Pre-installed XP Problem

[westie]

Cant take the PC back the warranty has ended.

I'm going to order a new Harddrive now. Seems like I should be able to re-install XP.

If not I'll reload my old windows 98 cd and buy an xp upgrade.

Wish I had the energy, the know how and the will power to get into Linux.

 

[Apokalipse]

if anyone you know has an XP disk, I don't think Microsoft would mind you using it as long as you use your CD key

 

[southernlady]

His problem is that the rescue cd is ON THE OLD HARD DRIVE that is dying!!!!If he doesn't get it off, how can he put it back on a NEW ONE! Even with the key???? Liz

 

[Apokalipse]

On the Operating System Disk it says:-

'Operating System'

then 'Already Installed On Your Computer'

underneath that 'Reinstallation CD'

I seem to have a product key on the side of my tower not sure if its the OS product key but I presume it is?

is the CD kinda brown in colour? the disk I got with the Dell Laptop was a brown disk, and this was just Dell's modified XP install disk

 

[DansPC]

Ther's a nice program called Norton Ghost. If you can get a copy, you can "clone " your old drive onto your new one. Install the program, and create a boot disk with it. Install one drive as a master & the other one as a slave, boot, and follow the instructions. If it clones successfully, remove your old drive and install the new one as a master. Everything in Windows will look exactly the same as it was.

A word of caution: When you clone, make sure you choose the right source and the right destination or yiou will lose everything off your old drive.

Good Luck!

 

[Apokalipse]

Norton Ghost isn't free though, it probabbly costs as much as a retail copy of XP

 

[westie]

Yeah, the Dell Operating System disk is a brown colour.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[DansPC]

Yes, but you would'nt have to reinstall all of your programs, internet settings, etc. What are 4-5 hours of your time worth?

 

[Hefemeister]

With dell computers the reinstallation is no problem using the recovery disk as long as you have the same motherboard. When the mb dies then you are sol. I reinstall about once every 6 months. Hardware changes are no problem.

 

[Smauler]

His problem is that the rescue cd is ON THE OLD HARD DRIVE that is dying!!!!If he doesn't get it off, how can he put it back on a NEW ONE! Even with the key???? Liz

I think you're getting confused. A rescue cd cannot be on the hard drive. What may be on the old hard drive is a restoration partition, which is nothing to do with a cd.

Anyway, it sounds like he may have a CD which will enable him to reinstall on a new HD. If not, he should be able to contact Microsoft, since as they are so fond of saying, you don't buy the software itself, you buy a right to use the software. He should be able to get replacement CDs on this basis.

However, it'd be a lot easier to just grab a friend's CD if possible, and install from that and use the key on the case, as has been mentioned previously.