Help for a newbie trying to reinstall XP after replacing hard drive

Discussion in 'Windows XP / Older OS' started by Brotymotr, Mar 6, 2013.

  1. Brotymotr

    Brotymotr MDL Novice

    Mar 3, 2013
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    Hello and thanks for the help given me getting Windows 7 on my backup laptop. Everything is perfect and all the tools worked great!

    Now the current question. I have an older Dell (2006) laptop that runs XP Home Edition. Of course, I don't have the restore disks for it. My kids like having it around to run some of the older games that crap out on newer OS's.

    The drive began sputtering out on it a year ago so I shelved it and didn't bother with it for a while. Then the motherboard-integrated graphics card went on another of my older laptops so I pulled out the old drive from that one, reformatted it and put it in the Dell. Then I used links here to download a retail copy of Windows XP Home Edition which is what was originally on the machine. I installed it, no problem, and I tried to activate it using the Product Key from the computer. No dice. Invalid. Called MS customer support for help as I DO have a legit license for this. No dice. Can't help me. Key shows invalid to them, too! After 45 minutes on the phone to India struggling to surmount the language barrier, they told me to call Dell. I have about 3 weeks left on the trial month. I really need to get this activated.

    Can you guys steer me to the proper threads/instructions/files? I did a bunch of looking around but am not sure what to do. Lots of dead links and deleted links.

    Thanks a bunch for the help! Also, please keep in mind I am green at this "complicated" stuff, so keep it pretty layman-style for me if you don't mind.
     
  2. 911medic

    911medic MDL Guru

    Aug 13, 2008
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  3. Brotymotr

    Brotymotr MDL Novice

    Mar 3, 2013
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    #3 Brotymotr, Mar 7, 2013
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2013
    (OP)
    Thank you for taking the time to reply.

    I really feel like an idiot however. I just have no idea what I am doing. I copied the 5 lines of code and pasted them into the uncompressed folder but I don't know if that is right. Am I supposed to delete all the other text from that folder? Is 5 lines,

    f000,e076,0010,Dell Systemf000,e840,0010,Dell Computerf000,49a9,0010,Dell Systemf000,e05e,0010,Dell Systemf000,e838,0018,Dell Inc

    All there is to copy and paste? That seems too simple but what do I know?
    After that, I just couldnt figure out what to do. I opened several things, including what I thought was the changer and it had so many different choices. I went through several of them like backing up the current file set or whatever that part was. I also did what I thought was run the program but I can't see that anything was fixed and it is still showing the countdown to the time remaining on the trial. I really need someone to "talk" me through it step by step. Thanks in advance.
    :wallbash:

    Edited to Ad: I believe I have a bigger problem now. I ran the program AntiWPA3 and now my computer has HUGE problems. It boots to a screen that is just gray with thin colored vertical lines across it as if the graphics card is gone bad. I have to restart in safe mode and restored to an earlier time bu t it is still messed up. Sometimes it works okay and sometimes it tries to start up and goes to that messed up screen where I can do nothing but turn it off. How to I get that program off of there completely now?
     
  4. 911medic

    911medic MDL Guru

    Aug 13, 2008
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    Yep, you messed up. There shold be an option to remove the antiwpa also. use it.

    you take the oembios file sets and put them in the appropriate folder. NO TEXT FILES..compressed oembios go in compressed folder, if the files are uncompressed, put them in the uncompressed folder. (Compressed files look like OEMBIOS.DA_) Then run the tool like the pictures say. pick the xp home and change oembios files.

    I dont know how to make it any more simple than in the read me file. NEVER use the Antiwpa unless you know why you are using it..
     
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  5. Brotymotr

    Brotymotr MDL Novice

    Mar 3, 2013
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    Thank you 911medic. Can you direct me to how to remove the antiwpa? I've looked through the readme on it and the other files in the OEMBIOS tool but can't figure where the install tool or instructions are or out what to do.
     
  6. Brotymotr

    Brotymotr MDL Novice

    Mar 3, 2013
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    I have taken care of it. I was screwing up on the oembios fileset. Thanks for all your time! Once I got it figured out, the tool worked great. Thanks so much for that!