New laptop, bad first powerup,bad XPsp2

[popper]

its an oddball one, for zinglebarb perhaps, or indeed anyone.

as you know these things dont better me usually,and im more than able to fix any HW or SW problem on any OS usually.

however, the lads just got given a new 'learning in manchester' laptop the other day for a year.

http://www.microwarehouse.co.uk/catalogue/item/A0234901

the thing is, they use a custom HD image with all their software on there and other bits and bobs (plus sp2 streamlined updates etc)and they dont supply a custom recovery disk.

not a problem, as i was going to make an Image of the machines HD first thing anyway.

however, the lad powered the Laptop up before i got to it, and guess what &^&^%%%....

the first time windows xp pre-install ran and locked up half way through the /windows/system23/config population.

to make matters werse, theres no /windows/repair/ backup files at this first run...

so no custom image to re-install, No hidden partition with an image on (as a shop Tosh would have), and the machines currently going round in circles, setup not compleate, run setup again.
and i cant delete the old /config dir and copy a new one...

i can OC boot a Live UBCD4win and read the original files and dir, but no backup files to replace it with.

anyone know of a quick way to reset the first time powerup pre-install, so i can get it going, without returning it to the school and waiting at least a week before they put their custom image back on there.

its really bugging me, and all for the lack of a simple drive image backup on hand.

id put a generic XP on there, but they have their set apps and whatnot, and i dont happen to have an SP2 XP CD handy, just generic XP (not even SP1'ed).

where is the image ? on a partition? did the install auto start? could you boot with a xp disc and just quick format the partition and hope it auto boots from whatever partition the install is on? you could create a sp2 slipstreamed disc with the generic and sp2 from m$hq using nlite

[popper]

i dont have a clean one as he powered it up before i got the chance to make one, and they dont supply one on HD or a cd.

i cant format the single partition as that would loose all the files.

its booting fine , just messing up as it tryed to rerun the pre-setup and fails due to i assume currupt files being built as it first booted and ran the pre 'i agree' MS bit.

all factory, and in this case custom school installed HD images do this pre-install at first time power up, and i never worked out how to use the MS sysprep.

the laptops setup as a single bootable C: partition, and its got several non generic dirs .

including the i386,MSOCache,savwsa, support,sysprep and toshiba on the top dir.

there no setup.exe in the i386 though so i cant simply copy that off and run it elsewere.

there might be enough to make a new slipstream there though.

and i dont know any of the tools in sysprep.

it all comes down to a reset of the pre-install to make it stop crashing and hopefully run through to completion the next time i think.

so i can delete the assumed currupt /windows/system23/config files that got built as he first powered up and it crashed.

i dont know what files need to be in there so as to force a new clean pre-install on next powerup, it seems that is what needs to happen,and the info online is very sparse so i hope you lot have seen this before and know how to sort it.

as far as i can tell, everythings in the C: thats required, its just a bad pre-install build to make the 'i agree' and related MS bits tied to this Hardware.

so i assume there must be a way the admins use the sysprep tools or something else to reset this pre-setup on mass, i dont know how though?.

yeah ive never done anything with that kinda thing. Ive had systems with the booting method fail and ive just installed a clean windows on it but like you say you do not get the software. You could try pulling it off and see if there are installers for this school software and if it is

You say you have a generic xp you can slipstream sp2 into that as I said with nlite and if the folders on the disk have installers you can install those after. Otherwise its a re imaging at the school

[ZrByte]

If its supplied by the school is there not someone else with the same machine/apps who would let you make a dvd image of their setup? would be quicker than waiting for the school methinks.

[popper]

i just asked him and he doesnt know of any mates that got one ,only a few in the top set got one, Doh

hopefully some sysprep using admin reader will know, and point me in the right direction, its something new to learn anyway LOL.

ill make a new slipstream anyway, as i havent for a while, its just a pain knowing a simple image taken before first boot would have saved all this messing about, he wont do that again.

ohh, as far as i can tell, theres no setup for the apps as such , it seems thats what the pre-install was doing building the final post install so thats out, what fun....

on a side note,a liveCD Slax plays HD nice on this thing

[haydnwalker]

I'd just send it back to school with a polite:

"This laptop won't turn on due to windows not working and no recovery CD/partition" note!

Theres not really alot you can do if they've installed custom apps on it i dont think. They might have deployed the image to all the laptops using a deployment console like SMS/Altiris and so not partitioned it with an image etc.

If so it will only take 20ish mins to re-image (providing the image isn't duff..)

[southwell]

If they have a proper imaging system in place just book in a time to take it in and wait around until it's done. Shouldn't take longer than 20-30mins.

[popper]

LOl, well its going to take at least two weeks +40 mins as they are off tomorrow and , apparently the Tech admin in school cant even do anything before i ring up a help line and answer the script monkeys.

the implyed fix from the so called admin was an image although he didnt seem to know much tech talk and couldnt give me access to a working copy.

so i have my work cut out with them.... for no good reason, ill just re-partition magic the drive for now and stuff a clean Linu.... i mean XP on there.

im still interested in finding out the 'how to reset this pre-setup on mass' so i may play around later , anyone got any good 'MS sysprep tools' Urls.

i thought there might have been a few sysprep tools users here to help and guide, arr well.

[southwell]

Do you want a bullet pointed list on the procedure to sysprep from a clean build?

[popper]

that would be great southwell, any sysprep and related tools pointers are always welcome.

its good to learn new stuff and keep your thinking fresh