Computer Crash

[ATM]

Originally Posted by j

Ditto. You could also buy a full copy of XP and install a full new install on the old drive in a new directory. This would at least avoid having to buy a new hard drive.
Would a borrowed XP CD work here or is there some sort of anti-piracy mechanism that would prevent it?

 

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by ATM

Would a borrowed XP CD work here or is there some sort of anti-piracy mechanism that would prevent it?

Nope, should be fine as long as the activation code that came with the eMachine is used. AFAIK M$ uses the same code structure for full and repair versions.

 

[j]

Originally Posted by skalogre

Nope, should be fine as long as the activation code that came with the eMachine is used. AFAIK M$ uses the same code structure for full and repair versions.
No, they use different codes for OEM versions and retail versions, and IIRC the OEM versions are coded to the processor serial numbers, etc. However, if you install someone else's copy (assuming they are not also using the serial number or this would be "illegal" or at least against the license agreement) you can still activate it on a different computer and it will install fine. If you have trouble activating it online, you call their number and their system will activate it for you. You may have to promise that it is only installed on one computer.

Personally, I think since you already paid for a copy of XP with the computer, you have rights to do whatever is necessary to get a copy of XP Home working on the computer without buying another copy. But MS probably doesn't see it that way.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Ugh... Emachines. I hate them almost as much as I hate Apple.

They cut corners with the quality of their components, use refurb mobo's and HD's, and sell advertizing space on your computer. They don't even give you an XP disk? Cheap bastards.

 

[sonick]

http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313&p=1

Also found this tutorial yesterday that would have been useful for me last week when my computer decided to stop working

.

 

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Ugh... Emachines. I hate them almost as much as I hate Apple.

They cut corners with the quality of their components, use refurb mobo's and HD's, and sell advertizing space on your computer. They don't even give you an XP disk? Cheap bastards.
Few companies give full XP discs anymore. Even custom PC makers...same with this beast of an IBM I recently got here at work (2.5 GB RAM, 2.9GHz Pentium D, looks like the monolith from 2001

). Thankfully I just reinstalled XP Pro afresh on it... Does anyone remember some sort of legal challenge to this tactic of providing pretty much crippled machines?

 

[Bradford]

FYI - the home system is fixed.

Copied everything to an extra hard drive, re-loaded Windows and copied it all back to the original drive...

Thanks everyone for the help!