HELP XP Install Problem

i am trying to install windows XP to my AAO 150 (xp-100gb), using an NLite SP3 slipstreamed CD,
i have MACOSX working fine on it,
system recovery won't work,
but every time i try and install XP i cannot get past the serial number screen,
i can't put a blank one in nor any of my 3 numbers all Purchased won't be accepted
apart from using an illegal copy i'm stuck, i have performed many an install before and never had this problem
i have tried 2 different discs
Anyone help

 

If you have an XP installation CD to accompany any of the 3 XP serial numbers that you have purchased then try using that CD instead of an nLite'd version. As your AA1 has a proper hard disk then disk space should not be an issue for your install. If this works then it would suggest that your nLite profile needs some tweaking.

If your XP serial numbers are for OEM editions or you have used an OEM version of XP with retail serial numbers then this might explain why it will not work.

I performed my XP installs using an nLite'd MSDN Library version of XP Home SP2 and slipstreamed SP3 into this. No problems when valid MSDN keys were used.

 

Ok Cheers i'll try the proper disk, this was going to be my last option.
the 3 serials are one purchased disk and 2 Oem (one on the the acer One).
any ideas how to get AAO oem serial to be used

 

I think that you could end up wasting a huge amount of time trying to use the OEM keys.

If you have a retail key and a retail CD image then go with that. There are probably a few reliable XP retail CD images floating around as torrents if you are stuck.

I found the nLite process to be very much a case of trial and error, it's easy to go mad and end up with an unusable ISO (especially if you are trying make a minimal install for an SSD). You don't need to go mad since you have a fairly large hard disk to work with. You can always disable some services after a successful installation and need to pare down the memory footprint (useful if you have less than 1GB RAM).

I started off with an XP SP2 CD and slipstreamed SP3.
I removed all languages and keyboard layouts except UK English.
I removed all hardware drivers since all the drivers that you need can be downloaded from the Acer Support site and installed afterwards.
(Grab the drivers from the Acer site beforehand using a working network connection and copy them to a USB stick or memory card for use after the basic XP installation has finished).

For the SSD version I disabled indexing, application prefetch and system restore.

 

As ronime says, you need an OEM key for an OEM install and a retail key for a retail install. Your best bet is to make a disc using your original xp disc.

 

I have a Dell OEM Windows XP install CD and key for my son's laptop. These will not work on anything other than Dell hardware.

 

@RONIME

Hello Ronime,

Could you post some tips about how to get those XP SP2 drivers installed, please?

I've just installed Windows XP SP2 on my Acer A110 (sadly, the Linux had proved way too unstable and needed a full recovery after losing its connection apps - an apparently known bug to do with Live Update), and it's mostly fine except that I'm missing the essential drivers that'll get the wi-fi and ethernet gear going again (and I still need to activate the bugger, because of course I used my laptop's OEM and Billy Gates hasn't got rich for allowing us non-corporate little people to install Windows on more than one machine).

Do I just locate what I need, download it, extract it on my main PC, copy it onto the flash drive and dropping it into a folder on the Acer? If so, it'd be very helpful if you could indicate what goes into which folder - it looks like you've done all that successfully.

To be more precise: the 'problem devices' listed on the Acer, for which the drivers are missing, are:
1. ethernet controller
2. wi-fi
3. PCI device (whatever that is, apologies for my ignorance)
4. SM bus controller (ditto!)
5. video controllers (two, one of which VGA compatible)

Thanks for any help,
art67

 

You can download the drivers from here:

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/netbook/as ... 10/driver/

OR

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/netbook/as ... 50/driver/

Unzip them to a USB stick or some other kind of USB storage device (hard disk or memory card reader) using another PC and then plug the USB device into the AA1. Most of them have a "SETUP.EXE" that can used to install the drivers. I recommend that you download the following and install in this order:

Chipset_Intel ...
VGA_Intel ...
Audio_Realtek ...
Lan_Realtek ...
Wireless_Atheros ...
Touchpad_Synaptics ...
CardRdr_Jmicron ...

 

@RONIME

Thanks very much for the advice, I'll try it as soon as I get a chance and post back if the Acer starts misbehaving.

art67