A Conflagration of Randomness

So a few weeks ago I was trying to install Windows XP x64, but for some reason I could not get it to run, no matter what I tried.  So I borrowed a friends’ 32 bit as well to test it and I was also getting a Blue Screen of Death right after the installer said “Starting Windows XP.” So I started doing research.  The key factor I found on a random website was that Windows XP does not natively support Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI), ie, the way my computer reads my SATA drives.  The Wikipedia Article on AHCI states:

The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a programming-specification which defines the operation of Serial ATA host-controllers (also known as host bus adapters) in a non implementation-specific manner. The specification describes a system memory structure for computer hardware vendors in order to exchange data between host system memory and the attached storage-devices.

However, since Windows XP only natively supports ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment; such funny names these programmers have), the fact that I was trying to install XP on a AHCI computer meant the Blue Screen of Death was inevitable.  To solve this problem, the Windows XP install disc needs the proper drivers to be able to recognize this Hard Drive specification and below I will show you how to do it for the Dell XPS 630i, which is the computer I own, installing Windows XP 64-bit.  The drivers vary with computer and chipset, but I will show you a semi-general way that you may be able to repeat with other computers, since the original instructions I followed were for not even an XPS computer.  First we will need to find out what kind of chipset we have.

Needed programs and items:

• Windows XP Installation Disc
• CPU-Z
• Drivers for your chipset
• nLite

Getting Chipset

1. Download CPU-Z from here and unzip it.  This program allows you to view information about your computer such as your chipset. 
   
2. Run CPU-Z and look under the Mainboard tab.  There should be a place where it says chipset and to the right of this is the chipset that is running on your computer.  For the Dell XPS 630i this should read “nForce 650i SLI,” however this will be different depending what computer/motherboard you have.  For example, my HP dv9820us Laptop reads “nForce 560.”
   
3. If yours reads “nForce” something then go to http://www.nvidia.com -> Download Drivers.  For product type, select “nForce” and for product series, pick the number of the first digit of your chipset number.  For example in the Dell XPS 630i, the series is 6, and for my HP laptop, the series is 5.  Then under product, find the number of your chipset.  Select your operating system that you want to install.  In this case I chose Windows XP 64-bit.  If it does not have “nForce” try search your computers main drivers website or Google for these drivers.
   
4. Go to the next page and accept the agreement and download the drivers to a location that you can locate.  In this case I chose my desktop.  Extract these files if archived into a folder.  Personally I have Winrar so I can extract the files directly from the exe file, but if you can’t install using the exe then browse to the folder similar to “C:\NVIDIA\nForceWinXP64Int\SOME CUMBER” or remember the path that it extracts the files to.
5. Now we will need to download nLite from here.  Install this program like normal. Then open this program.  Here comes the part where you make your own installation disc.
6. Start the program and click next after selecting your language.
7. On the installation disc page, browse for your installation disc.  You can also select an iso file here. It will then immediately ask where to copy these files to.
   
   
   
   (click to enlarge)
8. Let it copy the files then click next twice until you are at task selection.
9. Click on Drivers and next. You may select more if you know what you are doing.
10. On the next page click Insert and select Multiple Driver Folder.
    
11. Browse to the folder containing the drivers.
12. It will ask you to select the drivers to integrate.  Press All  then OK.  In the next few screens (depending on how many drivers make sure to select all the drivers in menus.
    
13. You should then see the main screen filled like below.
    
14. Click next and click yes to the question.
15. It will take a while to compile the data and output a result.  On the final screen you can select what you want to do with the installation disc, whether make an iso or burn it.

Through Windows very pretty GUI file explorer it is sometimes hard to remember that some powerful tools can be hard to find through it, but are readily available through the “Run…” link that can be found on any Windows XP Start Menu.

MSCONFIG

I will begin with one of the most useful commands and programs I have found on not only speeding up my computer’s boot time, but also allowing those annoying sneaky programs from starting up before they even have a chance.

First go to the Start Menu and click “Run…” or press the Windows Key and R at the same time.  Both will bring up a prompt in the left-bottom corner of the screen.  In this box type msconfig.  A new box should pop up and should look like the screen below.  If you have never edited this before, the Normal Startup radio button should be selected.

From here click on the Startup Tab and you should be presented with a list of items like the one listed below.

These are the are the non system necessary programs that start up with your computer.  You may see ones for various anti-virus programs such as the avgtray item listed above.  You may uncheck whichever ones you like, but only try to uncheck ones you know are absolutely unnecessary to your computers normal operations.  I don’t take responsibility for errors due to the unchecking of any of these entries.

Another way to view Startup programs is to get to the “Run..” prompt again and type in the box “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup” without the quotes.  If there are any programs are in there that you don’t want starting up you can delete them.  Also, you can put shortcuts to programs in here such as shortcuts to Batch files you want running at startup.

SERVICES.MSC

First go to the Start Menu and click “Run…” or press the Windows Key and R at the same time.  Both will bring up a prompt in the left-bottom corner of the screen.  In this box type services.msc.  A new box should pop up and should look like the screen below.

These are the various services that your computer runs.  If you right click on an entry you will see the menu that is shown above.   If you want extended information about each service, go to the “extended” tab on the bottom left hand corner of this window.  There are several columns listed by default describing each service and services can be sorted by each category by double clicking on the name of that column.  The Name column obviously shows the name of the service and the Description one shows the description of the service.  The Status of the service shows whether it is active or not shown by whether the service is started or not.  The Startup Type shows whether the service is set to start up with the computer or when needed (Automatic),  requires to user to start it (Manual), or is disabled from working at all.

Now if you right click on a service and go to Properties, you will be shown a box just like below.

If the program is running it will have the option to Stop the program and if the program is on Manual but not started then you can Manually Start it here. The Startup type dropdown box allows you to choose whether to make the serrvice be Automatic, Manual, or Disabled.  In this case I disable the Messenger service because this program is notable for showing spam on your computer.  There are multiple sites online that sell Messenger ads that are spammed to millions of users around the world who have this service enabled.  It was originally made for communicating on a network but has been exploited in multiple ways.  I suggest you disable this, but again you take your own risk when disabling any service and mess up your computer in any way.

CMD

One way to get to the famous Command Prompt is to go to the “Run…” prompt which you should know how to get to by now and type in cmd.  This should bring up the command prompt in all its glory.  I will do another post some other day on the usefulness of the Command Prompt.

REGEDIT

One of the most powerful tools on the computer, but also one of the most dangerous is the Registry Editor, accessed by typing regedit into the “Run…” prompt.  I will not go further into the Registry editor at the moment, because of the severe damage it can cause to your computer if anything wrong is done with it.  It is however a database of all settings and configurations for most if not everything that runs on your computer.  I may do a separate post on this someday.

Other Things to Do

GPEDIT.MSC

To access the group editor and change permissions or settings for users you can type gpedit.msc in the “Run…” prompt and play around with it.

File Browser

The “Run…” prompt can be used as a file browser by typing in the location of any folder.  A Explorer viewer will popup once you have pressed enter.