Windows XP conspiracy theory

[talonracer]

Ok something very bizarre just happened to me and I wanna vent. For about a week now I have been trying to find a way to delete an NTFS partition on my HD and reinstall Windows XP. Its a LONG story why i uninstalled it and went back to Windows 2000. So anyway I finally wiped my HD clean and got back the Fat32 file structure, I Fdisked to delte then partition then made a new one, I formatted that partition. Now its just like I bought a new hard drive, done this HUNDREDS of times to various computers. Now on to my problem, XP will NOT install. It will not install thru the setup disks Microsoft just released, nor will it install over Windows 98 (I don't have a bootable CD rom to do a clean install). I have done this many times for people. But no matter WHAT I try XP simply gets to a point and stops installing, right after it copies the setup files then restarts to the blue screen, it just hangs up when it says "Starting windows" VERY bizarre since i have installed XP on this machine a few times with NO trouble. I fdisked and reformatted 3 times to no avail. No onto my theory, I actually heard this thru the computer grapevine. When you install XP it right a tiny hidden file onto a corner of you HD, it doesn't matter if you delete that partition or format it.........its still there. What is does is blocks multiple installs of XP, what you then have to do is call Microsoft support and they have a "fix" for it-most likely a new serial number. Sound bizarre?? think of how brilliant that actually is. I don't buy software ESPECIALLY from Bill Gates so I have a corporate final version of XP pro. this very version is on many computers that I know of but I'm the first to try and reinstall it a few times. So I'm gonna try another serial number (I have the "fuck gateway" one -FCKGW) or try another HD I BEt this will solve it. My ex wife has a program that the FBI uses that TOTALLY wipes your HD clean I may try that too. Anyone here have any opinions??? And please don't whine to me about using pirated software, Bill Gates is rich enough thank you and his software sucks but you have no choice but to use the damn stuff.

 

[HappyScrappy]

use something that is windows agnostic. install linux on it - then do all your wiping and then install xp again.
there isn't any such thing as a "hidden" part of your hard drive - there is the boot sector, which is what it likely is in since that is the most crucial area - everything else is just data....

might be worth reading up on it more if you are interested

 

[the nature boy]

have you tried a low level format? Or using another disk as the master and and installing XP on that drive, and keep the fucked up disk as a slave disk. What about putting a big magnet on the disk, that should wipe it out right?

 

[HappyScrappy]

a big magnet on the disk, that should wipe it out right?

actually, that is harder than you'd think - works on floppies, doesn't erase it all, just fucks it up (scrambles it) so it might as well be erased.
but the HDs are shielded more.
not to say you couldn't do it - just harder than you'd think

 

[the nature boy]

Actaully you can keep the hard drive in a close proximity to Balls of Steel, that way he can just "dumb down" the XP info written on the hidden sector until it won't work anymore.

 

[FreakMonster]

http://www.arachnoid.com/boycott/

 

[Code]

You'd need a HUGE magnet to wipe a HD.

Fdisk isn't a low level format, it simply erases the residue of Windows. I doubt it's a conspiracy, since it's not a sound way of copy protection. Not having a bootable cd is probably your biggect stumbling block.

Get a mac. Or follow Happy's advice and use a real OS to wipe the drive. Or do both, sell the PC and get a mac.

 

[HappyScrappy]

code is delusional - macs suck

but the new os is pretty. I'll give it that. and they have some shiny laptops.

 

[JohnnyO]

I have an old Novell Server 3.0 boot floppy that does a completely destructive format. I'll email it if anyone is interested.

 

[talonracer]

Hey i WAS the biggest Mac guy around, still love the things. But when I can go to a show and assemble a PC for about 1/3 the price Macs lose out. The last one I had was a 275mhz 6500, I'd love to play with a G4 but damn I can have 3 PC's for that plus they aren't upgradable.