Multi Manufacturer Pre-Activation

[ZaForD]

Anyone had any problems with the Packard Bell fileset ?

I've got a Packard Bell P4 2.5Ghz here, [no model name that I can see, but it has a long blue oval around the switches on the front] I've tried both Home and Pro with the OEMBIOS fileset, without any luck.

Anyone got any ideas ?

[Bezalel]

Anyone had any problems with the Packard Bell fileset ?

I've got a Packard Bell P4 2.5Ghz here, [no model name that I can see, but it has a long blue oval around the switches on the front] I've tried both Home and Pro with the OEMBIOS fileset, without any luck.

Anyone got any ideas ?

Open debug and type the following line

S F000:0000 FFFF "NECC_"

and post the results here.

Also check the CRC32 hashes for (all 4 of) the oembios files just to make sure the fileset you are using is the same set that I'm looking at.

BIN:323e2e81

CAT:82d4d6a4

DAT:9fb16bbc

SIG:f8a681a8

[FreeStyler]

There are currently 2 known sets...maybe you have the wrong one

NEC & PACKARDBELL-323E2E81

NEC & PACKARDBELL-D4D8DCA9

[ZaForD]

Hi Guys,

Heres the details i've dug up so far:

DMI BIOS INFO:

AMI BIOS v07.00T

date: 0425

Packard Bell NEC [sys info]MicroStar Inc [bB info]

NEC Computers International [sE info]

MGADiag:

<BIOS><Manufacturer>American Megatrends Inc. </Manufacturer><Version>07.00T </Version><SMBIOSVersion major="2" minor="3"/><Date>20020926000000.000000+000</Date><SLPBIOS>NECC_</SLPBIOS></BIOS>

ComputerReport:

Manufacturer: Packard Bell NEC

Model: 00000000000000000000000

5061636B 61726420 42656C6C 204E4543

I tried changing the BIOS Manufacturer DMI.exe from Packard Bell NEC to NECC_ but that didn't make any difference.

@Bezalel

Open debug and type the following line CODES F000:0000 FFFF "NECC_" and post the results here.

Could you explain how or what to 'debug' ?

All four files have the same CRC32 hashes as yours.

BIN:323E2E81

CAT:82D4D6A4

DAT:9FB16BBC

SIG:F8A681A8

They're the files I extacted from a Packard Bell laptop which was running Home SP1.

@FreeStyler

I've tried both sets, I thought the first one may have failed because the files were newer than the PC.

So I then tried the older 'NEC & PACKARDBELL-323E2E81' set, which still didn't work.

[Bezalel]

The OEMBIOS set you are using requires that "NECC_" be in the bios at exactly F000:F4F0. On the few systems that I looked at this coresponds to the BIOS version string (not in the SMBIOS table). To start debug open a command prompt and type debug. The command S F000:0000 FFFF "NECC_" will tell you every time the srting NECC_ occures in the BIOS.

The other OEMBIOS set that FreeStyler mentioned will accept the strings "NECC_", "NEC-PC", "NEC Computers", or "NEC_Product" anywhere within the BIOS.

FreeStyler: The 323E2E81 set should be considured obsolete, the D4D8DCA9 set should be used as a replacement.

[ZaForD]

@Bezalel,

I've been messing round with the BIOS changing the manufacturer strings back and forth allday. And god only knows what it'll say now.

I grabbed the lastest BIOS from Packard Bell before I started messing with this.

So i'll install that, do the debug check, make a new UA disk with the newer D4D8DCA9 file set, and do a fresh install.

I'll post the results a little later.

Update

I did the debug and got these results:

F000:BCBB

F000:FF70

Edited August 6, 2006 by ZaForD

[Bezalel]

I did the debug and got these results:

F000:BCBB

F000:FF70

The 323E2E81 set will not work with this BIOS but the D4D8DCA9 set should work.

[FreeStyler]

FreeStyler: The 323E2E81 set should be considured obsolete, the D4D8DCA9 set should be used as a replacement.

Thats what i already thought....as it provides more options

[ZaForD]

Hi Guys,

I made a new UA disk with the newer D4D8DCA9 file set and did a fresh install, but it still wouldn't pre-active.

We also got an AMD version in today, so I tried both UA disks on this one too, with the same results.

There must be another Packard Bell set for these 'iMedia' PC's.

Anyway, I did another debug test after the install, on both PC's with these results:

NECC_

F000:BCBB

F000:FF70

NEC Computers

F000:06F1

F000:0814

NEC-PC and NEC_Product stayed blank.

I hope the info is useful to someone.

[Bezalel]

Hi Guys,

I made a new UA disk with the newer D4D8DCA9 file set and did a fresh install, but it still wouldn't pre-active.

We also got an AMD version in today, so I tried both UA disks on this one too, with the same results.

There must be another Packard Bell set for these 'iMedia' PC's.

Anyway, I did another debug test after the install, on both PC's with these results:

NECC_

F000:BCBB

F000:FF70

NEC Computers

F000:06F1

F000:0814

NEC-PC and NEC_Product stayed blank.

I hope the info is useful to someone.

Can you post your MGADiag.exe report?

[ZaForD]

Can you post your MGADiag.exe report?

Heres the report from the AMD:

Diagnostic Report (1.5.0540.0):

-----------------------------------------

WGA Data-->

Genuine Validation Status: Not Activated

Windows Product Key: *****-*****-C683G-4MD2C-848B8

Windows Product Key Hash: dLW6td2teWtrVwqdX5TT/krGxW0=

Windows Product ID: 55277-OEM-2144721-52939

Windows Product ID Type: 3

Windows License Type: COA/Sysem Builder

Windows OS version: 5.1.2600.2.00010300.2.0.hom

Download Center code: Failed to get code. Error:0x80072ee7

ID: {A1BFB2EC-F348-4BE0-A9DA-5A743AEFCCCF}

Is Admin: Yes

AutoDial:

Registry: 0x0

WGA Version: Registered, 1.5.540.0

Signature Type: Microsoft

Validation Diagnostic:

System Scan Data-->

Scan: Complete

Cryptography: Complete

Notifications Data-->

Cached Result: 1

Cache refresh Interval: 99 seconds

Extended notification delay(non-genuine): N/A

Extended notification delay(un-activated): N/A

All disabled: N/A

Reminder reduced: N/A

File Exists: Yes

Version: 1.5.540.0

Signatue Type: Microsoft

OGA Data-->

Office Status: 109

Office Diagnostics: B4D0AA8B-467-80070002

Browser Data-->

Proxy settings: N/A

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Win32)

Default Browser: E:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe

Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt

Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disabled

Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Allowed

Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disabled

Allow scripting of Internet Explorer Webbrowser control: Disabled

Active scripting: Allowed

Script ActiveX controls marked as safe for scripting: Allowed

File Scan Data-->

Other data-->

Office Details: <GenuineResults><MachineData><UGUID>{A1BFB2EC-F348-4BE0-A9DA-5A743AEFCCCF}</UGUID><Version>1.5.0540.0</Version><OS>5.1.2600.2.00010300.2.0.hom</OS><PKey>*****-*****-*****-*****-848B8</PKey><PID>55277-OEM-2144721-52939</PID><PIDType>3</PIDType><SID>S-1-5-21-1202660629-1844823847-682003330</SID><SYSTEM><Manufacturer>NEC Computers International </Manufacturer><Model>MS-6511 </Model></SYSTEM><BIOS><Manufacturer>American Megatrends Inc. </Manufacturer><Version>07.00T </Version><SMBIOSVersion major="2" minor="3"/><Date>20021119000000.000000+000</Date><SLPBIOS>NECC_,NEC-PC,NEC Computers,NEC_Product</SLPBIOS></BIOS><HWID>7401300F01842049</HWID><UserLCID>0809</UserLCID><SystemLCID>0409</SystemLCID><TimeZone>GMT Standard Time(GMT+00:00)</TimeZone></MachineData> <Software><Office><Result>109</Result><Products/></Office></Software></GenuineResults>

I'm trying a Pro install on the Intel at the moment, i'll post a report from it, when it finnishes.

[FreeStyler]

@ZaForD

Why do u use a COA/System Builder key and not a SLP Home key?

Edited August 7, 2006 by FreeStyler

[ZaForD]

@ZaForD

Why do u use a COA/System Builder key and not a SLP Home key?

Thats the key I got from the Packard Bell laptop, when I extracted the BIOS set from.

Update

That was the problem, I changed the key to one I knew was SLP and it activated on reboot.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Edited August 7, 2006 by ZaForD

[ZaForD]

Now i've got these two PC's running heres the ComputerReports

AMD iMedia

Manufacturer: NEC Computers International

Model: MS-6511

4E454320 436F6D70 75746572 7320496E 7465726E 6174696F 6E616C20 20202020

Intel iMedia

Manufacturer: NEC COMPUTERS INTERNATIONAL

Model: Columbia

4E454320 434F4D50 55544552 5320494E 5445524E 4154494F 4E414C20 20202020

The model name appears to be the Motherboard type.

[FreeStyler]

Update

That was the problem, I changed the key to one I knew was SLP and it activated on reboot.