Upgrade Presario SR1799AN to Windows XP Pro
 

Hi
I recently bought a Compaq SR1799AN desktop computer which has an AMD Athlon
64 X2 Dual Core Processor and 2GB RAM. It comes with Windows XP Home
pre-installed.

I tried to upgrade to Windows XP Pro with an upgrade package I bought from a
computer store and the installation seemed to be going
smoothly until the system tried to re-boot. As soon as the computer began
restarting a blue screen would appear only for an instant (so I couldn't
read what it said) and then the computer would try to restart again. This
process would just repeat in what appeared to be an endless cycle. I
recovered the system back to the factory XP Home installation with the
recovery disks I had made.

When I contacted Compaq Telephone Support they told me that their OEM
version of Windows XP Home cannot be upgraded to Windows XP Pro and blamed
Microsoft for this. I can't believe that Microsoft would close the door on
so many potential sales of upgrades to people who buy brands like Compaq, HP
and all the other major companies who bundle OEM versions of Windows with
their computers.

Could somebody please advise if what the Compaq people told me is correct or
are there in fact other issues with upgrading Windows on this particular
machine.
e.g. When installing I chose the "Upgrade" option - should I have chosen
"New Installation"?
Thank you for your help.

Upgrade Presario SR1799AN to Windows XP Pro
 

In article , Richard W
writes
Hi
I recently bought a Compaq SR1799AN desktop computer which has an AMD Athlon
64 X2 Dual Core Processor and 2GB RAM. It comes with Windows XP Home
pre-installed.

I tried to upgrade to Windows XP Pro with an upgrade package I bought from a
computer store and the installation seemed to be going
smoothly until the system tried to re-boot. As soon as the computer began
restarting a blue screen would appear only for an instant (so I couldn't
read what it said) and then the computer would try to restart again. This
process would just repeat in what appeared to be an endless cycle. I
recovered the system back to the factory XP Home installation with the
recovery disks I had made.

When I contacted Compaq Telephone Support they told me that their OEM
version of Windows XP Home cannot be upgraded to Windows XP Pro and blamed
Microsoft for this. I can't believe that Microsoft would close the door on
so many potential sales of upgrades to people who buy brands like Compaq, HP
and all the other major companies who bundle OEM versions of Windows with
their computers.

Could somebody please advise if what the Compaq people told me is correct or
are there in fact other issues with upgrading Windows on this particular
machine.
e.g. When installing I chose the "Upgrade" option - should I have chosen
"New Installation"?
Thank you for your help.


I do not think the Compaq people are correct. I have found nothing in
the Licence agreements to say you cannot go down the Compaq supplied
Home to shop bought XP upgrade route. I have done this on a Compaq
Presario 1525, without problem.

Your problem sounds more like a SATA drivers problem. SATA drivers need
to be installed right at the beginning of the Windows XP instal process
(press F6).

The SATA drivers do not appear to be supplied as stand alone for your
workstation. I do not know where you could find the appropriate SATA
drivers, particularly as you have had a less than helpful response from
Compaq.


--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

Upgrade Presario SR1799AN to Windows XP Pro
 

I do not think the Compaq people are correct. I have found nothing in
the Licence agreements to say you cannot go down the Compaq supplied
Home to shop bought XP upgrade route. I have done this on a Compaq
Presario 1525, without problem.

Your problem sounds more like a SATA drivers problem. SATA drivers need
to be installed right at the beginning of the Windows XP instal process
(press F6).

The SATA drivers do not appear to be supplied as stand alone for your
workstation. I do not know where you could find the appropriate SATA
drivers, particularly as you have had a less than helpful response from
Compaq.


--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

Thank you for your reply Nicholas. I think I'll stay safe and stick to the
original XP Home installation. This is my third Compaq machine and the first
time I have had to use their (non-existent) customer support. I originally
sought help by email by following all the logical support links on the HP
web site and got the following reply:

*Richard , please note that we are not the post-sales technical helpdesk
regarding the concerned product and thus we do not possess the technical
expertise for the same. In order to resolve the issue effectively, please
refer to the respective product helpdesk for all post sales technical
support.

Kindly call on the below mentioned number:......*

Instead of passing my query on to someone with the *technical expertise*
they gave me a telephone number to call and even asked me to be patient as I
would most likely experience delays. Fortunately I didn't experience a delay
but I still wasted my time as the person who took my call was just as
useless - had to go away and ask somebody else and then came back with the
response that Compaq version of XP Home could not be upgraded to XP Pro and
then went on to blame Microsoft for this.

No more HP or Compaq computers for me.