confused

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I own an hp presario zx5000. This system comes with xp home which I
consider less than xp pro or w2000. I was thinking about switching to
one of those and contacted hp and they responded that the operating
system that came with the laptop is integral and any switch to a
retail operating system would cause the laptop to stop working (no
more usb, hard disk, display, audio, etc would also no longer work).
There are, apparantly, also enhancements and they too would go away.

I checked the hardware and it all seems pretty vanilla. The only
thing I can think of is that they have messed with the bios in such a
way that it is now dependent on the supplied operating system.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

Thanks........

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

John,
I have machines that are both XPhome and XPro. The real difference is
that the XPro thends to be a little less annoying (not by much).

Compaq and Hp both used to put serious modifications into what ever MS
opsys they bought into to make it more or less stable and reliable.
They put a lot of effort into making an MSPOS work as advertised. They
do have the drivers for the supplied hardware most all the other opsys
on their site.

Some time ago I tried to upgrade a Win98 Compaq laptop to win98se and it
was a dismal failure. When I put Win2k on that machine, nobody could
ever find the modem.

MY BET - If you have the factory recovery set - try it - but be ready
to go back (a ghost of the working system might be nice to have).

Matt Colie (at this stuff way too long)

johnwhite wrote:

> I own an hp presario zx5000. This system comes with xp home which I
> consider less than xp pro or w2000. I was thinking about switching to
> one of those and contacted hp and they responded that the operating
> system that came with the laptop is integral and any switch to a
> retail operating system would cause the laptop to stop working (no
> more usb, hard disk, display, audio, etc would also no longer work).
> There are, apparantly, also enhancements and they too would go away.
>
> I checked the hardware and it all seems pretty vanilla. The only
> thing I can think of is that they have messed with the bios in such a
> way that it is now dependent on the supplied operating system.
>
> Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks........

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Mostly, what you were told by HP is BS. However, reinstallation of a
generic copy of the OS can be a farily significant effort, depending on
how many of the necessary drivers are and are not part of the generic OS
(for 2000, it's likely to be near NONE), and depending on how hard they
are to get (usually not difficult, but it can still mean tracking down,
downloading and installing close to a dozen drivers).

First suggestion: Forget 2000, it's inferior to at least XP Pro in
almost every way. If you don't like XP's interface or "looks", that can
be changed to match 2000 (see a thread from abouta week ago on this topic).

Second comment: There are a limited number of specific differences
(about a dozen) between XP Home and XP Pro. For most users, these
really don't matter. For the most part, they are the same OS unless you
need one of those specific features.


johnwhite wrote:

> I own an hp presario zx5000. This system comes with xp home which I
> consider less than xp pro or w2000. I was thinking about switching to
> one of those and contacted hp and they responded that the operating
> system that came with the laptop is integral and any switch to a
> retail operating system would cause the laptop to stop working (no
> more usb, hard disk, display, audio, etc would also no longer work).
> There are, apparantly, also enhancements and they too would go away.
>
> I checked the hardware and it all seems pretty vanilla. The only
> thing I can think of is that they have messed with the bios in such a
> way that it is now dependent on the supplied operating system.
>
> Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks........

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

As usual, Barry's advice is right on the mark.

If you'd like to know the specific differences between XP Home and XP Pro,
the first few links in this search will answer your questions:

http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+xp+pro+home+differences

Other than what's listed on those pages, XP Home and XP Pro are the same
operating system.

-Mike

Barry Watzman wrote:
> Mostly, what you were told by HP is BS. However, reinstallation of a
> generic copy of the OS can be a farily significant effort, depending on
> how many of the necessary drivers are and are not part of the generic OS
> (for 2000, it's likely to be near NONE), and depending on how hard they
> are to get (usually not difficult, but it can still mean tracking down,
> downloading and installing close to a dozen drivers).
>
> First suggestion: Forget 2000, it's inferior to at least XP Pro in almost
> every way. If you don't like XP's interface or "looks", that can be
> changed to match 2000 (see a thread from abouta week ago on this topic).
>
> Second comment: There are a limited number of specific differences (about
> a dozen) between XP Home and XP Pro. For most users, these really don't
> matter. For the most part, they are the same OS unless you need one of
> those specific features.

> johnwhite wrote:
>> I own an hp presario zx5000. This system comes with xp home which I
>> consider less than xp pro or w2000. I was thinking about switching to
>> one of those and contacted hp and they responded that the operating
>> system that came with the laptop is integral and any switch to a
>> retail operating system would cause the laptop to stop working (no
>> more usb, hard disk, display, audio, etc would also no longer work).
>> There are, apparantly, also enhancements and they too would go away.
>>
>> I checked the hardware and it all seems pretty vanilla. The only
>> thing I can think of is that they have messed with the bios in such a
>> way that it is now dependent on the supplied operating system.
>>
>> Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
>>
>> Thanks........

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

drufus2002@yahoo.com (johnwhite) wrote in
news:a0b51310.0409041356.347ea690@posting.google.com:

> This system comes with xp home which I consider less than xp pro or
w2000.

Before you go any further, I recommend you consider carefully what
specific benefits moving to XP Pro/Win2K would bring for *your
particular circumstances*.

IME most home users would see no benefit at all - so why precisely do
you feel the need to do this?

How would you get support afterwards, given that HP would not be
able/willing to support you? (From the nature of your question I am
assuming you would not capable of being self-sufficient).

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Michael Geary" <Mike@Geary.com> wrote in message news:<10jkr741iuutq00@corp.supernews.com>...
> As usual, Barry's advice is right on the mark.
>
> If you'd like to know the specific differences between XP Home and XP Pro,
> the first few links in this search will answer your questions:
>
> http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+xp+pro+home+differences
>
> Other than what's listed on those pages, XP Home and XP Pro are the same
> operating system.
>
> -Mike
>
> Barry Watzman wrote:
> > Mostly, what you were told by HP is BS. However, reinstallation of a
> > generic copy of the OS can be a farily significant effort, depending on
> > how many of the necessary drivers are and are not part of the generic OS
> > (for 2000, it's likely to be near NONE), and depending on how hard they
> > are to get (usually not difficult, but it can still mean tracking down,
> > downloading and installing close to a dozen drivers).
> >
> > First suggestion: Forget 2000, it's inferior to at least XP Pro in almost
> > every way. If you don't like XP's interface or "looks", that can be
> > changed to match 2000 (see a thread from abouta week ago on this topic).
> >
> > Second comment: There are a limited number of specific differences (about
> > a dozen) between XP Home and XP Pro. For most users, these really don't
> > matter. For the most part, they are the same OS unless you need one of
> > those specific features.
>
> > johnwhite wrote:
> >> I own an hp presario zx5000. This system comes with xp home which I
> >> consider less than xp pro or w2000. I was thinking about switching to
> >> one of those and contacted hp and they responded that the operating
> >> system that came with the laptop is integral and any switch to a
> >> retail operating system would cause the laptop to stop working (no
> >> more usb, hard disk, display, audio, etc would also no longer work).
> >> There are, apparantly, also enhancements and they too would go away.
> >>
> >> I checked the hardware and it all seems pretty vanilla. The only
> >> thing I can think of is that they have messed with the bios in such a
> >> way that it is now dependent on the supplied operating system.
> >>
> >> Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
> >>
> >> Thanks........

I should update this (which I am doing)
I have been in communcation with HP and today I received a note
telling me that I should be able to upgrade to XP Pro with little or
no problem and that HP either has, or know where I can get, any
drivers I might need after the upgrade. It only took a few exchanges
to get bumped to somebody who actually knew the score. The lesson
learned is that you just gotta keep on their back and they will,
eventually, put somebody on the case with some expertise.

Thanks for all the help.........

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

johnwhite wrote...
>
> I should update this (which I am doing)
> I have been in communcation with HP and today I received a note
> telling me that I should be able to upgrade to XP Pro with little or
> no problem and that HP either has, or know where I can get, any
> drivers I might need after the upgrade. It only took a few exchanges
> to get bumped to somebody who actually knew the score. The lesson
> learned is that you just gotta keep on their back and they will,
> eventually, put somebody on the case with some expertise.

The Download page for most recent HP laptops gives you options for XP-home,
XP-pro and W2000.

Most of the downloads for my computer seem to be the same for each.
Probably not surprising really since the differences between XP and 2000 are
not enough to warrant a new full version number. M$0ft calls 2000 "NT 5.0"
and XP "NT 5.1"

David