Anyone encounter this before? Purchase a HP A5090D PC with Vista installed. Did a disk to disk cloning with Norton ghost Version 11. The clone harddisk works fine but the moment I run F11 (Format and Recovery) before it gets into windows, I will get error Code Purple.

Look like an HP exclusive bomb threat.......LOL

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-n...

http://www.quickconnect.com/news-ar...

http://www.resellerratings.com/foru...

Yes it's HP time bomb that will go off whenever you try to tweak with its proprietary hardware and software that HP preinstalled - including Windows.

Put simply, Code Purple is a code that says you have violated HP tattoo. What the heck is that? It resembles Windows product activation mechanism.

The only way to get it fixed is by taking your baby to a HP authorized repair center where they have a special software called DMI utility. HP prohibit anyone - other than those designated as authorized - to get a copy of it. What does it do? It simply re-brands the software & hardware as HP.

At one time I tried coaxing a guy I know in giving me a copy - he won't because it usually call home and they will know where it's coming from

Use this post to braodcast to the world why no one should buy OEM brand machines with OEM preinstalled & tattooed Windows Vista apart from M$'s own Windows Vista.

i_XpUser

This reminds me of an incident that took place not long ago when my wife & I were shopping in a mall that happened to have Dell Direct Store booth.

I spoke with the young representative who immediately sensed that I knew something about computers. That's helped because he felt comfortable talking with me. During our conversation about Vista, he ventured off to spills some beans that confirmed what I knew all along. It concerns the inner workings of OEM PC and software. Summarily here's what you should know (you won't find this info publicily disclosed or even acknowledged & justified by Dell anywhere on the net):

Dell-branded Vista CD will not work on customer-replaced HDDs. Why? The HD has to be branded (or tattooed for that matter). How does it get branded? You must buy it from Dell or from Dell authorized service centers.

i_XpUser

Doesn't that violate the competition laws though?
I mean Dell arbitrarily making their computers not function with hardware from other vendors is the equivalent of if Microsoft were to make it impossible to run other web browsers and media players than the ones the came with Windows.

I hope Dell and all other companies doing this get sued for millions of dollars.

Sure it's possible to start class-action against all OEM System Builders but at the end what do we get? Discount coupon toward purchasing another OEM PC? Only the lawyers will collect the windfalls like that in the case of Iowa Vs M$, et al.

i_XpUser

Bear in mind that it's not my intentions to fuel the fire but there is another thing that you should know.

Do you know who created the OEM restoration CD? It's not the system builders themselves - it's from the same company that fathered RootKit - Symantec Corporation.

AFAIK all system builders contract the restoration & branding efforts to Symantec mostly to reduce overhead cost & to lighten the burden on their workforce. Needless to say this business deal thrill their shareholders.

If you know what Rootkit does, it's for the same reason that anything you do contrary to the stated procedures will only produce a ruined machine. Go figure it out yourself.

i_XpUser

It's times like these I love my self built computer. :-)

"Enough, enough bowing down to disillusion!
Hats off & applause to rogues & evolution!
The ripple effect is too good not to mention.
If you’re not affected, you’re not paying attention!"

I won't argue with you on that one :-)

Speaking of Class Actions, I was a party in a case against M$. Guess what I received from the settlement - a very lengthy form that required even my social security number (for Form 1099 to be reported on Income Tax), and receipts for the products I purchased years back - all just to get a $15 coupon that can only be used toward purchasing pricey M$ products pre-selected by M$. I took it more as a joke & passed it up.

i_XpUser

friendsz, I'm sorry I got carried away :-)

I guess I need to put my rants to a closure with this stark truth:

OEM PCs & preinstalled Vista (or any OS for that matter) are made to die together. They are inseparable. You cannot even upgrade it with new OS without adverse consequences.

i_XpUser

XpUser,

I got to be straight with you on this FUD bulletin. A substantial part of the OEM tattoo allegations (over the years) are not resoundingly supported by the evidence out there & on a public forum such as this, utmost effort should be made to corroborate the validity of our assertions.

I don't quite recall whom it was few years back on this forum that categorically made the same statement about Gateway's OEM supplied OS (XP) disc not working on non-propietary machines. As it turns out - that was largely false in cases where the OEM has been generous enough to include a "system disc" with the machine.

Furthermore, more than a few folks (myself included) had installed XP on a custom built system using an OEM supplied XP disc - which was in fact identical (content but not cosmetic wise) to what you'd have gotten if you had purchased a retail XP disc.

However, these type of discs should not be confused with those "image" discs many OEMs sometimes supply with their systems popularly referred to as recovery discs. Those are the ones that are notorious for not working with DIY systems.

While I really don't have statistics on the proliferation of alleged system "tattooing" among OEMs, incident rates suggest HP's notoriety with the mechanism. But what I do know is that there isn't anything implemented within a Dell supplied Vista Ultimate DVD that will make it act differently from what you pick up from retail outlet. How do I know?

Well - I happened to have experimented with both. I am not sure if the same can be said with other OEMs (especially with HP) but I would assume the same can be found with a Gateway supplied Vista DVD.

BTW, when I go to a store like BestBuy or Circuit City, I don't even bother discussing technical details with the floor staff, a lot of times the information you get from them is a good as being fabricated on a smoke break.

Lastly, I'd be interested in someone sharing experiments related to this OEM/tattooed Vista disc subject so we can really come up with a pattern if any on this IMO widely distorted perception about the OEM media DVD.

I don't think there is anyone out there that went that far so soon in experimenting with OEM/tattooed Vista discs.

Meanwhile I'd like you to read the following two threads and tell me why Dell is not willing to give in to these two popular ideas generated at its IdeaStorm Center.

My thinking is that Dell (and others like HP, etc) have lucrative deals with third party vendors that wanted to have a permanent mark on our Vista landscape. These deals are too good to pass up for the end users like ourselves that are willing to pay more for a cleaner slate of the OS. Make sure you have your coffee handy as you begin to read these lengthy threads.

No OS Preloaded on Dell PCs

No Extra Software Option for Dell Vista PCs

i_XpUser

IMHO, the so-called clamor for virgin "whiteboxes" is lost on many of its lone ranging advocates.

I can *somewhat* understand if the grudge behind the campaign has always exclusively been from businesses (medium & large) not wanting to pay "Windows tax" on PCs purchased from OEMs, but then again such a charge is intangible compared to the daily overages of running such companies or the added cost that can be tied consequencies of such technology implementation.

But overwhelmingly the issue for these folks is fundamentally dyadic on the basis of simple logic. And I suspect they seek (a) less bundled or no crapware & (b) flexibility to decide whichever OS they want on their systems. With Linux having no relevancy to the demands & Windows tax not the concern or at best an insignificant factor, I fail to see how big of a problem it is to end up with a virgin whitebox. AFAIK, these OEM acquired systems are "wipable" at any given time by the owner or end user - why they prefer to obscure the existence of such an option is what I would attribute to selfish motives.

If all these "disgruntled" folks do not like the arrangement they should stop patronizing OEMs period! Last I checked outlets like TD, geeks & many others offer barebones & retailers like xicomputer.com even have a customizable ordering interface similar the process found at Dell & other more popular OEM sites.

My opinions is in two folds as well - if they (these whiners) are indeed so fired up about the no OS idea why aren't they taking advantage of options such as the ones mentioned above. Secondly, many if not all that IMO would feel so strongly about setting up systems with no OS option are genuinely going to be building their PCs & not haggling with OEMs about bundled OS.

My computer is an OEM Compaq Presario which was aquired around July 2006. It came preloaded with windows xp home. Ive made the "recovery" DVDs (two) which I hope would save me in case of hard drive failure. I am getting ready to (1) add another hard drive (2) repartition the original 160 gig hard drive so I can install linux and (3) ghost image the existing drive C to DVDs for a current backup. I do not welcome any OEM suprises with these projects. I can say that the preinstalled windows xp home has worked well for me.

Compaq Presario SR1720NX Desktop Computer
AT&T SBC Yahoo DSL Home
Linksys Router/2 computers