A nightmare of an install

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coius's picture
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A nightmare of an install

I got to working on my friend's machine, because it was running so slow. I finally concluded that I needed to reinstall. After doing the reinstall, the system was REALLY slow. After doing all the updates, it just kept getting slow and slower and slower, till Finally, i decided to scan it, and guess what? I found trojans, worms and virus's. This machine has NOT been on the internet other than to get the M$ updates. And it has been behind a firewall.
Instead of going through a whole Hoohaw about what led up to this final event, but after determining that something other than a network invasion had occured, i decided to scan the Compaq OEM (Commercially pressed!!!) Restore CDs, and surprise surprise! Worms were on the installer discs!!!
These are NOT burned discs. These are the discs that ship with the machine to do a recovery and are professional reinstall discs for the system.
I went from one nightmare, to another, with no way out. I also tried to do the install with as few discs as possible, and now that I am inthe environment (hasn't been plugged into the network, all tools were transfered on a cd that was made with my iBook, so they are clean) i found about 70 Alexa related spyware, TON'S of XXX Related Bots, and about 20 Trojans/Worms/Virus's so far. This machine has NOT been on the network this install. So, i have discs for the reinstall that are infected.

Not sure what to do, but this system is an early generation Pentium 4 model, and it so old, the discs don't even have SP 1 for XP Home.

I need to know what to do here if Compaq doesn't send me discs for this...

Anyone got ideas?

coius's picture
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oh, and I want to mention

the virus's aren't just on the discs, they have integrated themselves into the install file archives. When doing the reinstall, it's an automated process. The minimal amount of discs you can do the install with, are 2 discs, so I don't have the option of just popping the XP Home disc in just installing XP Home. The XP Home is actually a disc image within the disc, that is installed from. And I can't open the image, since it's a compaq specially-made image.
I am at a real loss, and I am afraid compaq is going to say "too bad, we no longer support the computer... Tough luck!"

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ummm....

seriously.... hop on one of the torrent search engines and download an OEM install XP image... then, use the valid key that youve got with his machine.

If your lucky you may be able to find a disc that has SP2 and some of the updates slipstreamed into it.

coius's picture
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probably should do that

but is that legal? i mean, it seems a grey area, and I don't know how M$ will respond if I told them I had to resort to that if I go to activate it and it reaches the limit...

EDIT: i know for people that have never had to dial up M$, but they WILL grill you about where you got the CD and Key. Not only do they ask about the key, but they ask about the install disc. If I told them I had to download an OEM Image because the install discs for the machine were infected, would they ban the number, or would they allow the install and continued use?

If you look at the EULA, it DOES Say that you have to have both the original install discs AND the original S/N for the machine/install you are doing.

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grey area...

i dont know... it doesnt seem that grey to me... you are licensed to have XP installed on that machine.... you have discs, and you have a key. they dont ned to know which specific disc you instaslled from... they DO ask sometimes, so i just tell them what they want to hear. basically, it IS within the fair use. At work we have a "Crack" IT staff... (as in I think that they may be smoking crack...) and we have to rebuild at least 3 of our desktop workstations per week. rather than go through the SP2 download and subsequent update hell, i just made 1 slipstream disc that has SP2 and most of the updates so that reinstall doesnt take 6 hours with Service pack and update downloads. Just use your original key, and if you have to call for validation and they DO ask about your CD tell them that you used the OEM CD that came with the machine. describe it if you have to... but, it wont be a problem.

EDIT: you noted that the EUA says that youve got to have both the orig. discs and key... and, in fact you do. [just that the orig discs CANNOT be installed from]

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The license is for the use of

The license is for the use of the software, not the physical media. The license keys, etc. are legitimately purchased. As long as the purchased serial is used, you're bona fide.

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get replacement media

I simply cannot believe Compaq/HP wouldn't replace malware-laden install media. I mean, you obviously can't be the first person to encounter this little funtime. There's gotta be a program to replace such a liability horror.

Contact Compaq/HP and press all the buttons 'til you get some action (and replacement media!)

*cough*l a w s u i t*cough*

dan k

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thank god for broadband

I contacted Compaq, and they are sending new discs. They said if a person's computer was registered, new discs were sent out automatically once they knew they were infected. Since my friend wasn't registered, they never sent them to him.
Anyways, I got an email about 9 o'clock this morning, that had a link to an application would do the download. I had to put in the S/N for the machine (not the MS S/N, the actual Machine S/N) and it would download the discs. I got the system in. Did the scan, No viruses/spyware/adware/bots. So, I am glad i was able to download them.

I am glad they weren't trolls about it. Because I have dealt with people like eMachines that when I did a recovery, the discs were corrupted, and they refused to send new ones unless we paid them like $70 for them to send new ones. And like these, they were shipped with the machine.

I did an intall off of only the 2 first discs, since I didn't need to have all that yahoo/corel/Trial software on the machine, and Etc, and I am doing the updates now.

Anyways, sorry for bringing the topic up. It was fixed, but I was kinda peeved that their download speeds were like 50KB/s. And I had to download several discs. What I did was download with 4 machines to get the discs, to get it done faster Smile

coius's picture
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Yet another update...

I just got an email from HP (now owns Compaq) that they will not send Discs for the system. Instead, they want to charge the owner of the machine $75 for the discs, and $15 for shipping.
They then said in the email, that I would have to go to a third-party vendor to complete the deal.

Doesn't look like they will make good on their deal. I tried to contact them again, but they said the machine is too old to fix the problem, and basically said that they don't care, and to go away (they said their deal is final).
Then they had the nerve to say that if It would be better to buy a new system FROM THEM.
If they treat their customers this way over something simple like this, why would they expect people to buy from them after they basically tell you to ****-off?

Anyways, I got the discs downloaded, but when I put the system in together, it wanted the MS S/N from the system to activate it. Will Microsoft honor if the system needs to be activated again if I were to explain that I had to DOWNLOAD the discs because Compaq wouldn't send me new ones without ripping me off?

I spoke to a M$ Representative at a store, and he told me it would have been better to buy a new system (with vista) because M$ *Might* not honor it since it was not installed by OEM Discs. Especially if it required the XP S/N to do it (He says that OEM Discs that ship with computers will NEVER ask for the S/N, it's got a file in the discs that automatically activate it).

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just do it

just activate it and validate it.

hundreds of people activate and validate even pirated copies of XP daily. You've got the system installed, and you've got the key. Enter the key... in most cases unless you've tried to activate the same key within the last 30 days then you wont even have to talk to anyone. If you do, call the 800 number that shows up on your screen, you will get connected to their activation support in india... they are pretty darned nice and all they ever ask is "what is the validation code displayed on your screen" and "how many machines is this software installed on" give them the key displayed on your screen, tell them its only on one machine and then they'll give you a validation code. Enter the validation code, download all the updates and WGA stuff... It'll be no problem.

The India support dont really care too much and will give out validation codes... thats what their job is.

so, stop worrying about it and just do it. I mean, if it doesnt activate its not like it is difficult to find an XP serial number anyway. lol. But I can't see any reason whatsoever as to why you would have a problem.

Jon
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Plus, since it's going on t h

Plus, since it's going on t he same exact hard ware that it was originally for, WGA won't notice a hardware change and won't throw foul to MS.

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no worries coius

I really wouldn't sweat it. I'll be #$%^&'d if I'd send any money to Compaq/HP. I've never ever managed to run afoul of Microsoft with all my shenanigans with XP installs. The one time I did have to talk to them, I initiated it completely - in the interest of saving me time and nothing else. I didn't get the grilling that a previous poster mentioned. 'Course that was a couple of years back. As best I can tell, from buying volume license copies for work, the key and the license are tied together. The media is just that. For volume keys you order one CD, and as many licenses as you need off that. As loosey-goosey as they seem about that, you should be fine. Knock it out, dude.

mike

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