XP Installation problems

Hi All,

Just been helping a friend re install his XP Home onto his new Intel / Gigabyte mobo type GA-H61M-D2-B3.

The first problem was his copy of XP was rather scratched and a couple of files could not be read in but it still completed installing.
Think they might have been corrected when running the separate SP3 disc ?

As I have my good copy of XP, if I made a copy CD of it could he use it with his valid Key or do they some how encode every CD with matching unique KEY info ?

The second problem, is not one I have seen before, when Windows completed installing, when going to My Computer it showed the Hdd and optical drive ok but then that was followed by a Removable Devices section showing drive EFG&H as empty sockets ??

The mobo has 6 x USB2 ports on the rear panel and 2 to the front.

Are these Removable Devices something to do with the USB ports ?
Is it just an info display option for some USB ports that can be turned off ?
Afraid I did not have time to experiment with the usb ports as his better half called time !!

thanks

if your friends pc is "branded" suchs as HP, dell etc and you try to use your own copy which is "retail" then his key won't work with your copy.

You could always install your copy and then call Microsoft and register over the phone. Just give your friends serial number and they will give you a new one to activate it.

Re number of drives: Sounds like he's got a card reader installed. they usually show up as separate drives

Hi wannabebuilder,

Thanks for the reply.

Its a generic ready built system and yes it does have a card reader so that makes sense. - never used one myself.

His XP disc. like mine is a genuine Microsoft oem disk, not from a dell type system.
So it seems you are saying the discs will be the same just the keys that are different, so will make him a copy just incase he ever needs to install it again.
( he managed to run xp for over 3 years without doing a reinstall !)

Card readers do show up as drives. Obviously if there's no card in any slot there's nothing for the computer to read. (one of the vagaries of XP is that it detects these and assigns a drive letter to them.
Inserting a card into one however, usually triggers a response from XP (usually a window opens with a prompt asking what you want to do with the card. eg transfer images/files,, open files etc etc)
I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 and have a card reader. Ubuntu only mounts the drive when a card is placed in it (otherwise it doesn't show anything at all)