Upgrading to Service Pack 2 Issues

My hard drive crashed and had to install a new one on a Dell laptop.

Reinstalled XP and all associated updates.

When I try to update to service pack 2 it hangs on "checking product key."
Has happened at least 4 times now. I'm ready to give up and just run what I
have.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Have you tried, install Windows XP, upgrade to SP2, and then do updates?

"Mark Semm" <Mark > wrote in message
news:500070F9-FDBA-4486-87B1-...
> My hard drive crashed and had to install a new one on a Dell laptop.
>
> Reinstalled XP and all associated updates.
>
> When I try to update to service pack 2 it hangs on "checking product key."
> Has happened at least 4 times now. I'm ready to give up and just run what
> I
> have.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the advice.

Actually read through some earlier posts and was able to resolve the issues.

Next time I'll research more before posting!!

"NewScience" wrote:

> Have you tried, install Windows XP, upgrade to SP2, and then do updates?
>
> "Mark Semm" <Mark > wrote in message
> news:500070F9-FDBA-4486-87B1-...
> > My hard drive crashed and had to install a new one on a Dell laptop.
> >
> > Reinstalled XP and all associated updates.
> >
> > When I try to update to service pack 2 it hangs on "checking product key."
> > Has happened at least 4 times now. I'm ready to give up and just run what
> > I
> > have.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
>
>
>

Hi Mark,

Procedure to Reinstall Windows XP!

If you want to save any files, make a backup of those files off the Hard
Drive and proceed.

0. - Turn off the printer.
1. - Go into Computer Bios and Set Defaults and Exit, if you know how.
Make sure the Boot Order is set to Boot to CD-Rom Drive First.
2. - Insert Windows XP CD into CD-Rom Drive.
3. - Reboot the computer.

Note: If Windows XP is installed, working okay, you will need to Press a key
to boot from the Windows XP CD.
If you are using an Upgrade CD, and the computer boots directly from the CD,
you will need to furnish a qualifying previous version of a Windows
operating system's Installation CD, in order to install Windows XP from an
Upgrade CD.

4. - Welcome to Setup.
5. - Reinstall XP - Press Enter
6. - F8 - I Agree
7. - Esc: Don't Repair
8. - Select Partition to Install Windows XP on.
Use UP and DOWN ARROW Keys to Highlight Partition.
9. - Press Enter.
10. - Press C to Continue.
11. - Highlight the Action You Want To Take.
Type of Format you want to perform.
12. - I selected Format The Partition using the Fat File System.
13. - Then Press Enter to Continue
14. - Warning Message
15. - Press F
16. - To Continue To Format Partition with the FAT32 File System.
17. - Press Enter.
18. - Now it formats.
19. - After Formatting It Checks The Drive.
20. - Then Copies files to partition.
21. - Now it Reboots to Windows XP. Don't press a key to boot to CD.
22. - And now it installs Windows XP.
23. - You need to be here now.
24. - Starts at 39 Minutes to Complete.
25. - At 33 minutes, you need to set Time and Time Zone.
26. - And Enter The Product Key.
27. - At 29 minutes, you need to pick the Network.
28. - Now wait for Reboot and you are done.

Note: - If you have the original Windows XP CD, not Service Pack 2 CD, you
will need to have already downloaded to Your Briefcase Folder,
WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU from this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

You must install Windows XP Service Pack 2 before you can use Windows
Update. Also you must install the tool to validate your copy of Windows
after upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 2, before you can begin to
reinstall all the Windows XP Patches.


Backup the downloaded Windows XP Service Pack 2 to another partition.
After Windows XP is reinstalled, do not apply any Hotfixes or connect to the
Internet before installed Service Pack 2.


--
thecreator



"Mark Semm" <Mark > wrote in message
news:500070F9-FDBA-4486-87B1-...
> My hard drive crashed and had to install a new one on a Dell laptop.
>
> Reinstalled XP and all associated updates.
>
> When I try to update to service pack 2 it hangs on "checking product key."
> Has happened at least 4 times now. I'm ready to give up and just run what
> I
> have.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thanks in advance.

Hey can you tell me how you fixed it or what you read to determine it?

Can you email me so I can get the answer?

Thanks

Linc




Mark Semm wrote:
> Thanks for the advice.
>
> Actually read through some earlier posts and was able to resolve the issues.
>
> Next time I'll research more before posting!!
>
> "NewScience" wrote:
>
> > Have you tried, install Windows XP, upgrade to SP2, and then do updates?
> >
> > "Mark Semm" <Mark > wrote in message
> > news:500070F9-FDBA-4486-87B1-...
> > > My hard drive crashed and had to install a new one on a Dell laptop.
> > >
> > > Reinstalled XP and all associated updates.
> > >
> > > When I try to update to service pack 2 it hangs on "checking product key."
> > > Has happened at least 4 times now. I'm ready to give up and just run what
> > > I
> > > have.
> > >
> > > Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance.
> >
> >
> >

Hi,

I guess he found one of postings I have posted on this issue previously:

I just had this issue one some computers at work (hanging at the SP2
installation at "Checking product key" phase), and did some googling
for this. At a web forum I found the solution. A guy named Matt had
this problem and phoned Microsoft. After a second hour session on the
phone, the Microsoft tech found the reason, it had to do with OEM inf
files not being recognized by the SP2 installation. Below is the
resolution email that was sent to Matt. This procedure also solved the
problem on the computers where I work.


<quote>
Hi Matt,

There are 3 steps which we have to do to get the SP2 installed.


Steps are:


1) Please go into the CMD prompt (Start/Run --> cmd.exe )

2) Then type cd /d %windir%\inf and make sure we are in that
directory.

3) Then type ren oem*.inf oem*.old, it will go back to the prompt
after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)

4) Then type ren oem*.pnf oem*.old1, it will go back to the prompt
after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)

5) Then goto start - run - type "%windir%\inf" and you will see
the files in the folder.

6) Then find the file by name INFCACHE.1 and take a backup of it
to desktop (by copying it to desktop) and delete the INFCACHE.1
from c:\windows\inf.

7) Close all windows and reboot the computer to safe mode and
start the installation of SP2 and it should go fine.


Please let me know the result of the above steps.

Thanks & Regards,

Dilep R****

Research Engineer - OSR II

Microsoft Platforms and Desktop Support

Windows XP Team

Microsoft Corporation

* Email: ******@mssupport.microsoft.com

( Voice Mail: 425-635-**** ext. *****

¹ Hours: Monday - Friday, 5:00am - 2:00pm PST

</quote>


Linc wrote:
> Hey can you tell me how you fixed it or what you read to determine it?
>
> Can you email me so I can get the answer?
>
> Thanks
>
> Linc
>
>
>
>
> Mark Semm wrote:
>
>>Thanks for the advice.
>>
>>Actually read through some earlier posts and was able to resolve the issues.
>>
>>Next time I'll research more before posting!!
>>
>>"NewScience" wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Have you tried, install Windows XP, upgrade to SP2, and then do updates?
>>>
>>>"Mark Semm" <Mark > wrote in message
>>>news:500070F9-FDBA-4486-87B1-...
>>>
>>>>My hard drive crashed and had to install a new one on a Dell laptop.
>>>>
>>>>Reinstalled XP and all associated updates.
>>>>
>>>>When I try to update to service pack 2 it hangs on "checking product key."
>>>>Has happened at least 4 times now. I'm ready to give up and just run what
>>>>I
>>>>have.
>>>>
>>>>Any thoughts?
>>>>
>>>>Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>


--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Software Distribution, Porsgrunn Norway

Works GREAT 02/14/07

"Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I guess he found one of postings I have posted on this issue previously:
>
> I just had this issue one some computers at work (hanging at the SP2
> installation at "Checking product key" phase), and did some googling
> for this. At a web forum I found the solution. A guy named Matt had
> this problem and phoned Microsoft. After a second hour session on the
> phone, the Microsoft tech found the reason, it had to do with OEM inf
> files not being recognized by the SP2 installation. Below is the
> resolution email that was sent to Matt. This procedure also solved the
> problem on the computers where I work.
>
>
> <quote>
> Hi Matt,
>
> There are 3 steps which we have to do to get the SP2 installed.
>
>
> Steps are:
>
>
> 1) Please go into the CMD prompt (Start/Run --> cmd.exe )
>
> 2) Then type cd /d %windir%\inf and make sure we are in that
> directory.
>
> 3) Then type ren oem*.inf oem*.old, it will go back to the prompt
> after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
>
> 4) Then type ren oem*.pnf oem*.old1, it will go back to the prompt
> after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
>
> 5) Then goto start - run - type "%windir%\inf" and you will see
> the files in the folder.
>
> 6) Then find the file by name INFCACHE.1 and take a backup of it
> to desktop (by copying it to desktop) and delete the INFCACHE.1
> from c:\windows\inf.
>
> 7) Close all windows and reboot the computer to safe mode and
> start the installation of SP2 and it should go fine.
>
>
> Please let me know the result of the above steps.
>
> Thanks & Regards,
>
> Dilep R****
>
> Research Engineer - OSR II
>
> Microsoft Platforms and Desktop Support
>
> Windows XP Team
>
> Microsoft Corporation
>
> * Email: ******@mssupport.microsoft.com
>
> ( Voice Mail: 425-635-**** ext. *****
>
> ¹ Hours: Monday - Friday, 5:00am - 2:00pm PST
>
> </quote>
>
>
> Linc wrote:
> > Hey can you tell me how you fixed it or what you read to determine it?
> >
> > Can you email me so I can get the answer?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Linc
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Mark Semm wrote:
> >
> >>Thanks for the advice.
> >>
> >>Actually read through some earlier posts and was able to resolve the issues.
> >>
> >>Next time I'll research more before posting!!
> >>
> >>"NewScience" wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Have you tried, install Windows XP, upgrade to SP2, and then do updates?
> >>>
> >>>"Mark Semm" <Mark > wrote in message
> >>>news:500070F9-FDBA-4486-87B1-...
> >>>
> >>>>My hard drive crashed and had to install a new one on a Dell laptop.
> >>>>
> >>>>Reinstalled XP and all associated updates.
> >>>>
> >>>>When I try to update to service pack 2 it hangs on "checking product key."
> >>>>Has happened at least 4 times now. I'm ready to give up and just run what
> >>>>I
> >>>>have.
> >>>>
> >>>>Any thoughts?
> >>>>
> >>>>Thanks in advance.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >
>
>
> --
> torgeir, Microsoft MVP Software Distribution, Porsgrunn Norway
>

These steps fixed the problem for me but aren't these oem*.inf and oem*.pnf
files needed? After SP2 is installed is it worth renaming them back to their
original names?

Thanks

Adam

"Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I guess he found one of postings I have posted on this issue previously:
>
> I just had this issue one some computers at work (hanging at the SP2
> installation at "Checking product key" phase), and did some googling
> for this. At a web forum I found the solution. A guy named Matt had
> this problem and phoned Microsoft. After a second hour session on the
> phone, the Microsoft tech found the reason, it had to do with OEM inf
> files not being recognized by the SP2 installation. Below is the
> resolution email that was sent to Matt. This procedure also solved the
> problem on the computers where I work.
>
>
> <quote>
> Hi Matt,
>
> There are 3 steps which we have to do to get the SP2 installed.
>
>
> Steps are:
>
>
> 1) Please go into the CMD prompt (Start/Run --> cmd.exe )
>
> 2) Then type cd /d %windir%\inf and make sure we are in that
> directory.
>
> 3) Then type ren oem*.inf oem*.old, it will go back to the prompt
> after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
>
> 4) Then type ren oem*.pnf oem*.old1, it will go back to the prompt
> after giving you some error (Do not worry about it)
>
> 5) Then goto start - run - type "%windir%\inf" and you will see
> the files in the folder.
>
> 6) Then find the file by name INFCACHE.1 and take a backup of it
> to desktop (by copying it to desktop) and delete the INFCACHE.1
> from c:\windows\inf.
>
> 7) Close all windows and reboot the computer to safe mode and
> start the installation of SP2 and it should go fine.
>