Guest Ditch_Shitter Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Right up queer street here! My new external HDD's arrived and I've entrusted my entire life to it. ALL my work files etc. are now 'safely' on that. That's put aside. I have a 'legal' XP OS disc here (Well; It's a Dell, but I have the number for it). I want to format this LapTop completely and install the new OS. Here's the craic: I reboot. Hit F2. It opens in the BIOS directory pages. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? I've done this before, but that was two years ago, with an expert on the phone with me, prompting me. Problems are 1. I can't see or find anything inside the F2 screen which I recognise as being the route to a Format or anything else. And, 2. The bloody machine powers off after a minute anyway! I'm sh!tting myself here. It's starting to look desperate and I can see me computer shopping, just because I'm too bloody ignorant to know how to help myself Sadly, being in Eire, friendly, local and knowledgable friends to phone are a tad scarce! Help! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Big Fish Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Well Ditch if your sure you want to go down that road, make sure you have all the driver files for whatever bits and peices you have kicking about, printers, cameras etc Note passwords down and make a note of your connection details, you know the score. Pop your xp cd in the tray and close, then switch off the lappy and then turn back on. You should then be given a list of what you want to do, e.g start in safe mode, bla bla, or reinstall operating system. Then it will ask if you want to format the hard drive. Go for it and best of luck :11: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
borderterrier 0 Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Have a GOOD read through this, there are thumbnails down the left hand side. Read this Is it the disc that came with the Laptop ? If not and its already been activated on another PC you may come across problems. All the best, and be patient Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ditch_Shitter Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Ok, lads. Cheers. Read all that ~ and that site. I have here a DELL OS CD which came to me still sealed. Friend had a load of new PC's delivered to his works and - for what ever reason - didn't need this CD. While it says it should only be used in a DELL pc, I can't imagine there being a problem - can there? I have the full Authorisation Code from inside the packet. ( Ok; Deeply grateful for an answer to That question! It's a niggler. Like, IF I had to ring Dell and ask for that bigger number, mentioned on the site there? F*cked! They'd want details of my pc! Anyone actually ever done this specific trick before, please? Dell are notorious b*stards. On a par with mickysuck!) Other than that? I don't see as I should have a problem. I've done it all before, several times. Mate of mine does it as a pass time! Weird thing is; I never got an XP disc with this Laptop! Never thought anything of it at the time. Oh, and for the record: I know to turn on the XP Fire wall before hitting the net. And I have the URL for where to get my Sound Card back. Have all my CDs fpr my Scanner et al. I have no ISP settings to worry about, because I now use a Vodafone plug and play modem. Wireless. I just slam it in and it sorts itself out. Am I missing anything? Either way, I'll likely leave it till tomorrow now. Give all this time to filter through. Ye all know how scary this can be: The prospect of even remotely possibly finding myself stuck and without any possible way of calling for help! I've only just got back on line. F*ck kicking myself back off! I'd pay out for a shop bought XP. But I'd have to go to PC World in Sligo to get one! Take a full day and cost me an absolute fortune! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Paid 935 Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Some of the drivers and stuff you need may already be installed on the computer the cd was sold with, so you might have some problems loading it onto another pc, but I'm not 100% sure of that, best looked into. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ditch_Shitter Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Paid; In answer to that one mate, I can tell ye that the only thing I lost, when I slung out this LT's XP Home and replaced it with the currant, pirated XP Pro was my Sound Card. Phoned PB and they told me where to go get it. I went to the site and got it. No problemmo So it really is just that dell doubt now. Thing is, ye might suggest that, if this dell disc doesn't allow me to use it? Switch back to the pirate till I can get Sligo to post me a new one? Uh huh. Thought of that too: Only micky's arranged it so that my D Drive will no longer even see anything but a shop bought disc! Be it music, software, what ever. So the pirate disc won't even appear, if I try to reload that. Also means I've lost most of my private collection of films and other stuff I'd - quite legally and normally - put to shop bought CDRW's for 'Safe Keeping'! Slaps forehead! Just realised ye meant the dell computer! No. Frankly, I've never heard of them doing that. Like; If this Were a dell pc, I'd be wiping That clean and would then need to reinstall Everything from this CD. So it figures that Everything must be installable from this disc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crow 1 Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Ditch, HOLD ON! Formatting your hard drive and starting again is exactly as Big Fish said, but that's only IF you have the right discs! I have my doubts that the Dell disc will work on your non-Dell laptop Why do you want to format the laptop anyway? There might be a better way! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ditch_Shitter Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Holding On, mate! I'm not 100% happy yet ..... Why format? Because I don't suppose this little LT could hold much more I want to reprog because this pirated copy ~ supplied to me by someone we both know! ~ has now been sussed by ms and is gradually eroding my entire bloody system! No way round it; I Have To feed it a pukka OS. Not even against bending to ms and buying a disc. Just hoping to save myself some time and cash - obviously! What else might I do then? Any ideas, please? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crow 1 Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Nah, you're f****d OK, so your think your iffy copy has been sussed therefore you have these options: 1) If MS has sussed out your copy of XP then it's doubtfull that it would stop running over a period of time - normally you'd just get a feck-off type message and your XP wouldn't run. Therefore, it may just be something on your hard drive that's causing the problem so try this first (its easier and cheaper than reformatting/buying new software). Remove everything and anything that is not required on your computer. For programs use either the proper uninstall option or the add/remove program function in control panel. Download Ad-Aware SE Personal (google it) and run it - it will get rid of all your unwanted crap such as spyware, trackers, etc. What anti-virus software are you running? If none (or something crap) download AVG Free anti-virus and run that. Lastly, download HijackThis (google it) and run that - this will show all your registry entries that are loaded. Have a look at them - notice anything that seem odd? If so, delete the entry(ies) and run HijackThis again. If the dodgy entries reappear delete them again AND rename the *.exe or *.dll file that they relate to (this can be done in safe mode if you can't do it in normal mode). Try that lot first before you try anything else! If that doesn't make things better then you have nothing to loose by trying the following: 2) Check your PM and do what I suggest in that. 3) Try the Dell CD, but check you have a registration number for XP - you'll need this to register your copy on line. No registration then no XP after 20 days!! If you have a registration number but the install doesn't work then you will you have nothing to loose other than a few days off line whilst you get a proper copy of windows whatever. 3) Just buy a proper version of windows XP, put it in your CD drive, restart the computer and follow the instructions (which will include formatting your hard drive). Regards Crow Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ditch_Shitter Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Crow; How can a man know so much about these machines and still have room for anything else? It amazes me what people can understand about pc's, beyond how to copy / paste! I've had guys like you take me through the process to " Ping " something! Like; WTF?! Ok. Read the PM. I've tried that 'BT' stuff before and couldn't manage it. PLUS: msn's screwed me down to the point where - I mention it above, somewhere - I can't use Burn. So, I can ONLY use 'proper' discs, where ever I get them from. (Dell disc kicked in lovely. That'll work ... so far) Bottom line? It'll be this dell disc or a shop bought. K? Two things: 1. Do ye mean Product Key? Activation No. ? Or Registration? Only I Have the 24(?) digit 'number'. What's that? Product Key (I'm reading from the booklet here. Says it'll be on the back of the (dell) pc) ~ I don't know what they're talking about. Registration? Says here it's not necassery. 2. If I don't " Activate " the OS - can I get that far without that Product Key, I wonder? - It'll still give me 30 days to sort it out. Plenty of time to get a shop bought sent to me I suppose I Really now have to ask myself; With my essential stuff 'safe' on my new external hdd; Is it even worth me f*cking around, putting / or Trying to put the dell disc on here ....? I Could just buy a shop bought ..... Best part of a Ton? F*ck! I'm not made of money! And Dixons should have given me my own 'shop bought' cd with this damn LT! Regards all else in the PM? Ad Aware I have and ran. Got shot of four biggies. Registry stuff??? Crow; If I started writing in poggardi jib, would You have a clue what the hell I was on about, mate?! Registry is like Taiwanese, to me! Thanks for the excellent in put! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Paid 935 Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 I just bought a real copy of windows last week, after 6 years of dodgy copies, as ms seem to be right up on sussing the non genuine ones now home is only about £90 but pro is something like £300 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
T.F.Student 0 Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 Not the academic version Xp Pro...less than £100...you'll need it for when you start your ECDL night class Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crow 1 Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 (edited) Ditch, when you install XP you will, at some time, be asked for a long number that will look something like 'k7067f g704g4 kj4ty6 ewr6jf' (yep, 24 digits). Thats what I mean by 'registration number' but it could of course be a 'product key'. Whatever, you'll need that early on in the installation process. Once you've installed XP you then have so many days (I think its 20) to register (I think Microsoft call it 'validate) the copy on-line. This is an automatic process once you've set up your internet access. If you don't validate your installation then XP will stop running on the PC. However, it sounds like you are OK on that front so go for it, but just make sure you have all the drivers for your sound card, network card, etc etc - although they could be 'plug and play'. Good Luck! EDITED TO ADD When you buy a PC of any description you should ALWAYS get copies of all the software needed to do a full install - maybe a fecking harsh call to Dixons is on the card, especially as your PC needs reformating due to a virus, and you have two kids that are getting new PC games for Christmas and as it stands they have no-where to play them on the 25th - does Dixons really want to be responsible for spoling your kids Christmas? Edited December 14, 2006 by Crow Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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