Hi all, Sorry if this is a repeat question, i did have a search first. I have an OEM install from an HP shipped XPSP3 disc that didnt preactivate. Ive checked the crc of the installed OEMBIOS.cat against the output of oembios.exe and its incorrect (ive no idea why hp is shipping discs that dont preactivate correctly). I would like to install the correct BIOS files without having to reinstall windows. I have downloaded the correct BIOS files but im not sure how to install them. Do i just need to replace the old files with the new ones? I read that oembios.exe will "install" new BIOS files for you if there is a directory called "HP" in the same folder when you run it, but that didnt seem to work. Thanks for the help.
There is no reason at all why it should not activate if correct oem bios files are there and result matches from oembios.exe. post the info from oembios.exe and also the key from the winnt.sif file from the i386 folder on cd. remove first five numbers from key before posting also check the key from winnt.sif make sure it is the same as one on system.
There is no winnt.sif on the CD, the machine was a XP downgrade so i dunno if that makes any difference. The current OEMBIOS.cat crc is 2B9D18CF, which seems to be some generic version mentioned here (msfn.org/board/topic/71016-multi-manufacturer-pre-activation/page__st__460__p__694076&#entry694076). There are other identical machines here with the preinstalled XP activated, with different OEMBIOS files. The machine with the problem had to be rebuilt and didnt preactivate.
Now we are getting some info machine was rebuilt. Have you looked on the case for OEM serial number i don't mean OEM SLP. you could also just use the HP DMI boot cd posted in the stickies to tatto the DMI area. and use normal HP XP OEM SLP cd.
Hi urie, thanks for the reply. There is no XP OEM serial on the case only a Vista COA sticker, i installed with a generic HP XP OEM key (which i'm aware wont activate via the usual method). The DMI boot cd seems to add the HP string to the BIOS, but the machine i am working on already has the HP strings, see this oembios info: bayimg.com/baNNJaaCi I have bios files that match one of those listed by oembios in the picture, and would like to if possible add those to the existing install to get it activated. Sorry if i am not making sense.
Thanks, that appears to be exactly what i want. I was thrown off a bit by the name thinking it was only for VLK to OEM. I will test it out tomorrow.