Upgrading Computers to Hoster 4.0x

[stublack]

I love hoster and am excited about upgrading all my laptops to 4.0.

My biggest concern is it seems the more of a geek that you are the better chance that you will have success and not need to come out to the forums to seek help after your install.

I have 5 laptops - 3 vista and 2 xp

On the 2 XP systems I think I have done all the custom updates.
I know I have service pack 3
I assume I have Internet explorer 7
I assume I have Window Media Player 11 or 12 (who knows)
I don't know how much RAM I have I do know there is a football team in St Louis called the Rams.

If I have success upgrading 4.0 on the two XP systems, I think I want to convert my 3 Vista machines to XP (more stable), if I do that will I still have the Hoster registration codes so I can do the upgrades for those machines.

Any suggestions

[Beavis]

if you put your mouse over the "my computer" icon on the desktop and right click, go to properties. look at the bottom right of the window that pops up. there it will tell you how much ram you have.


you will be fine installing 4.0 on the xp computers.

[stublack]

thanks. That answers that question. I have 512 of ram. will that be okay. I'm not sure what I can do if it is not

[madjim- with the Lord]

Originally Posted by stublack

thanks. That answers that question. I have 512 of ram. will that be okay. I'm not sure what I can do if it is not

I run 4.0 with 512 meg of ram. I have a 2.99 ghz procceser and I don't use Media Player or PCDJ in my show. Close any program that runs in the background and you should be okay.

Jim

[stublack]

thanks, is there a way to determine that I have all the latest necessary custom updates outside of just performing the task itself. Like IE7 and Windows Media Player 11 or 12?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by stublack

thanks, is there a way to determine that I have all the latest necessary custom updates outside of just performing the task itself. Like IE7 and Windows Media Player 11 or 12?

Look in the Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs and look for the versions of IE and WMP installed.
Best way to tell if you have all the custom updates is to go to Microsoft Update and run the Custom Update. That will list any you don't have installed.

[stublack]

In my add/remove programs I do not see an IE or WMP Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player listed. I do see Windows Service Pak 3. Are these under a different alphabetical name?

[stublack]

I thought I knew how to do custom updates and I just found out I was wrong. I figured it out just now and I now have all the necessary updates. I hope anyway!!

Thanks, for all your help

[ddouglass]

They should be listed as:
Windows Internet Explorer 7
Windows Media Player 11

If they aren't listed there then you have the standard install versions and need to upgrade them. They both should come up in the Custom Updates.

[stublack]

I'm pretty sure I will be converting my 3 Vista systems to XP. What is the best way to accomplish that and still be able to do the 4.0 upgrades. I realize this may seem a dumb question but if I get rid of Vista and install XP it seems my registration codes will be gone. Am I wrong? And can I still do upgrades without them???

thanks, stu

[ddouglass]

Before you upgrade them to XP, uninstall Hoster from each of them while connected to internet. That way when you get XP loaded you can install Hoster without having to get support from MTU. Be sure to write down the registration codes (under Help) so you don't get confused when it comes time to re-install.

[stublack]

thank you for all your help!

stu

[stublack]

One last question. If I go ahead and do the upgrades for my vista machines (run 3.4 for a while) will I still be able to switch to xp without a hitch later on.

The 4.0 registration codes would be gone when I unload vista and so would the 3.21 registration codes (which appear from what I've read to be neccesary to load 4.0 or 4.1)??

I think I may have a source to help me get XP loaded on these machines, but I'm not sure when I can get it done. If it is after 4.1 is released, then I'd like to be able to run the new version on vista at least for a while.

Thanks, Stu

[admin]

Originally Posted by stublack

One last question. If I go ahead and do the upgrades for my vista machines (run 3.4 for a while) will I still be able to switch to xp without a hitch later on.

The 4.0 registration codes would be gone when I unload vista and so would the 3.21 registration codes (which appear from what I've read to be neccesary to load 4.0 or 4.1)??

I think I may have a source to help me get XP loaded on these machines, but I'm not sure when I can get it done. If it is after 4.1 is released, then I'd like to be able to run the new version on vista at least for a while.

Thanks, Stu

Stu, first, Vista and Windows Media Player 11 (standard with Vista) require almost 512MB RAM by themselves. If your Vista systems have 512MB RAM, expect problems with Hoster 4.01 or 3.40 performing very slowly, or worse.

Our MINIMUM recommended RAM for a Vista Computer, before it is ready to run ANY programs as far as we are concerned, is 2GB of RAM. Contact your manufacturers of the Laptops and ask them how to do this. There is a way, but it may be too technical for you, requiring you to get someone else to do it for you once you get the RAM upgrade modules from your manufacturers.

Do as Dale suggests; run Hoster 3.321, click the Help menu and the View Registration command. In the window will appear your RegCode, and the Computer Name you assigned. You should be able to click into the RegCode field, drag the mouse across the full number, and press Ctrl key AND the "C" key together to save the highlighted number the Windows clipboard.

Then, open Notepad (Start button > Programs > Accessories > Notepad or Wordpad), open a blank new document, click into the document to set the text cursor within it, then click the Edit menu and Paste command.

Your RegCode for that computer is in the document. You want to type something in about that computer so you know which one to use this RegCode on later. Adding a number on the bottom of each computer and using the number as a reference is simple and works.

Do this for each computer so you have the Hoster prior RegCode for each one saved and identified.

If you haven't upgraded any of your systems to Hoster 4.0x, you can ignore the next paragraph. If you have upgraded, follow these instructions:

It is easier if you know which 4.0 UPGRADE RegCode you used to upgrade each prior Hoster RegCode that was used to install Hoster 3.x. An Upgrade RegCode "locks to" the prior RegCode it installs over and upgrades. IF not, when you go to use one, it will give you an error message that this RegCode was used to upgrade another RegCode. If you see that, just choose another 4.0 Upgrade RegCode and try it. This is only if you don't know which 4.0 code you used with each computer.

[admin]

I split these Posts to a separate Thread.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by stublack

One last question. If I go ahead and do the upgrades for my vista machines (run 3.4 for a while) will I still be able to switch to xp without a hitch later on.

The 4.0 registration codes would be gone when I unload vista and so would the 3.21 registration codes (which appear from what I've read to be neccesary to load 4.0 or 4.1)??

I think I may have a source to help me get XP loaded on these machines, but I'm not sure when I can get it done. If it is after 4.1 is released, then I'd like to be able to run the new version on vista at least for a while.

Thanks, Stu

Admin didn't mention to un-install the programs before you wipe out Vista. Also be sure your source for XP is legal or it won't register/verify correctly with Microsoft which will prevent any updates. Each XP you get should have a separate disk and I don't mean a copy. Just a word to the wise.

[stublack]

Thanks for all the information.

I loaded 4.01 on one of my XP laptops today and it seems to be working great and I've been having fun playing with all the show displays. I had one small problem setting up my Audio DJ display, once I set up my Intermission for the bottom songs and singers, the audio DJ fields for the songs and singers on the bottom was protected with the same numbers from the intermission display, so that I couldn't make that display look different. (I probably should have made a different post for this SORRY!!)

I checked 2 of the 3 Vista laptops - One has 959 MG of Ram the other 1014 MG of RAM, I'll be checking the 3rd later, but it appears they will all need to be upgraded to 2 gig to work well in VISTA.

I wanted to change these machines to XP for 2 reasons, one so I can start using Hoster 4.01 without delay, and the other reason because of all the horror stories about Vista being unstable maybe forever.

After reading Doug's post I'm not sure that what I wanted to do with my source in changing these machines to XP will turn out to be legal so maybe I'm completely out of luck and will have to settle with VISTA. I do know that 3.321 works fine on my VISTA machines now so I'm very confused on how to proceed with these 3 machines.

I don't need to make any RAM upgrades (Don't know how complicated or expensive that is) if I leave well enough alone and do nothing??!!

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by stublack

Thanks for all the information.

I loaded 4.01 on one of my XP laptops today and it seems to be working great and I've been having fun playing with all the show displays. I had one small problem setting up my Audio DJ display, once I set up my Intermission for the bottom songs and singers, the audio DJ fields for the songs and singers on the bottom was protected with the same numbers from the intermission display, so that I couldn't make that display look different. (I probably should have made a different post for this SORRY!!)

The SND for the Audio display is tied to the Intermission display and the Lyrics display and Video display are tied together. The reason this was done was because there was too much interaction when they tried to make the settings for all four independent. If you changed on it would suddenly effect them all. So to make it work they set it to only 2 settings for the lyrics. The grouping was decided by the fact that both the Lyrics and Video could have Lyrics on them where the Intermission and Audio wouldn't.

Originally Posted by stublack

I checked 2 of the 3 Vista laptops - One has 959 MG of Ram the other 1014 MG of RAM, I'll be checking the 3rd later, but it appears they will all need to be upgraded to 2 gig to work well in VISTA.

I wanted to change these machines to XP for 2 reasons, one so I can start using Hoster 4.01 without delay, and the other reason because of all the horror stories about Vista being unstable maybe forever.

After reading Doug's post I'm not sure that what I wanted to do with my source in changing these machines to XP will turn out to be legal so maybe I'm completely out of luck and will have to settle with VISTA. I do know that 3.321 works fine on my VISTA machines now so I'm very confused on how to proceed with these 3 machines.

I don't need to make any RAM upgrades (Don't know how complicated or expensive that is) if I leave well enough alone and do nothing??!!

Look on E-bay and you can usually find some good deals for XP OEM versions. For 3 machines it will probably be around $450. What brand of laptops do you have? I know HP offers an upgrade to XP, but I'm not sure about Dell.
As far as the memory goes try it and see if it works ok. If not then you may need to upgrade it.

[stublack]

thanks, I have one compaq, one HP and one gateway.

[ddouglass]

For HP and Compaq you will need to talk to the Small Business Support people. Don't call the Home Support as they will tell you they don't have it. I don't know if Gateway has the same program, but it can't hurt to ask.