Sniptools

You could try System Restore.

START –> HELP AND SUPPORT

Then, under the “Additional Resources” section, click on system restore and click on restore my system to last best known configuration, or something like that.

In general, It’s good to backup your OS and data with a tool such as Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage. Btw, this question was not necessarily on-topic here!

Good luck,
-Shanx

Hi Gib,

Do you have your Windows XP CD? Just install it as you usually would (insert the CD, your computer will do the rest.) Btw, you are supposed to COPY the file, not MOVE it to a floppy.

Let me know how it goes.

-Shanx

Gib You Shouldnnt have to buy the disk if your computer came with a restore disk or sumthing similler you should be able to put that into your cd rom drive and it will reinstall windows to how it was when you first got your computer!

Hi Michael.

Yes, you do.

Although you won’t find it here I’m afraid.

Cheers,
Shanx

P.S. oh yeah another piece of my puzzle is that my laptop doesn’t have a floppy drive so how would I transfer the win. file?

Hi Diego, you need the Windows XP CD (or the recovery CD, or any CD that your PC vendor may have given you during the purchase) to reinstall your Windows OS. Hope this helps. -Shanx

Hello Mike,

I didn’t ignore your post intentionally, sorry to have missed it. Your predicament is a little tricky. Microsoft’s EULA does not allow the activation of the same OS on two different machines, yeah I know it is pesky.

I am sorry if this is not useful, but you could try a few things now to recover your data:

(1) You can go to to http://www.pricewatch.com and buy an OEM key for XP for around $50.00.

(2) Or, if your files aren’t too big, you can go to the NTFS Book Disk website and download a boot disk that will give you access to files on an NTFS partition. You can then copy them to a floppy etc. (I am hoping you had an NTFS partition?)

(3) Use Bart’s PE to create bootable media and get the important bits out of your hard disk. (P.S. I have never tried this, but I guess you can ask Bart for directions if you are stuck.)

Hope this helps. Let us know how it turns out!

-Shanx

i have a problem with my floppy disk.the error msg appear when i’m trying to open my file in the floppy? “A:\ is not accessible.No ID address mark was found on the floppy disk.” why is that happen?? help me please.A.S.A.P.

XP Pro OEM license only, no CD: $86 USD

[URL DISABLED BY SHASHANK, ADMINISTRATOR]

Hi Megan,

If its a hotfix, you can simply update your Windows again?
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Alternatively, check up on what your sound card is, and then download the latest “drivers” from your manufacturer. For instance, mine is Creative Labs.

here you go… a ditrect link on the file…
less than 90k!

[URL DISABLED BY SHASHANK, ADMINISTRATOR]
stan…

Techno and gator, please take a look at this:
http://www.licenturion.com/xp/

Techno, just for the record, I have upgraded my RAM on a Dell laptop without having to re-active Windows. You can try saving all your stuff (with system restore and ideally also with Acronis/Norton-Ghost kind of tools) and upgrading your hardware anyway. I wonder if you’ll have any problems. I have also added/changed all sorts of internal hardware (a DVD R/W drive for instance) and never had any issues. The link above explains what parts of your OS are taken into account when you activate the OS.

Gator, it’s not a regular event that windows xp professional can be pirated on someone’s machine without their knowledge. But I get your point. For instances like this, you can always contact MS support if you do have at least one “proper” CD. Or, consider stan’s suggestion!

Stan, that sounds like a great idea, but just as a disclaimer, I (the owner of this site) do not necessarily endorse this product. It sounds like a very cool app though. :yumyum:

Hope this rant helps someone!

-Shanx

Danny, this is not related to product activation, so it is off-topic. Please write to me personally if you are interested but just FYI, Google is flooded with potentially useful links. If you write to me, please include some more detail about your OS etc. -Shanx

I installed a new hard drive on an xp system
along with a dvd player. Now when the xp starts
up the reminder notice appears, stating I should
activate the system. When I click on the keys in the tast bar to activate, the screen comes up that
the system is activated, how do I stop the activation notice from popping up?
thanks for your help
I called M$ and asked them the same question
might as well as pissed up a rope

Lowell, as mentioned in the main article, Windows XP activation data is contained in a file called “wpa.dbl” that lives in the Windows\System32 folder. If you rename it to “wpa.old” or something like that, then the next time you boot you really will be forced to reactivate, and hopefully that’ll fix things so that it stops nagging you. Rename it rather than delete it just in case, and you can always go into the Recovery Console and name it back again if unexpected disaster occurs.

Chris, pls let us know what you did recently that may have caused this behavior? Did you install some new hardware? I’ve seen this error even when a hard disk fails. Have you tried going to an old image of the system through System Restore?

I have an old install of XP on my machine. I am currently trying to do a 2nd install on another drive before erasing the old install. Now the problem starts…

The 2nd installation wont activate because I am over my allowed number of activations. I found this site when looking for ways to get around it. I tried copying the ‘wpa.dbl’ file into my new install. This does not work. I’ve tried to copy all three files named ‘wpa’ but still it doesnt work.

The only thing that happens after copying the file/files is that when i try to log on it says that Windows has to be activated in order for me to log on. Am I doing something wrong?

Any help would be of use.

Sorry, forgot the most important thing, how do I activate, xp again or will I have too. Thanks

hi! i want to reformat my computer. I have windows xp home ed. installed right now. if i reformat will i have to reactivate? If i call to reactivate after reformat will it allow me to activate?

plz help….thanks

Jeff, in addition to the above answer for your question, here’s what I found at Microsoft’s WPA faq website:

QUESTION:
If I reformat my hard disk, is reactivation required?

ANSWER:
If the hard disk is reformatted and the software is reinstalled, reactivation will be required. The same grace periods for activation apply in this situation. Reactivation on the same PC can be completed as many times as required. The activation can be completed via telephone or Internet.

Hi Miguel, if you have lost your password, there are ways of recovering it without reinstalling XP. HTH, Shanx

Found a nice little tool for all legal owners of XP that have to reinstall but no longer have or forgot the cd activation 25 digit key run a search on the net for Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder v1.41 download it and run it (gives you windows version and the cd key from your previous install) AND ITS FREE

Hi LA Fred, as the instructions in this article clearly indicate, you need to backup WPA.DBL before reinstalling.

This is why I highly recommend the switch to Linux. For prices like 90$ you can install on as many machines as you damn well please

U could ring the hot line they give u when u go to telephone activation or sumfin like that and say that ur computer needed formating or that u upgraded or hardware and give micorsoft the very long key and then they will give u another key to activation the bingo iv dun it to like 15 comps and all off the legit cd

i need to reinstall windows xp home but dont have the cd or a boot up disc but can i download xp and use the same product key that is used for my current xp

My boyfriend’s laptop crashed last night (possibly due to a virus), and after trying everything to get it back up including a system restore, has now reached the point where he thinks he might need to reinstall Windows XP. He’s in a panic about losing his data if he does that. How worried should he be about that, and what can he do to recover the lost data? I do apologise if this is off-topic, but I don’t know who to ask!
Thanks!

hey guyz i dont know what kind of problem you are haveing but i am sure that i can help you guyz just explan that problem and i will give you all whati can do.

thank you

ksn@umf

Hi,

My laptop with windows XP on it has just crashed! :(( i dot care too much about XP, but i need to retrieve my data. If i use the restore CD that the laptop came with, it threatens to delete the data.. which i dont want to do. I have an external USB CDRW drive. is there any hope for me to get my data???

Bought a new medion monitor, and the first day had problems with it freezing up, just for a few seconds but was every few minutes. Thought it was my mouse playing up. My husband downloaded new drivers for the monitor to see if that would work but was still on a go slow.
Put my old monitor back on and now the cd drive won’t work. Tried everything in the troubleshoot, I think. My husband wants to reinstall winxp to see if this will solve the problem. can it be done without losing files

Hiya, if I reinstall winXP (I am getting SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED error) will I lose all the data in my PC? Please help

Hello,

I’m having a problem with Windows Media Player. Every time when I open it, it says: The procedure entry point GetIUMS could not be located in the dynamic link library MSDART.DDL. This comes six times, I just click OK for six times, and then I can put my music on, but it’s very annoying. Any suggestions?

Ok, I went to microsoft updates and I tried to install that new version of Windows Media PLayer. I don’t need help anymore, I had find the problem. I’ve got the new version, after I installed that update. Thanks, Dirk

Will this work if i reformat the C drive? Also, can you post the MS hotline to call to get another activation key legally, in case it doesnt work. Thanks.

I had the product key problem also. I had a PK, but the computer wouldn’t take it in SAFE mode,
administrator. I really needed to wipe the hard
drive b/c my ex wants it back.

I went to C: in DOS and killed the operating
system by removing a couple of essential boot files, like boot.ini and a .dll file that
I don’t remember. [RMDIR /S /Q C:]

When I restarted the computer, it wanted these
files, and since I couldn’t get to them, when
I rebooted again, the computer took the F2,
F12 “boot from the CD-ROM drive” command.

It was just like installing the software in
the factory. And it did not ask me for a product
key.

I switched the boot priority back after I was
done.

Hope this helps.

Fahad, that’s unfortunately not the intent of this web page, but hope Mark’s steps help you:

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/04/xp

Cheers

Hi Abelardo,

Do you have a Windows XP recovery CD that you must have got when you purchased the OS? That would be the best and preferred method to reinstall “Help and Support Center” again on your machine.

Alternatively (and this advice comes with no guarantees or responsibilities on my part), if you really want to reinstall Help and Support without using the online Microsoft Technical Database (Knowledge Base), then backup all your important data etc, Fdisk your computer and reinstall your system as per your OEM Recovery CD.

Better still, if you have a genuine qualifying Windows 98/ME/W2K CD, then you can invest in a genuine Windows XP upgrade CD and perform a full ‘clean install’, which is the correct way to install any OS, IMO.

Just FYI,

o Fdisk
o Clean Install

Let me know how it goes!

Cheers,
Shanx

. Blair said on May 20, 2004 09:08 AM:
I have a question if anyone can answer it i would be very gratful. if i reinstall windows xp over a copy that is bad can i keep all the documents that where on it. Please i can’t get in to the windows sfae mode or normal and the last good configuration doesn’t work. can any one help me please i need help.
____________________________________________
I believe so Blair. I actually “wanted” to lose all my data, and reformat c:, which the stupid restore disk wouldn’t help with, and when I reinstalled windows, I had a re-installed windows, (supposedly) all else was still there, (ughhh)

I am having a problem with the windows product activation. The WinXP Home is on the computer. I had to do a repair due to problems. I now keep getting an error with the activation. I activate it and use the same cd key. Well, it works.. then when I reboot, I have to do it all over again. Is there a solution to this problem? This might be a factor… I repaired the first time and created a new account and did an activation… then I deleted this account… do not know if that is of any relevance.

Will

Shanx, I am unable to delete, rename, or move any of my AVI files. Each time I try these actions I get an error message saying that “the following action cannot be performed because the file is being used by another person or program,” or something to that effect, this would happen even if I do not have any programs running. I would like to know if reinstalling XP would fix my problem.

Can u advice me please

I have XP pro and Easy cd creator 5 Platinum… The problem started when I can not read my cd’s saved before with easy cd. So I reinstalled the easy cd creator but now I have message that cdr4_2k.sys is old?! So I went to Roxio web site to update the cd creator; I done the update but I have a few times a “blue screen” and now I can not even write cd’s regularly, I mean with windows. Please what to do, as most of my data is on the cd’s saved with easy cd creator, but, unfortunately, I didn’t close cd’s with the option that I can read them in other cd’s.

Is there any other way to read data from the cd’s as my cd/dvd rw drive don’t recognise anything on the cd’s saved as above mentioned

THANK YOU VERU MUCH!!!!
Davor

Hi,

I’m running XP home edition and want to re-install and re-format because of various annoying problems. I bought this computer (from a reputable dealer) with XP pre-installed, but got neither an installation CD nor a re-boot disc. It has the legit key number securely glued to the case, which I successfully used to activate way back then.

My question is: having recently borrowed a legit XP home edition installation CD from a friend, can I use it with my valid 25-digit key number?? The two computers were bought around the same time, early 2002.

Joe

Hi John,

(1) Would an OEM CD from your friend work with your current key: Legitimately, nope.

(2) If you buy a new, “full edition” of Windows XP , then you won’t need your current key, you’ll be given a new one.

In general, in these cases, I’d recommend trying to get in touch with your PC vendor and asking them for the best recourse — best to have them deal with Microsoft in your local city. I believe that at least the OS should be seriously clean, and it’s worth spending some extra bucks on to save you hours and hours of anguish later.

I bought a new PC from a well known vendor that pre-installed Windows XP Professional on it. I went through the usual WPA and successfully activated the machine.

About 6 or 7 weeks later I attempted to login and got an error:

“A problem is preventing windows from accurately checking the license for this computer. Error code: 0×800700c1″.

I was immediately logged out when I pressed the OK button. This error happens on all accounts and all attempts to login.

Thankfully I eventually found out how to access the disk via Safe Mode so I’ve managed to back up my data at least! However, I’ve got lots of apps installed that I really don’t want to re-install and re-configure…

Can anyone tell me a really simple way of making Windows XP think that it hasn’t been Activated yet such that I can re-activate it?

ide like to no if having my legal liscence and product key for windows xp home edition does me any good if i have to reinstall the OS on a formated drive but i dont have the original cd ….. i mean can if i have someone elses cd can i still use my product code and liscence?

Thanks for the time

I recently bought a Gateway laptop M675 running XP Home Edition. I tried to load SBC/Yahoo DSL software on it and very early in the installation a fatal errror pops up stating that the “WorkFlowHarnessExecutable has encountered a problem and must close.” And boom, out it goes. So. I have taken the following steps:
1) I got another install disk
2) I’ve run all the diagnostics that I can find on the computer. (Once the CMOS on the motherboard test failed. But didn’t fail on a later test).
3) I’ve called both SBC and Gateway and they of course blame each other.
4) I sent an error report to Microsoft but will get no reply to that.
5) Oh and by the way, both the original and replacement DSL disks have successfully loaded on 3 other machines running XP.

This just has to be an OS or hardware problem, right?
I have my XP disk. Can I successfully re-load it without trashing all of my other software that’s already on the machine?
I have run the gamut of my knowledge. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance

Hi jorock,

You can boot into Safe mode (hit F8 as the system first begins to load and then from the
boot menu that shows up, choose Safe Mode from the options) and logon as administrator.

Start –> Run
regsvr32 regwizc.dll

Then, Run
regsvr32 licdll.dll

If this doesn’t help try these steps:

Restart the computer in Safe mode by hitting F8 at bootup. Start/run “regedit”. Delete the following keys:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers

Exit the registry editor, restart normally. Please note that regedit is not for novice users, so please backup accordingly and don’t mess around with it unless you know what you’re up to.

Good luck,
Shashank

I would like to make a backup disk for my notebook PC, so that if the primary disk fails while I am travelling, I can just swap it out. Will this activation method work for the backup disk (i.e., copy wpa.db1 to the backup)? All of the hardware would be the same, except of course for the disks themselves.

I HAVE DELETED SOME/MOST ACTIVE X INFORMATION. IT HAS AFFECTED MY CAMERA CONTROL FILE AND I CANNOT LOCATE THE RIGHT METHOD TO CORRECT THIS. THE ERROR SAYS THAT IT CAN NOT BE REGISTERED. WHAT DO I DO?

Greetings, salutations, and all that jazz. Relatively quick question, with many possible solutions, I imagine. I have a client who installed XP Pro upgrade on her pc, obviously a pirated copy…intially, accoriding to her, everything worked well, her old docs/files/proggies were in place from 98se, etc… then, she attempted to run a generic activation crack on the pc, resulting in a system that now continually reboots just prior to login. In looking at the services log, it appears that about 90% of the system services are not loading at startup. I am attempting to resolve this matter with a legit XP cd, however, whether I expand the kernel32.dll file, try to manually search the registry for invalid commands, including auto restart, etc… I still cannot resolve this auto reboot issue. I have installed XP Pro in a 2nd partition, to gain access to the original install directory from the GUI…that boots perfectly well, so, I think I can rule out bad device drivers (Roxio, UDF, etc), but I am now stuck. I have a client’s system with a working copy of XP Pro, yet, no registry entries for existing software installations, or, an upgrade that will not boot properly. System restore is a no go on that partition, and, I am unable to even begin to import the keys from the registry on partition 1, into the working copy on partition 2..especially given that they are most likely whacked anyway, resulting from some lil kiddie’s intentional or inept programming. So…where next? Pls and thanks!

I did a XP Home Edition re-install and have lost all the files in My Music and My Pictures (yeah, I know, I was GOING to make back ups) My hard drive space is the same as it was before the reinstall, but I have no idea where all the files went. I’ve tried a search, using *.jpg etc but nothing turns up. I know XP hid these someplace during the re-install. Any ideas on where to start looking so I can restore them? Only about 10GB of music. Same for pix of the kids, my jeep etc…
Please reply here as well as to my email address: rachelfoxevans@hotmail.com

Thanks…
Rachel

I have emachines XP and i have MCafee and it said i had some virues and it renamed 1 and cleaned the other 7 out but , how do i make sure it is all the way out of my pc my pc is rebooting all the time i cant get into any thing ? what can i do ??

Hi, Im hoping you might be able to help me. I recently went to a computer show & purchased XP pro very cheaply. I then realized why it was cheap. There wasn’t any OEM or product activating code inside or on the packet. My question is this. Since this seems to be a legal copy of WinXP, is there anyway to extract an oem code/product code of the cdrom itself or do I have to call MS & buy another one.
Thanks for the feedback

Jason: Buy the software, but there’s no need to call M$, find a reseller near you.

Christian: have you tried a Virus scanner? I detest them, but maybe you should give this a try at first.

Christian, I believe there is another program running in the background. Go to the services applet or task manager and turn of things like Webserver, VScanner etc., turn off all programs running in the tray one by one and check the results. I presume it’s a running service, that is causing this to happen.

No, you can not reinstall without the discs.

Kyle,
these are installed when you do a windows update. They are from M$, to repair holes in the system, atleast we hope so.

Rory, sorry I won’t support a pirated version of any software on this site. Thanks.

Jkue, thanks so much for being so active and useful on the site! I considered a forum software, yes, but am working on a threaded discussion thing here itself. It’s so difficult to get most of the modern bbs software to look simple and usable.

This (misguided)comment is directed to “Shanx”…I must say I loved the piousness of your putdown to Rory, “…sorry, I won’t support a pirated version…blah blah blah…”. However, before you begin your Heavenward ascension, read up on the HISTORY of MICROSOFT. The company was COMPLETELY founded, constructed and continues to operate on the previously COPYRIGHTED efforts of XEROX. 20+ years ago Mr.Bill was allowed at least 3(!) requested invites to begin construction of a suitable software program that would make the XEROX Hardware more flexible AMONG ITS OWN HARDWARE AND ITS OWN DEVICES!!!! A full YEAR later, the rainlocked, shower-less one (thats right, Mr.B)bought out those associates less-committed (?) for mere pennies and proceded to rape XEROX (the only sole, true inventor of the prototypes of today’s “desktop”, the “mouse”, and the set-up of the viewing “screen” (monitor?)). He then took advantage of a relaxing of the “robber-baron” laws that were so instrumental in keeping the Gettys, Rockerfellers, et al from owning the western half (among other things…)of the rail-lines that were helping the USA to begin on solid footing. With “Windows” as the de facto operating system on nearly every P.C. built in the first 20 years of the ‘net revolution… (comparison? Imagine if EVERY combustible engine within ALL automobiles built EVERYWHERE in the world was installed with “FORD” or “CHRYSLER”? stamped on it?…God Bless those early “Scientists” of the Military’s ARPANET…), Mr.Gates has utilized piracy of another’s sweat, toil, and genius while amassing a personal fortune that is stupifying. Perhaps, the use of pirated software is a problem among some less-diverse (& less Government-Blessed!)companies, but I’m afraid I find the crying of “foul” by MSN laughable.(which I felt the “XP”- heavy subject matter most spurred my thoughts toward…)
Keep the faith…
Douglas Gautreaux
Warner Robins, GA (USA)

p.s. I use Windows, and am an I.T. major and average joe-Not a conspiracy nut, but a little suspicious of the origins of today’s popular “piracy” origins…

Doogle, thanks for that background but I believe a proper government body may be a better audience for thoughts of that nature.

If a company like Microsoft has been allowed to function as a business, then I am sure its technologies were licensed in ways that are acceptable by legal standards. Creating is one thing, but if Xerox did not have the good sense to commercialize it, then so be it. Our world is full of such examples (e.g., DVD standards, fashion items, etc).

There is a good reason why Windows is the de facto standard. Unix was for geeks, Linux now is better but still horrible to install and maintain for regular folks (and it wasn’t around when MS was climbing ranks), and Apple was and is expensive and closed. Things become popular because there is a demand for them, please give consumers some credit for making the choice that suits their need best, not necessarily some supposed “best” choice that you determine.

MS, for what it is worth, does do a significant amount of innovation. ASP for instance was an innovation of Microsoft when Perl CGI was the norm. Now Sun’s JSP or a bunch of other new languages like PHP and Ruby follow similar concepts. MS also provides a great deal of livelihood for people who code in Visual Studio. Etc etc.

I’ve indulged your off-topic post but please note that it’s besides the point of this website, and this page in particular. Whom I decide to help and whom I don’t is my prerogative, and my reasons for not helping people with pirated versions is very fair and reasonable. Pirating software does harm someone’s livelihood somewhere, so I don’t believe in it. What you believe is your choice.

Cheers,
Shashank

Thanks Shanks,
I just regurgitated because I did exactly what was written. Yes it’s a legally purchased version. NTFS before and NTFS after. No hardware change immediately after but I have since installed a new firewire card. I can ligitimately authorize this copy of xp again but I thought it would be easier to bypass. Apparently not. Any ideas why it’s not working?

Kris, why not try calling up MS support with that info? From your description, they should and will help you for free.

What do you mean by “it does not allow me to reactivate” — what message do you see? Are you reinstalling WinXP from the same original CD as you had installed before?

(P.S. As you probably know now, formatting the entire hard drive for a reason as simple as boot issues was not a clever idea.)

hello, hows everyone doing today?

Question:
I have a full legal windows xp installtion cd that I bought from a retail store. I loaded it on one of my older computers, and just got done installing on my newer one that I just built. Then I relized that I could not use the same number to actavate it, as everyone here already knows, but I just discovered this problem myself. I have read what everone else has tryed and asked.

But I was just wondering can I copy wpa.dbl from older computer and paste it in the new computers folder C:windows/system32 ?

Will I be allright or will I have to do try to reboot with the file all ready on the windows xp cd?

Formatted HD, have XP CD, but the last 5 digits of key code I cannot read. Cannot re-install XP until I have those last digits. Any suggestions?

Matt,
Instead of doing a re-installation she should have tried a repair installation. Have her uninstall the second installation using add/remove programs and then do the repair installation from the cd.

Thanks Rob, but one more Question.

If I call m$ and talk to them to get another activation number will M$ know that the other computer is still activated? I’m probally going to trash it sooner then later, but for the time being it is still running. Does M$ really care that much?

Thanks for the help!

Rob,
Now I know why everybody really don’t like MS. I just don’t understand with the way technology is growing they still need to get $200 for every copy. Don’t they see this is the biggest reason for people to try to crack and hack them. Come on even if they charge $200 we as the owners should have the right to aleast install it on three to four computers with out them saying no. I will try to give them hell but I think I have a better chance of seeing my red sox win a world series.
Also does anyone know if MS can lock you out of your computer for any reason, do they have that right if they think your running a duplicate?

thanks for all the help

I’ve got a problem you may not have come across. I’m trying to install XP Pro over an older Japanese Windows 2000. I don’t want 2000, and since it’s a different language version, I can’t seem to get rid of it through the XP setup. Anybody know a way to get rid of it and then install XP?

For the future, you can boot into knoppix and save those files to a floppy disk or something. You may or may not be able to retrieve those files depending on whether they have been overwritten or not. I know of one tool for retrieving lost files (SpinRite), but I can’t personally vouch for it, since I’ve never used it.

You could also try doing a search on freshmeat.net or (better yet) sourceforge.net- maybe there’s some free utilities?

There is only one way to bypass the activation but it only works if reinstalling on the same computer. You need to call microsoft. They should be able to get you going. Please post your results.

James, James, James… There is a list of things you need before you can install your OS and one of them is the product key!!! If you hadn’t already reformatted you could find the product in the regestry but now you’re SOL. What did Dell say when you told them your kid took the product key sticker?

Reboot with the WinXP CD in the drive.

I just tried to upgrade my eMachine t3085 from Xp Home edition to Xp Professional edition. It didn’t come with a “service pack,” but it’s asking for the cd with that on it. My computer is stuck in a loop of wanting to install an “asms” file and when it can’t get it, it gives an error message and reboots, and the cycle starts all over again.
My question is, if I use the “Restore CDs,” will I lose all of my Word documents and such? Don’t care so much about the programs, but I have a half-finished novel on the computer I can’t afford to lose… any ideas would be welcomed… I am extremely frustrated…

I am geting the error of \system32\hal.dll. Please reinstall this file. I called Dell support and they told me that I need to reinstall my Windows XP, however I do not have the disk… is there anything else I can do?

I dunno what happened, I must of dl something that fked my comp all up…I got a laptop R32. Well, I bought it off my friend and the shitty part of the deal was it didn’t come with a floppy disk/ “A Drive” which ever you prefer! Nor, did I get an XP start up disk so I could reinstall or reformat.. So here’s the problem….If I double click “Internet Explorer” it doesn’t open. I can’t open “My computer” My Documents” or any other program that may need Explorer to view material. Some how Explorer got corrupted and now I am locked out of all my files. So what should I do?

Silly questions require silly comments Sash, but stupid mistakes will make people post questions. Ok, I tried “ad aware” and it detects cookies, unwanted reg keys and folders, yet this didn’t take care of the problem otherwise I wouldn’t be asking how to fix this problem. I also just got done doing a system restore but this didn’t fix the problem either. I tried dl “Internet Explorer” Which I got from the microsoft website. During the dl process it had came up with a pop up that says, “Setup was unable to download required components” Basically try again later…In other words it’s most likely not gonna work later. I don’t know if what I have a virus or what, but I get the feeling that I am running out of options and thinking about running to Frys to buy a new Drive.
Basically windows explorer is completely disabled. Explorer is the only way to get into any kind of program, such as “Control Pannel” “Search Files and Folders” “My Computer” “My documents” Ect. And I know about Dos, but I have school papers I need to get and print out, which are in “My Documents” Well anyways, thanks for the help I really appreciate it. Take care for now

Hi,

I tried sifting through the earlier messages to see if someone had already answered my question/problem, but I didn’t see it mentioned.

When I started up my computer the other day (Compaq Presario 7000z purchased July 2001; Windows XP) first the XP screen comes up, then the blue screen saying, “Checking file system on c: The type of file system is FAT32. One of your disks needs to be checked for nonconsistency. You may cancel the disk check but it is strongly recommended that you continue. Windows will now check the disk. Volume serial # is 2356-11E6. Windows is verifying files & folders…”

Then it shows the % completed. After it gets to 100% complete, a screen flashes for about a tenth of a second, and I was only able to read something about “Beginning dump of physical memory” or something like that.

The computer then automatically reboots and continues this process over and over and over…

What can/should be done here? I’d like to salvage documents/pictures on my hard drive if possible.

Thanks.

I have a serious, urgent question. I need to download MS Office. I have windows xp professional installed on my computer with a ‘false’ cd key, and service pack 2 has been bothering me to download it for a while, but since it detects my faulty activation key, it won’t let me completely download the pack.

When I try to install MSOFFICE, it says it won’t download until I complete the download of service pack two! Is there any way to find where the partially downloaded service pack is and delete it so msoffice may still download? I’d really like to get ms office abd couldn’t care less about service pack 2. I hope you understand my story, my writing is in rambling style right now.

Ok, for most people who are using the net, I think the problem is having an “Itchy trigger finger.” I admit I use to have one too… It’s when you go on a site which requires you to dl plug ins In order to view flash or some other kind of unnecessary program. Opening “Fwd” emails could cause your comp to messup, or you could get a virus by doing something as innocent as downloading “AIM.” An example of this is, “Wild Tangent” and “Weather Bug.” Anyone with AIM has those programs which I consider a virus because it’s hard to delete, unnecessary, and installed without your knowledge Basically it’s Spyware… In order to get rid of it you have to delete the folders which were installed into your program files. The twist is, even after you delete this folder, it’s still in the registry key! Now, if you go into the Registry, you’re in dangerous territory if you dont know what you’re doing. I’d suggest to use ad aware. I am sure it would get rid of it for you. I’ve came across the problem which ad aware didn’t work on getting rid of it so i had to manually delete it from the reg key myself.
I think the best way to protect your comp from a virus is by burning important documents which you need onto some CDs or diskettes. When you’re finished doing that, Reformat your computer. BUT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR FILES BACKED UP ONTO CDS BEFORE YOU CONTINUE. You’ll lose everything, of course. So make sure to back your files onto cds or disks!!Do this every 6 months. In other words Twice a years. And stop clicking on pop ups, spam, downloading to much.
One more thing, NEVER use “Internet Explorer” if possible Download Mozilla, it’s faster and a better window to use. Well good luck to you all.

Hi.. What a wonderful site and so informative. I read thru most of the postings and could not find an answer. Problem.. I am trying to fix a computer for a friend. When they boot up the desktop does not show icons or bars. I tried the window key and the only valid one if recognizes is window l to switch users. Only one user. Windows XP btw. Either way, searched the internet and found out I could do a restore thru dos but the problem is the window comes up blank. Next think i read is to do a clean install. This computer was given to them by a friend with xp installed and no CD at all. The owner was able to get a sealed windows xp home edition CD from work. I never had to do a reinstall of any OS so this is new to me. I did read here about how to copy the wpa.dbl file to a floppy to bypass entering the code if u don’t have one. My question is, can I use this CD she brought to me to reinstall Windows XP? I have a feeling I got myself involved into something I shouldn’t have. I have fixed computers hardware/ software, but never had to do a reinstall. If you know a way to get the desktop back without reinstalling XP, please let me know. Thanks! Marti

Ok I re read your post Marti, I was in a rush earlier bc I had to get to school and I posted my comment with out going over it.

First you said your friend has a desk top - Have your friend go to Walmart buy a copy of Windows xp home edition. I know most people hate to do it, but it comes with the territorry of owning a computer. Then go ahead and pop the sucker in and reinstall xp onto your friends comp.

Second — If a problem does happen that is just as bad or worse, you might have no other choice other than buying a new hard drive.

Third — make a “Bootup” Disk.
As for the Cd you have. I wouldn’t try it. It’ll probably be risky. This is were the “Boot Disk comes in….
IF it so happens not to work the only way you’ll be able to access anything on the comp is through a boot up disk and it’ll go to DOS and give you acouple of options. Other wise you’re gonna go through the whole. Abort, Retry, Fail, Option.
In “Edition” alittle geeky humor there….
I think mircrosoft requires you to register for windows, and I heard they were not likeing pirated copies of xp floating around. You said it was sealed? Did it come in a big blue box with the windows logo on it? Well anyways, if you wanna take the chance, go for it. I hope things work out. Keep me posted.

Hello Marti,
So we can eliminate the laptop part of the equation. IF it was a laptop windows XP professional comp, you wouldn’t need a “Bootup disk” Nor a Windows XP Cd.
Unfortunately, your friend has a desktop which most likely requires a Windows CD to reinstall. Now like I said before; DONT RISK IT! Go by your local Walmart or Target and pick up a copy of Windows. Everyone with a computer should have one. Besides I don’t know if the CD your friend has will work on his/her computer.
About your question on the boot disk. Yes, it will work if you need to make one from your comp for your friend. I am assuming you’re using Windows Home Edition too. Go ahead and make a boot disk for your friend it will work, it shouldn’t take more than a fews minute to make. lol, and I never heard of making a “boot disk” from the command prompt, or as I like to call it, “Dos.”
The directory is just a list of programs which your friend or the comp installed up to the time of the PCs’ failure. You can try to open these files, but most likely you wont get anything and it would just be a waste of time.
So, try to make this problem easier on yourself. Like you had mentioned before; “You never reinstalled windows on a comp and said you got yourself into something, you shouldn’t have.”
Don’t make the problem harder by tinkering around with dos programs. It might seem nerve racking messing with someone elses comp, but it is easier than you might think…

First: Make a boot disk.
Second: You and your friend take a field trip to Walmart or Target and buy a new Copy of Windows XP Home Edition, to eliminate all problems and hasstle that MIGHT come with the Cd your friend has in his/her presents.
Third: Stick in the boot disk then turn on the comp. Follow the instructions. and pick an option.
Fourth, Pop in the Cd and let the computer do it’s magic.
Hope this helped you out somewhat.

Another question i was just thinking of: Since this problem computer seems to be in order thru DOS, and the desktop icons are the problems here to getting windows xp to start right, is there any file or file(s), i can take from this other computer that is running fine and copy to the problem computer so boot up will work without having to reinstall all again?

No problem Jack.. You have been wonderful.. She already has Adaware, and i ran it again thru the NEW TASK option when selecting ctrl, alt del and it only found a few. No big deal. Now her norton I was unable to run getting an error saying this file is not associated with … whatever else it says. I plan once I reinstall the windows, to reinstall her norton and run a complete scan prior to giving her computer back.. Wish me luck.. Have a good nite

Jack.. so far so good.. i was able reinstall windows xp for her. just having a problem with NAV and Adaware working together.. trying to fix that now. from research, i see alot of people seem to have that problem. Either way, all is okay. I did use the dell XP CD to install Windows XP but used her product ID key which I found using that d/l program. Either way, so far so good. Thanks again for all your help! Marti

every time i turn on my comp. i get little window saying Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library. Program:\C:\Windows\System32\SQuerycontrol32.exe
Abnormal Program Termination
after that i can’t access any links except new window links…for exemple…i can’t lauch any news video..i can’t get any link if is not full windows…plz…Help!

Is there a way to find out which file is that Jack?

Chris,
I had done this problem once and had about 300 songs and there were alot of corrupted files. Some of which could make your comp crash completely.
There is a round about way to find it. If I am correct burn all your mp3s by making a “Data CD.” Make a CD strictly for MP3s. When you’re done making the cd, put it in the CD ROM. Open it with “Windows Media Player.” The bitch of it is finding which file is corrupt. When the corrupted file is open, the title of the MP3 should turn red and say something along the lines of; “Corrupted File” or “Windows Media Player was Unable to Read this track.”
I am not sure if a virus scan could catch a corrupted file, but you could try if you do. I will go ahead and pull out my old mp3 and try to figure it out for you. Hope this helps you.

Peter,
The most beautiful thing about computers, are cd burners. This way you can burn ANYTHING you want onto a Blank CD. If you don’t have one I’d suggest you get one. It’s more than just burning Mp3s and Movies, they are a good source of backing up any files you don’t want to lose. If you have important documents, such as essays, and reports you can burn them onto CDs and use it for back up. Due to the size of the Essays and reports you wouldn’t need to many cds to back them up. So for example:
Burn all your essays, MP3s, Mpegs, pictures, and whatever else you have onto CDs. This way you wouldn’t need to worry about transfering one thing to another till you’re completely done reformatting your comp. Which brings us to your XP Professional Edition. Once you reformat your comp as you already know; everything will be completely erased from you comp. BUT since XP is an OS, this might not be valid. Then again since you have Home Edition this will be your primary OS and XP pro shouldn’t give you any problems since you don’t have the CD to install it. If this doesn’t work, I’d suggest you go to the co-workers who had put this on your comp and tell them to take it off. Since they put it on. I hope this answered your question. If not then I can try to explain it differently at a later time. Well Good luck I hope you guys keep me posted.

You don’t know how to listen to your mp3 on the comp.

I don’t think is ma mp3 cuz i dont download music so..since now i dont have any important thing on ma notebbok..i was thinking reinstalling window xp…but i dont know if i have to wipe this window out first or can I just put the cd and install on top of this??? sorry for asking to many dumm question … but i really need help!

Jack i have windows XP, i dont download mpgs….but i watch lot of foreign videos (vod), and my wife watch lot of foregin drama on internet and listen lot of internet radios, plus i read all my news on comp….what i was trying to say was, now i can’t launch any video from for exemple msn news they have linck for videos, and any thing is not full window don’t works, for exemple yesterday i went to dell.com to look around and when i clinck for view large image didn’t work…..the internet site radio that i used to listen dont work to, cuz it used to give this small radio looking window, but now dont work, the tv drama that my wife used to watch dont work either , because it used to give ittle tv window….etc,,,etc,,:’(

Chris,
http://www.handyarchive.com/free/.exe/

Look for the query32.exe and on this site and download it.. you shouldn’t have any problems after that…Keep me posted…I gotta bolt for now, hope this works for you buddy.

When I try to install “Hot Wheels Micro Racers on
my Windows XP, it says:C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXCE.NT. The file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose ‘Close’ to terminate the
applications. Choosing that or ‘ignore’ gets me a message that says Hot Wheels Micro Racers(TM)
setup failed. Re-insertthe game CD to install it.
Deja vu! When I loaded ‘Hot Wheels Stunt Track driver 2, Getn’ Dirty’ It work on Xp. Then I get it to work, then its uninstalled. Next time,
badda bang! The message pops up. Why can’t they
load Please help me!

hey i was just wondering if u could help me. i was trying to hookup my internet and it requires me to load a disk. my internet provideris sbc yahoo. and when i put in my disk and run it i cant get any farther than like the second step. i know im doing everything right becasue i have loaded it on a computer prior to this. so if u could help me please email me. and o yeah i seen tht u will need a floppy and mine doesnt have one. well if you could help me i would deeply appreciate it thanks.

Cory,
Make sure to uninstall your sbc yahoo provider and all of it’s components, then go ahead and try to re install the disk, see if that works. If not, get another copy of the cd and then try that. If that doesn’t work then call techniquel support. I am sure they have a phone number and will walk you through it.

Jotrek,
Go ahead and activate it. Sounds like it’s the only way you’re gonna be able to use it with out being hastled.
Well fellas, good luck keep me posted

hey, i recentl installed windows xp. i cant get the activate product to work, it says unathorized product key and i retype it in and it said inncorrect product key.

I need to reinstall Windows XP professional onto my laptop I’m reading your stuff and I understand everyhting but step 3. Boot to a DOS disk if you are using FAT, or to the Recovery Console if using NTFS.
How is this done? I am waiting to reinstall XP till I hear back onthis problem. Thanks

This may already have been covered but could someone help me out?
I just found the tip for copying the .dbl file to reinstall windows xp and avoid the reactivation thing. Problem is i found it after the fact. i installed xp then was downloading and updating my other software programs and xp didn’t like something i installed and dumped on me. i tried repairing it and recovery and all that. ended up clearing out the hard drive and starting over. well i activated already so when i reinstalled and tried to activate it obviously said its already been activated. What can i do? i paid for it and activated it so to them its activated but it really is not.

Jack,

Thanks for the input. Yeah I did try the rapid repair, recovery console. I didn’t have alot on the new hard drive yet so it wasn’t a big deal to reformat it and start over. It had gotten a virus or more while windows was updating to XP sp2 anyway, which was another problem I got a new virus software and it messed up a much of windows file so it had a hard time when I downloaded other software which lead to its crashing. So I did reformat. But now its asking to activate windows again and I already did the first time so it won’t let me again. That’s my dilema now.

Thank you Jack. The game doesn’t work on xp, but
the only reason I got Xp was that my old computer
is out of commision. If the memory to boot is restored, and I get new parts, maybe the game will work! ME is the final working system for the game. Once it is fixed, I can go racing.
Now I can wait a little bit. I just wish Grandpa
had looked harder into the computer. He could
have saved more money by having it inspected.
I’ll notify you more.

My windows xp is saying Operating System Not Found I dont have the disc as it came already pre-loaded how can I get my windows back

Hi there thanks for answering I will try what you said I went and bought xp upgrade at walmart and it started to run then said error detected windows will not load it said because it didnt want to cause further damage it said turn of the computer and press f8 but I did that and nothing happened so not to sure where to go from here I will try the above thanks

Ernesto,
How old is your comp? It could be your hard drive has been infected and you might need a new one. Try to Reformat your comp.
1. Go to dos.
2. type in: cd C:\
3. type in format
4. follow the directions.

Before you do that make sure of acouple things,

if you really want a new comp.

If you absolutely think that your comp is messed up.

If you absolutely think that your Hard Drive has been infected by a Virus.

All you need is a new Hard drive, but if you want a whole new system, you should go for it. But it would be cheaper for hard drive.
Unless you want to start completely fresh get a new system.

Ivis,
Wow, sounds like you got something really nasty on your comp. You can try to reinstall windows xp try doing that…What else does it say? Any more errors?
I’ll try to figure it out. Keep me posted

Hi Jack,

I can’t reintall windows xp, I can’t loose the users data there.

No more errors.

Thanks

Ivis

- Bought a new computer: 1 (one) 120 GB HD.
- Bought XP Pro SP 2 from internet
(original but probably OEM)
- Installed XP Pro, Partitioned the HD into 2
Partition: 14 GB (Primary C:)
and 90 something GB
- Activated XP

Question:
Is there a way to bypass XP activation
If I want to reformat, and expand the first partition (C:) ?

Please help with above post the windows xp is taken up to much space on hard drive not to be used.

Ivis,
You wont lose any info if you reinstall windows. So go ahead and try it if possible. If not your HD could be wiped so you might have to get a new one. You can try to retrieve your files by putting into a HD zip converter. Pull out everything you need and presto. Hope this works for you.

Jr,
If you’re talking about Internet explorer, then go ahead and try to dl Mozilla at “Mozilla.com” if possible. It works much better and wont crash on you ever min. Hope this is the answer you’re looking for.
Yosia,
If you’re talking about not having to register, just go ahead and skip registration, which will give you the option to do so.

John,
If you don’t want winmx on your comp just re format your comp. Once you do, you’ll have nothing on your comp. It will be totally wiped..
Once that’s done pop in the cd you want to install. And well, install. Make sure you have a boot disk before you proceed with this.
Well people, keep me posted

Tammy, do you have a Win XP CD to re-install it from? I hope you (or your husband) are familiar with formatting and reinstalling an OS, but see if this helps: http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/how-tos/reinstall-faq.html

I need to know what to do after i reinstall xp. I saved the files to a disk and need to know what to do with them now how to transfer them. please break it down for me because I don’t know waht I’m doing after reinstalling xp pro.

Hello Shanx,

You may have a good solution for this problem other than restoring hopefully.

What happened was that I repaired windows, but after done that it prompted me for the activation key, so I did that I entered the product key and then I spoke to Microsoft over the phone, they gave a bunch of numbers wich they worked.

Then after click next and Thank you your Windows has been activated. I Restart the unit and after that it says that Windows needs to be activated, if I click yes it says that Windows has been activated but does not loggin and it keep looping always same question. However I was allowed to go on Safe Mode.

Is there anything that I can do in order to loggin on Normal Mode without restoring the OS?

Thank a bunch. Guillermo.

hi i hav installed an illegal copy of win xp, and i have been tryin to activate windows but it says my code is incorrect. what should i do? what happens if i dont activate?

Uriel try these links (no promises):
http://www.uninets.net/~blaisdel/whistler8.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302806

Were you logged in as Admin? or a user with the appropiate rights to conduct such operations? What about system clock setting? Sorry can’t help much more.

1. format C:
2. REBOOT
3. install using cdrom.
4. surf in peace again.
5. Stop reading spam.

There’s not much more I can say here.

I need to reinstall Win xp, but seem to have lost the CD during moving. I have the activation key, I have Office xp disk, but not the Windows xp disk. Is there any way I can format and reinstall without it, or get another one sent?

THanks

I recently rebuilt my computer, formatted the hard drive and started fresh with windows XP home and installed SP2, i also installed Norton Antivirus 2005 with Zone Alarm Pro 4. I had XP and Zone Alrm before i reformatted. For about a week after i reformatted everything worked great but now when i’m online using MSN of IE i cant access Ebay.com, i get “Server Not Found- The page cannot be displayed” But i can visit any other web site that i’ve tried. I’ve tried accessing Ebay on other computers at the same and other times. My problem has been going on for about 5 days now. If you have any suggestions i would greatly appreciate them, Thank You.

This is cool; it can retrieve the product activation from your current winXP load on your PC. Make sure you write it down.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

hello, how do i boot to the recovery console in windows xp home. i am using the ntfs file system. thx, i will be anxiously awaiting a response.
allen

Does the wpa.dbl file update itself? I installed XP on my laptop but it did not recognize the built in nic. I installed a pcmcia card which xp detected and installed the drivers for it. Next I got online with a broadband connection, registered xp and then installed the drivers for the built in nic and uninstalled the pcmcia nic. So, if I have to reinstall xp and copy the wpa file back, will xp register or will it fail because the hardware is different from when it was registered?

Thanks

Hi, i just got the internet after a couple of months. Whe i try to go on some web pages, a thing pops up and says “your currant security settinig prohibit active x controls on this page, as a result the page might not disply correctly”. please tell me what to change. i tried deleating active x but it says it might be write proof or something. i cant get any pic or watever. please write back on this website and to my email address clarkdale1989@hotmail.com. Fully appreciate it, dael.

I have a computer that was purchased with Windows XP pre-installed. It is in such bad shape that I want to reformat and reinstall. I don’t have the original install CD or any recovery disks. However, I do have another legit OEM XP CD that I bought last year. If have the product key for the pre-installed computer can I use it with my other XP CD when I do a clean install and still get reactivated OK or is the key linked to the actual CD?

Thanks, Jim S.

Jack, I first discovered the game on a demo.
But my Windows 98 was in severe trouble.
It was upgraded to Me but my luck took a turn
for the worse. Later, I couldn’t get it to boot!
This time we couldn’t fix the problem, and something broke. The main connection prongs
were damagaed! Now with an XP at hand, my computer shows the “error” in message 186.
All I want is for the ME to get repaired.
How can I override the subsystem error?

I guess I shouldnt be looking for help here…but anyway. I had Win2k on my desktop computer and decided to update it to Windows XP Pro. My step-dad has the disk and serial from the one he bought….so I installed it. But, when I tried to activate it it said that it was already used on the maximum number of machines. And, today as we sit, my grace period is over for XP, so i cannot even sign on any of my accounts. After this I ughh’ed for while then decided to put Win2k back on it. But, lo and behold, when i try to install that there are many things the disk cannot install from “I386″, such files are ini910u.sys (SCSI miniport) and many others. Uh, whats going on here?

Hi…..
My old, original WinXP disk is not any good anymore because when I attempt to use it, it often “hangs up” or relates multiple error messages. Well, I’ve just decided to purchase a new one. My Problem: Should I purchase a Retail Version, or an OEM Version. I’ve heard that OEM versions will not allow you do repair installs, etc….and, that each time you use it, it will install okay, it will just reformat your entire drive thus deleting all of your programs and prior information. Is this true, and what should I do ?
Many thanks, and have a safe and happy new year,
Brian

Hi
I really need help…. i know alot about computerz.. i mean i’m not a pc whiz or anything,, but i know… a lot…. n-wayz

i need helkp
i re-installed my windows XP Home edition on my pc…… becasue i just wannted a fresh version.. anways…. when i finally finished doing that… i noticed i had no sound software on my pc… i pretty muched tryed everything i could think of… so can u help me please!!!!????

Melanie

Windows XP Pro

came home one day to find that my monitor was fubared, and so i replaced it. however, my computer will no longer load in normal mode. i can only load the system in “safe modes”. it’ll get to the black windows logo screen with the scrolling boxes. once that loads up, i get the “blue screen” then the system automatically reboots. what’s the deal? what do i need to do to fix the problem? thanks in advance for any help.

I have a computer that is emachines windows xp.My comp lately slow i usually just reinstall the 3 cds it came with and it works like the way i bought.but the problem is i was looking for my cd of emachines restor cd windows xp and i only have num1 and num.2.it wnt work if i dont have all three of course.Where can i find the cd or something thanks?

I reinstalled Windows XP Home ED. and got to the point of Windows Activation.. The screen went blue and locked up .. The Windows Activation banner is at the top of the blue screen and two checked boxes at top conners… Any ideas what I should do to correct the killer blue screen…

can someone please tell meif i can install window xp onto my windows 98 second edition laptop, ifso how ps i am disabled and do not quite understand these thins. thank you, mark brown

I bought a medion laptop from my work and apparently they formatted the hard drive with XP. That isn’t the problem. The XP starts up in the setup, but the keyboard doesn’t work. The mouse does. I can’t get into the windows desktop to update drivers or anything because it tries to make you go through the setup of windows XP. What can i do to get the keyboard installed on the computer now?

How can I get office cd key from the net. Want to install office xp to my pc online. How can I go about that.

HELP! I have a legitimate copy of XP Home Upgrade. I recently decided to abandon Windows and tried Linux. AAAAARRRGGGHHHH! After 2 weeks of this I’m ready to go back to Windows. Problem is though I still have my Upgrade CD and my product key, I no longer have the Windows ME CD that I upgraded from a couple of years ago. Is there some way to do this without spending $200 on a full version?

my windows xp did not load right i have no sound There`s alot missing can u help me?

I reciently purchaced two HP computers with XP Home installed on them, I do have the product keys and I have used restore more than once. My problem is I dont want all that garbage thats installed on the computer and the back up disk is one of those HP disks with everything on it. Can I do a full restore and install XP without all the other programs that come on the disk.

My friend & I bought identical laptops in Dec using WIndows XP Home. We both have installation disks, even though the software was pre-loaded. I think we had to carry out product activation at the time but as we had quite a lot of software to load, register and activate I may be mistaken and it may have been done before purchase. I have regularly used my laptop since and had no problems but my friend has not used hers very much as yet. She now gets her user name appear and when she logs on it asks if she wants to activate. When she answers yes it tells her it’s already activated and takes her back to the logon screen. Selecting no for activation does the same. How can we get past this screen? Even if she rings microsoft she wont be able to insert an activation code as there is no place to do so. Do we need to reinstall (hopefully by simply inserting the disk), She has no files worth worrying about at the moment. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks

I am having difficulty with my XP. Someone here reinstalled XP on our PC and now I need to activate the product, I cant. The product key has already been used it says.

Microsoft’s CSRs said that I should reformat my hard drive and reinstall XP or buy a new product activation key. Can I use this method of installing XP or should I do something else? My patience is running thin with those people.

I had this pc built for me oct/2003 told the guy i could not afford xp pro so he installed an evaluation copy to be activated in 30 days and generated a key for activation,got sp1,got sp2 and all updates.Then last night the fun started at 22.00 UK i was told i had to reactivate in 3 days cos of H/Ware changes.I havent changed anything i have never installed an os but i do have a disk with a copy of pro[pre sp1].Help! can anything be done?

You guys, all you have to do is call Microsoft and ramble off the numbers they ask you too and there you go, you can re-activate your copy of XP (provided it’s legit). This also applies if you changed to much hardware and XP is nagging you to re-activate.

It’s simple, legal, and easy. My friend has done it 20+ times.

I bought my computer 2 1/2 years ago with windows xp prof. I had it serviced last year at gateway and they reformatted hard drive and re-installed xp-sp1.
now I am having problems. I tried to repair windows xp using my original CD that came with computer. I keep getting a message saying to install the CD. It does not seem to recognize the cd. Is this because gateway installed a new xp sp1?
What do I do? My computer is out of warranty now, and the gateway stores are closed.
Thanks, Bob

Hi- I tried reading all of the posts but my eyes hurt. Anyway- I have a problem. I’ve had my laptop for about a year already and everything was fine. I had some guy install some Norton 2003 thing so that I would have a virus protector thing. Well suddenly today I was using my laptop and it said that something needed to update, it did some scan and said it corrected some errors, and needed to reboot. so i did. Much to my surprise when it came back on, a message stating that i needed to activate windows popped up so I clicked yes and then i got that message that says windows is already activated. then it goes in that endless cycle others have described. So here’s the problem- I don’t have an XP CD, but i do have the P.Key and I don’t know anything about computers. Any suggestions??

Hello, I have a problem, I didn’t know the backup, restore commonds in Microsoft Windows Millinnium, pls tell me what to do.

Denny — it’s only simple if you don’t get into the death spiral my machine currently is in. It had been telling me for several days that I needed to activate Windows. I already had and had been running for months. But each time it said that, I said sure go activate it. I would then get the activation wizard box with a message saying that Windows was already activated. Same thing every day of the countdown. On day 0 and on, I now can’t login without activating. But when I tell it to activate, I get the same “Windows is already activate” message with OK as the only choice. Clicking that returns me to the login and after I login I am greeted with the message again saying that I must activate windows before logging in. It’s an endless loop. I have rolled the date back in CMOS. That helped me login in at least once and I even was able to do the regedit hack to invalidate my key which did force the actual activation procedure which I then followed. I read my numbers into the automated system, she read some back, I entered them and life was good. Until I returned my date to the current date and restarted the system. Then I was right back to the same issue all over again and am still there. I tell you this story only to make you realize that it’s not always as easy to fix this problem as you think. The key that I am using is from an MSDN subscription that allows 10 PCs to use the same key. I’ve only installed this on 3 PCs because that’s all I own. I’ve given the key to no one else. Windows obviuosly “thinks” it’s both activated and needs to be activated. I can’t get into my machine. Nothing simple about it for those of us who are in that boat friend.

Is there a way to reset my pc completely (deleting everything and put it back to factory settings WITHOUT THE DISC?)

Hi,
I upgraded my computer to Windows XP professional.But i have already used the product key i had, on another computer and now i cannot use it again.I read on of the comments posted and tried to restore my system to a previous date but they have locked up all the dates and created a restoration point right after i have installed professional version.So in short i cannot restore my system. I do have XP home edition.Is there any way i can go back to home edition or do something?
Thanks for your help.

Prikyanka- Unfortunatly, Product Keys have been created so that if you buy one Xp license/Disk you can only install it on one computer.. It looks as though you will have to buy a new copy of xp since yyou have already used the product key for a different computer.

Faye- RE_INSTALL..If you change your cmos settings to ‘first boot - cdrom’ then restart the computer with the xp disk in the cd drive it should run and give you the option to wipe and re-install the OS. you shouldnt run into any problems using this method. Let me know how it goes

Jim - Was there any changes made prior to this occuring? For example.. Any hardware or software installed or adjusted recently ?
(This is usually the reason for re-activation)

Just reinstalled Windows XP Pro after a problem. It took a few tries but I’ve finally got it reloaded. Now I’m being asked for a user password or Administrator password to get in. My old passwords don’t work, I had to format my drive to install new copy of OS.
Is there a password here somewhere that came with my recovery disk? I can’t seem to find one.
Thanks,
John

i am trying to re-install windows xp with a new motherboard. since i have a new motherboard, when it asks me to activate windows before i login (the 30 days has expired), it tells me that windows has already been activated (on what it thinks is my old computer).

my files from before were backed up and i was able to replace the new wpa.dbl file with the original one. i was not able to find the original wpa.bak file and i am not sure how important that is. those were the two files necessary to replace for windows to recognize the license.

even after doing that and relabeling them as the new wpa.dbl files, i was either asked to activate windows again (in the same way) or was told that there was a problem with the activation.

as far as i know the only legitimate way to get through the activation was to replace those files.

i do not have access to the 42? digit activation code. the only number available to me is the 25-character product certification code.

i’ve tried calling microsoft and they are of no help. they ask for the 42-digit activation code that i do now have access to because it says that windows is already activated. even if i did have it there is no prompt to enter it into to.

if anyone could offer any further advice, i would be immensely grateful. thank you for your time.

Hey Guntuka,

can you get into safe mode? by pressing F8 at start up,if you can - head towards your system restore and go back a day or two, dont go back to far as most of the time it will fail to reproduce what was on your system 3 weeks ago.

give it a go, it has a easy step guide for you to follow.

let me know how you get on!

hi guys, i was just wondering how many times you can activate windows before it says you’ve done it too many times?

i wanna re-install windows, i dont have a restore disk or the windows xp cd, i do have my product key thoug, i was wondering if it was possible to use my friends copy of xp and use my activation key

hey robert im gonna try ur method, i did a search for the file and came up with WPABALN.EXE-18F87702.pf(pf file) and wpabaln(application).
do i get rid of both or just the application

I have a question, and I hope this is where I’m supposed to post it. If not I appologize.

Anyway, my Uncle found a computer that he thought was alright and decided he was going to put an already activated copy of XP on it to update it for her. Unfortunately, he was unaware of the new way Microsoft is dealing with things nowadays.

When he first copied XP to the computer it was working fine, except everyday it would tell them they had only so many days left to activate it. Once those days were up the computer became unusable. Now when you turn it on a box pops up that says it needs activated, would you like to activate it now? If you click yes another screen shows stating that this version of windows has already been activated… I cannot get past this for anything.

I am not brilliant when it comes to computers. My Aunt is ready to throw this thing away and I thought maybe there was a way to at least put an older version of windows on it.. like 98, so that her kids can at least use it to goof around on. I have a windows 98 cd here, but it won’t read it.. it won’t do anything. Is there a way that any of you know of that this might be possible?

Gena

Hi,
Can you be more specific on how to use the recovery console to replace that wpa.dbl file in the system 32 folder so i dont have to activate over and over when I fry my ‘puter.
Thanks a bunch.

Hi, I accidentally reinstalled XP on my desktop with the CD that came with my laptop. Now I need to reactivate it. Will I have to reinstall XP again with the correct CD or can I just give MS the product code for the correct one in order to activate it? Thanks

Hi i have recently put windows xp pro on my pc it works fine but when i start my computer there seems to be two operators on the black start up screen one works fine the other one says the windows root)\32\hal.dll is missing or corrup and windows can not open how can i delete this operating system with out disturbing the other one regards.

Thanks for the thoughts Paul. I doubt I would want a “newbie” (defined perhaps as somone who doesn’t know how to copy a file from “c:\windows\..” etc) to dabble in reinstallations of OSes. But this has worked for me on several setups, as it has for several hundred people. Let me know more specifically what your gripes with the reinstall are and let’s see if we can shoo them away.

hey dude… i got all sorts of virus on my hard disc… wud reinstalling windows b a good decision in order to get rid of these viruses

Hio i have windows xp home edition and its demanding to be activated thing is the ringing microsoft is’nt an option and the pc in question (not this one) does’nt have an internet connection no where does it say when i brought it that it had to be activated is they any way around this problem i have a orginal disk and an original licence

I’m having a problem with my old computer, its so messed up that i cant even do anything without it having to load for 15 minutes. I wish to completely wipe the computer of everything as start it over as if i havent used it before, but i dont have the xp pro or any other os cd (lost long time ago). how can i do this?

I recently bought a Dell Dimension running XP Pro. I tried to load SBC/Yahoo DSL software on it and very early in the installation a fatal errror pops up stating that the “WorkFlowHarnessExecutable has encountered a problem and must close.” So I got another install disk and had the same problem. I’ve called both SBC and Dell and got no help.

Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance

(This topic has been briefly touched on, but I still don’t have any anwers)
I recently purchased several laptops for $100 a piece. They were all running 95, so I decided to press my luck and install XP Prof. on one just to see what happened. I booted the computer from the D drive and the setup went without a hitch, but it never asked me for a product key or anything along those lines, so from day one, I start getting this product activation notice, but as mentioned in previous comments, everytime I click on it, it says that the product is already activated. I have never connected the computer to the internet, and I had to take the XP CD out of the wrapper before installing, so I’m assuming that it’s never been used before as well. But never the less, the 30 days are up, and I’m locked out of my computer. Any ideas about why it’s doing this, and if there’s anything I can do to get it back to normal?

Recently I have upgraded my Window XP Professional into Service Pack 2. After Installation successfully when I login on it give me the following Error:

‘Windows Product Activation’
“A problem is preventing windows from accurately checking the license for this computer. Error Code: 0×80070002”

Deal Sir, please guide me how my computer will be login? Because there are many software’s and data in my computer, I didn’t want to format and fresh installation. In the Safe Mode it is login correctly.

with regards

Subtain Bacha

Hi i have a problem with my computer.When i go online and when i go onto a web page,leaving my homepage,it always crashes for 10 seconds and then comes up with the page. however, when the page loads up, a pop up comes with it too. i have not been on any dodgy sites or downloaded anything dodgy either. plz help me out because i need the internet running properley asap because i need to revise for My GCSE’s. Rakno!

hi i have a computer i got from my brother,nothing fancy but it worked.i played around with it at his house,brought it to mine i was going to put some kids games on it and give it to my boyfriends cousin,i had it hooked up at my house and the plug fell out of the wall so i just got everything together because it didnt have the ethernet connect so i didnt bother with the ganes,i took it to her house and hooked it all up and it didnt work. well to be more specific it loads the computer info and then windows xp home and after that the screen goes blank/black all i can see is the mouse arrow and it moves and everything so i dont know what the problem is.
ive been told it could have been the screen,but i tried a different screen and it does the same thing.i pushed f8 to see what i could acomplish and choosing debugging(just to see what happened)it first showed windows/system32 something,before i could write it down it disapeared.so i pushed the button and turned it off and on again and did the same thing to see if i could get the error again and it didnt do it again in went to the same black screen.CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! this little girl probably thinks im a jerk for giving her something i cant fix

I have some questions about putting wpa.dbl back into a new install. When do you do it and how do you do it? Do you do it with the disk in dos(like using a Windows ME install disk for example). I tried it after complete installation of XP and it still ask for product activation.

The Gateway computer I purchsed two years ago came with a restoration disk. unfortunately I lost it, and I had to buy Windows XP Pro edition. My sytem crashes continuously, due to viruses and spyware contained on my computer. I decided to save all of my files on CD-Roms, in case it stops working. All I want to do is format my hard drive, in order to do a clean installation of windows XP. how can I do that?

hello,
i tried to reintall my winxp pro to my desktop pc but in the middle of the set-up it restarted the set-up again. I could exit the set-up or go forward with it. Anyone had a similiar problem? thanx.

make a bootable windows xp disk for yourself

Help, PLEASE! I recently upgraded to SBC DSL and haven’t been able to use the DVD player on my Presario 4862. OK, I know it’s old but it’s the only computer and the only DVD player I have. SBC said it probably needs new configuration numbers (whatever that means) but I’ve have to get them from Compaq. Compaq wants to charge me $59 before answering any questions. (If I had money I could buy a DVD player for that amount!) Nothing on Compaq’s free support website was helpful. The DVD driver shows up in the device manager but when I insert a DVD and press the play button, the whole computer freezes-up.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer. If you ever need any cooking tips, I’m your gal but computers I know next to nothing about. -Steph

Hello there,

I got a old Fujitsu lifebook running windows ME (pre-installed when I bought it). I would like to format everything and install windows XP on it.

I don’t know how to do that. Now when I put the windows XP disc in it, it tells me that this machine is designed for ME only and does not authorize installation.

On the top of this, I can’t find the recovery CD for ME that came with the machine, neither can I find the fujitsu drivers cd that came along.

Can you help me and provide a step to step method.

The config is: Pentium III, 750 Mhz processor, 128 MB RAM, built in CD ROM drive and floppy drive.

Thanks a lot.
Sam

I’ve got a bit of a story, but firstly: to anyone who got a machine with the OS pre-installed, grab a program called “Aida32″ (Found here: http://www.sofotex.com/AIDA32-download_L9326.html). It’s basically a freeware system diagnostic tool that will tell you all kinds of information regarding your machine, including Operating System info, such as Product ID and Product Key. Keep that key somewhere safe. That way, if you ever need to re-install, you can just borrow a disc with your OS from a friend and install/activate the system using your Product Key.

With the program I just mentioned and this trick for grabbing the “wpa.dbl” file I could have saved myself around $200 USD. I managed to lock all users (including the administrator) out of my machine while defining custom rulesets for my Local Users and Groups. A lesson to be had: All users belong to two group profiles. They all share a common group called “Users” as well as belonging to their own group (Administrator, Power User, etc). Don’t remove the “Users” group thinking you’re removing the group designed for default users without first paying very close attention to make sure the ruleset isn’t designed to match all the group profiles (”Users” appears twice in the list).

There you have it: My tidbit of knowledge and my tale of woe that granted me that knowledge. I hope it keeps some of you from repeating my mistakes.

~Zen

how do you pull a product key from the cd you have and not the os thats installed.

I have both programs(Viewkeyxp) and jellybean
But they pull from the c drive.

If I can change the path to d: I will be happy!!

Help!

Mike, most of the utilities that pull your product key, do it from the registry. I doubt they’ll be able to do it from a CD-ROM.

Helen, to check a system under Windows, just right click on the MY COMPUTER icon and click on Properties. As for “going back to Windows 98″, do you have Windows 98 already installed on your machine that you’d like to go back to? It’s not an easy thing to do unless you had a double-boot system so whatever you do, please remember to backup your important data before you attempt anything.

So I have a problem that I’ve seen another user here have, but mine isn’t exactly the same. I just built a new system. I have a file I’m trying to restore from a 3.5 disk and I get A:\is not accessible No ID address mark was found on the floppy disk.

Now here’s where mine gets weird. All the fixes/suggestions I’ve found tell me to either reinstall the floppy driver or to format an unformatted floppy.

1) I know it’s not the floppy drive itself as it reads other floppies fine.

2) I’ve formatted another disk on the drive fine.

It’s just this one floppy that does it. I’ve taken the flopppy to work and tried on that machine, and gives me the same message. So the error is on the floppy disk itself, not with my floppy drive.

Is there a way or utility to recover the file from this floppy?

Dan # 271. Had the same thing, as a problem.
HP / Compaq was not able to help. So did it the old fashion way. Trial and error process.
What is neccessary, is that you MUST remove all / anything,that was not part of the original setup.
Your Restore disks will now do what is needed to restore all the original programs.
TheTalker

how long does xp take to copy files

i did not activate smartdrive
i am wondering if the computer crashed

Hi sun,

Take a look at this article about recovering windows passwords.

HTH,
Shashank

Doing Windows update will prolong your pre-
activation time. I installed XPHome SP1 and waited about 12 days before doing the updates.
After updating, my pre-activation time was reset
to thirty days (I did not update to SP2, I just
did the critical updates). After noticing this,
I figured I’d experiment and wait 26+/- days
before updating to SP2 to see if the time would
again be reset to 30 days. Well, I just finished
updating to SP2 and, YES, again my time was reset
to 30 days!! Don’t know if this helps, but if done correctly, you can get 58 or 59 days of use
before requring activation. I’ve tried saving the
wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files and re-installing them and this method doesn’t work. I’m gonna wait about 25 more days, and then check the windows update site again and install only the critical updates and see if I can prolong my pre-activation time… will post results….

Hi,

I would like your assistance with this problem, I have windows XP home edition…

When I turn on my PC I get a pop up window called Windows Product Activation saying ‘This copy of windows needs to be activated with Microsoft before you can log on, do you want to activite Windows now? Option Yes or No, I click Yes

then pop up box says ‘Windows is already activated click Ok to Exit’ I click OK

then I get the Welcome page with my log name and icon, I click log in and it doesn’t let me in

instead the first pop up box Windows Product Activation(see above) saying ‘This copy of windows needs to be activated with Microsoft before you can log on, do you want to activate Windows now? appears again

I am going round in circles I type No and the same thing happens, it won’t let me in the only option left to me is to turn the Computer off can anyone help me to fix this thanks in advance!! I’ve had this PC for 4 months and windows been working fine up until now how can i fix this?

PEOPLE WHO ARE STUCK IN THIS “ACTIVATION LOOP”:

Refer to post # 299, robert’s suggestion of booting in safe mode and deleting the exe file seemed to solve the problem. I am currently struggling with the same problem, I’ll try it out and post on here today if it works or tomorrow if it doesn’t!

hello
i have no idea how i did it but i misread the install/uninstall windows components thing on my windows xp home computer and i accidently deleted all the programs such as internet explorer, windows msn, wondows media player etc instead of another program i was meant to uninstall.so now those programs r totaly uninstalled..now it is telling me to reinstall them using the windows xp home edition cd 1 or whatever exept i have looked everywhere and cannot find it?? how can i reinstall internet explorer and outlook express etc with out the cd?

have installed windows zp so far everythingworking fine except in cannot find the cookies cud u help.

please help me, i was playing world of warcraft, and i went out to help my mom for 3 hours or so. wheni came home, my world of warcraft would not load. so i restarted the computer, and i get a error note that says ‘A problem is preventing Windows from accuratley checking the license for the computer. Error Code: 0×8007007e.’ i’ve ask my friend and they best they could tell me was to buy a new computer

Hi. All icons on my home PC (XP Pro)have become .lnk files that are not recogised and do not operate. No warning, just there when I switched on. Thus I cannot access email or open any programmes. starting in ’safe mode’ to perform system restore does now work, I simply get a DOS style file list that fills the screen and then stops. I would like to retain data and files if possible. any ideas?

ya kno, is it just me, or does it seem like when you are having troubles and nothing works except safe mode….. and then you finally find something that might help you, and you attempt to go into safe mode, AND IT DOESNT GO… why does that always happen… anyway sorry about my rant but now my question, does anyone kno how to run a last known good config on safe mode???

After reading all 373 of the posts, I haven’t seen a solution to a problem like mine. My hard drive was full so I installed a new one. I moved the old one to the slave position (leaving the contents intact). I reinstalled the same XP Home to the new HD as was on the old one. After I imported all my email messages and address book, as well as other user files and settings, I deleted all the old WINDOWS directorys. Problem is, Activation didn’t work. I talked w/Microsoft and they said it was because I was using a Dell disk on a non-dell computer. I find this hard to believe because I used the same disk to install it in the first place (on the old HD). Microsoft wouldn’t tell me why or even help anymore with activation. Does anyone have any advice or solutions? Please don’t say to buy another copy of XP because I refuse to buy another (legal) copy every time I upgrade.

Thanks

It seems like this board has only problems and not answers, HOWEVER, maybe someone can help me with this crazy problem.
Computer is a Gateway 2.4 mhz processor with 40 Gig HD running Windows XP Home. The original Intel motherboard video died and I replaced it with a “compatible” ASRock G-Pro motherboard (www.asrock.com).

The computer seems to work wonderfully EXCEPT that it asks me to Activate my (legal) copy of Windows. When i go to the Activation, it says that Windows is already activated. I have already reformated the hard drive and reinstalled Windows on this machine, so that no trace of the previous activation or setup should be present.

Any suggestions as to how to have it not think that it is activated so that I can actually get it activated. Again, this is a legitimate copy on the original machine with a new motherboard.

Thank you.

Hi…I may already know the answer to this..but just to make sure..Here goes..

I purchased a shop built Pc with WinXP Sp2 already pre-loaded. I was sure i was told the OS disc was included. A year later i need to re-format but couldnt find any disc, recovery or other. I rang the shop and they told me i would have to buy a WinXP disc at a cost of £60 if i wanted to re-format.
What i’m having a problem with is that i own the PC, with the OS on it…How comes i have got to buy it again? Is this normal practice? Since Win95 / 98Se / ME i have had the OS discs supplied and i suppose i just assumed it wuld be the case with this one as well.
If this is a common practice, then so be it, but it does seem a bit wrong. Thanks guys.
DB

ive looked around on the net for some time now trying to find a solution to my problem which is.. one of my computers got really messed up from a virus it messed up everything on my computer it serverly damaged my registy disabled both my cd drives and floppy ive downloaded a registry fixer but that didnt help me at all i cant get my cd drives to work or floppy is there any other way to reinstall xp on my computer i can transfer files via flashdrive but other than that theres no way to put files on that computer..

Jordan, read the article carefully. It is meant for people who are (a) reinstalling the OS, (b) have their own legitimate copy of Windows, (c) are reinstalling on the same hardware on which they had installed the prior version. If you fail on any of those counts, this is clearly not for you. Anyway you may wish to call Microsoft tech support in your area to help you with it.

hi iv got xp home and had a virus or still have , iv tried everything to get rid of it , iv tried to install norton system works 05 but it wouldnt activate ,so has a mess around and now it wont install, iv tried to reinstall my xp cd with no luck and iv got no keyboard control to set it up at start up, so iv tryed to crash the pc by deleting what ever i could out of windows and programs but its still working , not fussed if i lose all my stuff just want to install windows again please help

Hello there,

My computer has become really sluggish and I am thinking about reinstalling winXP.

WinXP Pro came preinstalled on my PC. The dealer gave me a CDR copy of the WinXP installation CD. I thought nothing at the time, the guy looked trustworthy.

A product key is handwritten on the CD and it matches my actual product key, as found by Magic Jelly Bean.

However, just out of interest,, I have run the “windows genuine Advantage” test and, to my surprise, my PC did not pass the test (”the operating system on your PC does not appear to be genuine”).

I am given 2 reasons for this:

* Invalid windows product ID
* The volume license product key used to install Windows is know to pirated.

My question is: will I be able to reinstall WinXP using the “wpa.dbl trick” (yes, on the same computer) despite this?

Many thanks in advance! O

PS: the IT shop is now “under new management”… well of course…

Ei guyz!!! can you help me about my problem?!?!
I’ve already done activating windows on my computer but, this weird message appeared on my computer before entering and it says “You must activate windows in blah… days. Do you want to activate windows?!?”
Thats what it says.
But I’ve already activated windows.
What’s wrong with this?!?!
Anyone pls help me?!?!?!?

I am having trouble with my computer and was going to format it, but I dont have the Windows Xp operating disk. I was wondering if anyone knows how I can reformay my computer without having a disk and it still work.

Question: I have a HP computer with a hidden partition (pre loaded software) and I want to formatt the c drive. I have done it once, there is a special code that you type in but it was a long time ago and I don’t remember. Are you familiar with what I am talking about? Also, I want to buy more RAM for this dumb computer, is it possible to upgrade the RAM? It’s a HP Pavillian 304n
Thanks, Starla

I m having this problem for 3rd time. i.e After installing windows98,when i used to install windows xp , somthing will deffinate happen etheir windows xp will be losted or windows98. now i had losted my windows xp this, what should i do with problem i don’t & also now i don’t have any windows cd to install.
My ram is of - 254.0 MB &
My file system is 32-bit.

Ok I have a Dell Inspirion 1100 laptop. And I want to reinstall Winxp using the copy c:windows\system32\wpa.dbl to floppy method but the only problem is that my computer doesn’t have a floppy drive on it. Would this work if I copied to a usb flash drive or coping this to a cd? If not how could I do this?

Kalibre, yes, it will work. You simply need to copy the appropriate file after the reinstall.

Adman, speak to your original vendor, they may give you a new one if they trust you and empathize with your story. If not, you may need to speak to Microsoft and convince them that you deserve a new version. If that doesn’t work, well, you need to buy a new one.