Windows XP Media Center repair install

[superdave1984]

OK, this PC had been hit by lightening and it killed the network card. Shortly after that the onboard video crapped out, then it just wouldn't boot just kept in the loop of splash screen, reboot. Customer does not have an XP MCE disk but tried to do a repair install with an XP Pro disk (not hers). Repair went fine until product key time. The product key that is on the machine did not work nor did the key on the XP Pro disk. Now I have this thing and she really doesn't want to lose the data on the HD. I am thinking her best bet would be to slave the drive, move the data, format and start fresh. But given the earlier issues and things that have been tried, what are the odds that the data is still good? It is stuck on the product key page now and when I shut it down and restart it goes back into setting up windows mode.

 

[EricB]

do you have the 1386 folder on it? it's a pain to do a repair on a mce computer

 

[superdave1984]

do you have the 1386 folder on it? it's a pain to do a repair on a mce computer

I am not sure what is there. She tried a repair using an XP Pro disk and I am guessing it did some damage. I wonder if I find an MCE disk I can try to repair again using the existing COA key????

 

[EricB]

this is where I run into problems. I back all of my xp discs onto my hdd since I got a bad habit of leaving disc in people's machines when I fix them.

I left the nlite version of my media center cd backed up on my computer. nlite automatically strips the repair option out. my original cd got too scratched up to use. I've gotten 7-8 different copies of media center. none of them recognizes my key


if they have that I386 folder in there now, run the winnt32.exe from the bart pe cd. like you are going to install xp. when it reboots to install xp, pick the repair option. hopefully their files didn't get jacked up

you can try that mce cd in another machine. pick the upgrade option (don't be connected to the internet) and enter the key. it will accept it or it won't. either way, take it out after that point so it doesn't messed with that machine. if it accept their key, you can do a reformat or repair

 

[superdave1984]

Well I got a MCE disk and the repair went fine. Problem is it will not connect to the internet. DHCP does not get an IP and if I set it all manually it still won't connect, won't ping, won't do jack. Card is good, drivers are correct. Tomorrow I think I am going to reinstall TCP/IP and see how that goes. I hate this computer...

 

[EricB]

Well I got a MCE disk and the repair went fine. Problem is it will not connect to the internet. DHCP does not get an IP and if I set it all manually it still won't connect, won't ping, won't do jack. Card is good, drivers are correct. Tomorrow I think I am going to reinstall TCP/IP and see how that goes. I hate this computer...

that Happens with repair sometimes. now that you are in windows, backup everything and do a fresh install

 

[superdave1984]

that Happens with repair sometimes. now that you are in windows, backup everything and do a fresh install

Probably the best idea, but the lady that owns it will have the final say. She may go for it and she may not.

 

[superdave1984]

OK, used a restore disk that she had to format/reinstall. Still will not connect. I am stumped. No firewall. What the heck is going on here? I have to give it a static IP for it to even think about a connection, but can't ping anything but the loopback address. If I format with powermax the restore disk won't work right? It almost has to be a software problem with this thing.

 

[superdave1984]

I reinstalled TCP/IP. No luck. Booted to Austrumi, still can't connect or ping anything. Admittedly I am a total n00b when it comes to any Linux distro, but crap what does it take to get this thing to work? I am thinking of powermax-ing it and installing XP Pro but I am skeptical if that will work either.

 

[EricB]

the ethernet lines in the port might be broke. I've seen that happen before. just pop a new pci card in. it might cost you 8 bucks.

your restore disc will still work if you use powermax if all of the files are on it like an hp or sony system. I don't think a dell will because it depends of the recovery partition