement power supply to arrive (and it still occassionally scamble-screened). As part of problem isolation, I put HER video card into my computer. Video card runs fine for her needs, although I wouldn't recommend running a 3D game (While it's a Radeon, it's also PCI). Told her that it would be best to get a new motherboard and a Windows XP CD (OEM), but considering her finances (or lack thereof), she will have to live with what she has. There is one minor fix left.

I also used this as an opportunity to test out my configuration, and everything appears OK. Showed off my video card and watched her chin drop to the floor. I should be back to normal by the weekend, although I may spend Saturday afternoon reinstalling all that I need. Then I can enjoy a game I picked up cheaply.... Half Life.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

The NLite utility is now located at http://www.nliteos.com/


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## RandallA (Feb 4, 2005)

HappyGoLucky said:


> With newer UDMA drives it can matter, depending on the cable type used. Some cables only have 80-conducter support on the first connector, not the second. This is true for many OEM cables, especially. So with cable-select, if you're putting a UDMA drive on the second connector, you're losing valuable bandwidth.


Absolutely right. Usually I keep the hard drives together in one channel and the Optical drives together in the second channel.

UDMA hard drives need the 80-conductor cable to run at UDMA 5. Even if the cable has the 80-conductor on both connectors, the computer will get a performance hit if you are burning or copying from the HD to the optical drive on the same IDE channel. It will need to slow down the data transfer rate to keep up with the optical drive.

This is what I would do:

Primary Master: 120GB HD
Primary Slave: 40GB HD 
Secondary Master: CD-R (I assume this is your burner)
Secondary Slave: CD-ROM

Just my opinion.


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