XXHighEnd

Now what ?

Ever back it was promised that the SP1 Release Candidate would last until November (2011). At least that is what I recall. But now I'm receiving messages that there's 10 days left.

The first thing I like to know is whether others receive such messages as well. I mean, I don't trust it completely, because I also managed my PC to get into a state of not being "genuine". This is not real, because I manipulated a few things too many in the Registry here. Now it tells me to download some MS program in order to check it (for real ?) while I don't like additional stuff on my PC. So, I did not do that.

Next thing I like to know is whether someone -receiving that message- actually installed the SP1 RTM (official Release To Manufacturing) SP1 version, and how that goes;
I ask this, because the message tells me to backup my data and install the RTM version (it's telling nothing about SP1). The message is construted so that it implies nothing like an upgrade will be possible. Nor does it say that the RC can be uninstalled or something.

I could have dug into Google to find out, but somehow I believe that what we're doing in here is more genuine to my own situation. I mean, didn't we all install the SP1 RC somewhere at the start of 2011 ?

If you know anything which can help (in the end not only me of course), please let it know. At least I *really* don't like to setup a complete new system. Too much involved here ...

Thanks a lot,
Peter

Yep, getting the same message on the single machine I have with RC still installed.

I installed SP1 RTM on my two 'hifi' computers and my work PC quite a few months ago. I can't quite remember exactly what I did, but I think it was a clean install on both occasions - I don't think there is an alternative. But SP1 seems OK me. Totally stable on all three machines I have it on.

And anyway, the new NOS1 is completely immune to anything the computer throws at it, so it doesn't matter... no?

Mani.

Peter, I also noticed a message pop up in the status area Monday night briefly which was likely similar to what you saw, but haven't followed up on it yet. I didn't switch on my music server yesterday but will do so later tonight most likely. I did check the system "properties" page and nothing seemed out of place there, nor were any warnings evident.

My music server has no connection to the Internet and is isolated from the rest of my LAN.

Cheers,

Russ

Peter,

Yes i did get the message too. But it is my music pc only so i changed the date. Do not know if that will help.

 :)

Yes, it was no problem to install ............... .

Hmm ...
And btw, I am not able to incur for the message myself. I have seen it three times or so by now, indeed since the beginning of this week or something.

No I am not worried about the SQ coming from the RTM version, or at least there will be nothing to do about it. And, we knew it was coming. But what I would not like is that new install (TIME).

Please let anyone come up with something like an upgrade being possible ...

Hi Peter,

the only way I can think of is to mirror your drive "C" and try to install SP1. If that fails you have a lot of work over the weekend.

But you know that already!

Joachim

When I installed SP1 it came with a bunch of OS and security updates that influenced SQ. Uninstalling all the updates except SP1 brought back the "RC sound". Talked about it here: http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1668.0

Yes. I saw that message few days ago. I panic and uninstalled SP1 RC. Was no problem. Then installed SP1 RTM + all those updates. Runs OK, but not sure about the sound, have no listened yet. Just wanted my PC up before it locks down, cause use it also for web and other minor stuff.

Guys,

Not a direct solution to the RC1 update I am afraid but this may help with confidence regarding the performance of Vanilla W7 SP1 from standard Microsoft media.

I recently followed the advice that was kindly provided and upgraded to W7. My install is W7 Ultimate 64bit standard CD media with SP1 included, it sits in a non-networked music PC, so no further windows update activity. W7 SP1 straight from this media sounds very good indeed and although it’s difficult to be sure the bass and top end sounds as people have been describing elsewhere on the forum for W7 & RC1 installs (much, much better than Vista).

If you need to update from SP RC1 to SP1 I guess the problem is stopping any none essential (for music that is) Windows updates being applied. I don’t have a solution there but the vanilla W7 SP1 media seems ok if you have access to it.

Nick

Hello , I did the same uninstalled SP1 RC , then reinstalled all the RTM stuff ,and confirm the need to hotfixes (1) and other security updates .
While XX high end works exactly like before , same settings , it looks like there are running some more tasks , and the system seems overall just slightly slowed .  The sq very good still , but not sure if the same as before .

Well, it is good to know that it seems possible to uninstall and next upgrade. Thank you everybody !

Regarding the possibly less SQ or more slomo stuff, at this time I would not worry about this. I am right now finishing 0.9z-6-0 as a beta for at least one person to test (:heat:), and although not really finished, it wont take long now until you'll find yourself with an almost unplugged PC. Ok, I guess I could do that too by now, but I thought it wasn't the best idea.

Anyway, whatever it is that may run additionally to the W7 SP1-RC version, will be blown to hell by XXHighEnd anyway.
Watch it coming ...

Peter

Good, I am running W7 Pro with (official release) SP1 and all updates included... and that hopefully should not make a difference either.

Bert

I have a solution for myself, and depending upon how comfortable you are with dabbling within Windows and using third party apps, my method should work for you, although no guarantee's of course.

Firstly, determine whether you have a SP1 version that is expected to expire. Do a search within your system drive for "Winver.exe". You may have several hits/paths depending upon which version on windows you are running. Try running each entry in turn, and one (or all) should bring up a small window with details on your system. Mine highlighted the fact that I had SP1 RC installed and will expire on Sep 1st 2011 at 9:59 AM.

If you don't have mention of an expiry date after running winver.exe, then go make a cuppa and continue listening to music!

If you want to attempt to uninstall the RC version of SP1, and subsequently install the final version, the following web site should prove useful.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/99064-windows-7-service-pack-1-sp1-uninstall.html

If you prefer to try and stick with SP1-RC for the time being, then you need a "loader" to circumvent the expiry. If you google search for "windows loader DAZ" , you will see several references as to where to obtain this third party app by "DAZ".

In preparation to trialing the loader, I cloned my operating drive to another and booted up on that clone, thus keeping my current environment intact in case of calamity.

After installing the loader, I then reset system hardware date to a month ahead and booted the system. It came up fine. Further date resets to 2 months ahead and a year also resulted in no untoward consequences. I finally reset back to 1st Sep 2011 to see what would happen. Everything OK :)

The system date is now back to current, and later this evening I will apply the loader to my normal operating drive. I expect it all to work just as it did with the cloned drive.

Hope the above helps,

Cheers,

Russ

Thanks Russ. I guess all that ends at "Z" is good ...

But if I were you I would NOT count on that date trick. We IT people know all about such a thing (obviously) and the first thing I would do myself is covering for such a thing. Your best option might be to set the date ahead as you did, but now wait for the mesage to appear for at least two days (I have the hunch it pops up once per day). If it then stays away it may be allright forever.

Also notice that when it goes wrong afterall, you won't be able to get into your system - also not with the backup disk. At least such a thing can happen. This may be similar to not having your PC hooked up to the internet (while earlier on you said something like "register as soon as internet connection is there"), and when you at last connect, you're in trouble right away.

If you are dependend on a sort of unable to setup your system again (like I think I am / don't want that) I would not take the chances. Additionally, where you may be allright this time, at a next upgrade it maybe won't go.

Hey, I was just able to capture that fine message.
Peter

Thanks Peter, your advice is noted. As I have my cloned drive still operable, I will set date to Sep 1st and run with it like that for a few days. The server is isolated from everything so having it a few days advanced won't bother me too much. If it is still behaving in a weeks time, I will still have a few days to apply the loader to my "real" system drive.

I'm only going to this effort to save some time in having to possibly rebuild system from scratch, and apply all the many tweaks I had made. If the 0.9z-6 works out as expected then a rebuild should be a far easier task if needed.

Cheers,

Russ

Btw, here you see how to get more explicit access to this message balloon. If you click the Show Hidden Icons button in the Taskbar Tray, and click the "Customize" link you will come into this screen. There, the Windows Activation entry is about this message, but it is defaulted to "Only show notifications". When you change it into "Show icon and notifications", it says that nothing won't be shown now (for icon) but it will at the next time it gets active. Should be tomorrow.

What *then* is possible is a bit of a guess, but I think when you then click the icon (thus, once it is there, tomorrow) it will give you the balloon right away. So, then you can check whether the Z thing helped (for this stage).
Remember, this is what I expect - Not sure at all.

Peter

I decided not to wait for a week so contacted H.G. Wells to borrow his famous toy. It was out on loan to some team called Terra Nova, so I did the next best thing by incrementally advancing the system clock one day at a time, with a reboot followed by a restart in between each day. Everything still fine after 8 days of progress, so I'm now even more confident when I apply the fix to my real system I shouldn't encounter any hassles.

Cheers,

Russ

Hiyall

Been on hiatus from upgrading/following xxhe while I've been courting, traveling, and staying with my now fiancee for the last two years.  But we're finally going to find ourselves in one place here in Oceanside California.  I can't remember what xxhe ver I've been listening to, but suffice it to say I've been using an old one.  but

my SSD HD took a dump and I'm starting to get around to setting up Windows again on spinning drive.

I installed a Win 7 pro that I've had lying around since release but never installed over my Vista pro ...  did all the updates for it and then,,, see this thread.  I still don't have lots of time as I move her in and work, but

should I go back and just install Win 7 pro with no updates or .. what's up ,,, can anyone link all the myriad number of steps I need to follow, or should I just go ahead with a completely updated win 7 and get xxhe up and running again and worry about the year worth of tweaking of windows 7 I have ahead of me... hehe anyway
hi

g'day Dave .... welcome back :)

I believe the consensus amongst us here is that Windows 7 in 64 bit form is the O/S of choice. X64 removes most of the memory limitations that the 32 bit version offers.

Plain SP1 should suffice. My philosophy has been to only apply additional patches/updates if proved necessary, and there is no evidence to my mind that suggests those constant updates have any benefit in a dedicated music server.

As far as tweaking goes, Peter, I understand, has something brewing in 0.9z-6 which should negate the need for extensive system tweaks, so I would hang tight on any changes until that version is released, which is imminent.

Cheers,

Russ

Ok, clearly the message pops up once per two days. Just received it again (and not yesterday). However, no icon to re-ask for it, so my attempt on that failed (see earlier in the topic).

So, 5 days left now ...

Time is running out so...
I uninstalled SP1 RC and after some reboots received a blue screen :(
Something about 'Multiple IRP, complete requests'.
So did an automatic recovery and now I am back where I started today.
Great programmers there in Seatle...
Peter, please make a XXHE-version for Linux!!!

Well, since it is telling me "2 days left", I guess I have to do a few things tomorrow. Oh boy ...
(why am I always late with these things ?)

Maybe, the updates have to be uninstalled from the last one backwards.
Makes sense but sounds like a lot of work :(

Changed the date and did not have one message since the last one. But i am not connected with the internet.

So save for now   :)

... until ?

I never apply updates. So, should be a race to the BSOD for me.

haha
eh

I don´t have that W7 problem, maybe just because I use my computer only for the NOS1 and it´s not connected to internet, so no updates either.

Juan

YES!
I had some hotfixes for the SP1 that I thought would not hurt.
So backwards and now it's OK.

Another problem ?

I Googled for it briefly, but couldn't find anything relevant. Here too, I can expect that there's someone out there who did the same as I did;

Yesterday I uninstalled W7 SP1 RC. That went fine.
Next I did NOT install the the official SP1 (RTM).

Today I see "You have 4 days until the evaluation for Windows ends."
Doesn't look good to me.

Looking for this in Google (leaving the number of days out) gives me 6 hits only; all in foreign languages.

Does - or did anyone else see this ?

Thanks again,
Peter

PS: I never saw a message pop up so far.

PPS: My W7 (64) install is official (well, it was ever back), and Activation has been re-applied.

This is the only practical solution for a highend system and a replacement of a CD-PLAYER!!!!!!!

My W7 is running out too. There is a program called DAZ loader that should solve the problem (at least if you do not have the RC update).
I can not tell you if the program will work because I didn't reboot my pc yet. But according to what the people say it should.

Adrian, thank you. But I wasn't asking about that ...
(this has been covered for earlier in the topic)

Hi Peter,
I'm not PC expert however I installed / tried several W7 vesions on XXHE dedicated PC. I'm a bit confused why
you perform OS uninstall? Each new installation will create "Windows" folder/directory and old one will remain
as "Windows.old" With several installs you would have "Windows.old", "Windows.old01" and so on. XXHE related
folders (AutoHK as well) remain, OCX files need re-install.
 
You can delete ".old" folder(s) anytime.

Re SP1 RC ending, perhaps you could try SP1 RC workaround - similar to original W7 RC, where updates were disabled.
This is described at How-To Geek web site:  There is 'cversion.ini'  file on W7 install DVD.  Copy entire DVD to HDD
and edit 'cversion.ini' to read MinClient version number lesser or same with MinServer version. My W7SP1x64U 'cversion.ini'
reads the same version, "7601". After editing, install OS directly from HDD, or burn new DVD if you like. I dont have SP1 RC
to try it here, sorry. HTH

Brgds

Thank you Nik. But not the subject again. I will repeat it in full (with a new addition at the end).

1. Ever back installed W7 SP1 RC, which expires today;
2. Uninstalled that RC yesterday because there is no other way (upgrade or something over that is not possible, nor is installing SP1 RTM upon it);
3. My system now tells me that my "eval version" expires in 4 days. This must be about the official W7 RTM (no SP) which is just a legal and activated version.
4. (new) I now installed SP1 RTM over it, and it STILL tells me that the eval will expire in 4 days.

So, now - since all is back to normal - do others see this too ? (see today's earlier screenshot from a few posts back) ?

Thanks,
Peter

I had two days ago the expiration message in a little laptop with W7 premier with SP1, I asked to a technician here and he told me that forget it, nothing is going to happen. The only way to know it is wait and see, that´s what I´m going to do.

Juan

Ok. I suddenly noticed that this screen can also show obsolete entries. Which lead me to this :

http://www.ghacks.net/2010/02/09/remove-old-notification-icons-in-windows-7/

I applied what is in there, and now the entry has gone ...
(others as well)

Stupid stuff.

Maybe this helps someone.
Peter

Yesterday I decided to rebuild my music server O/S from scratch. I figured everyone was going to be on the RTM release of SP1 anyway, so from a conformity point of view it makes sense. I rebuilt using a copy of my W7 X64 Ultimate with SP1 slipstreamed into it.

It didn't take ALL that long in reality, maybe 3 hours in total. I had previously taken screen dumps of all the services I disabled/amended, and I made sure I copied  the current AutoHK, XXHE and Data folders to another drive, in preparation to copying back to the new C: drive.

As a dedicated XXHE only music server, nothing else was applied, or needed, other than Acrobat reader, ExcelViewer2007, and an initial load of PowerStrip, which I used to create a custom screen res for my CRT monitor (Sony GDM-FW900) of 1280 x 834 pixels @ 75 Hz.

Firing up XXHE on the new build resulted in sound that I was familiar with, however I did notice occassional ticks and clicks midway through some tracks which was unexpected. I still need to disable the system logging functions discussed in the epic system tweaking post, so hopefully that will resolve the clicks.

Cheers,

Russ

Don't make too much fuzz about this Russ. It could be a waste of time. I have a topic coming up later ...

Regards,
Peter

PS: Didn't you have SP1 on that machine yet ?

I did, but it was the RC release, which has been discussed and was causing all the angst about expiring.

Regs,

Russ

That's a good thing (for me).

Lalalalaaalala