Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - [SOLVED] Remove unregistered XP, replace with ME

Allen Lilly · 06-13-2009, 02:57 AM

Hi

I hope someone can help.

I have an old PIII machine running Windows Millenium Edition. Yes, it's ancient, but it's fine for just sitting in the corner playing music.

I lent it to my brother in law who 'helpfully' upgraded it to WinXP (SP2) using some restore discs he has. The problem is that the XP discs had already been installed on his main machine and Windows has some way of knowing whether they have been used before. Apparently there was some kind of 30 day countdown to register with Microsoft then it locks you out.

I have now got a useless PC back from him. The 30 days has expired. The machine says it can't find an operating system on startup.

I have (legitimate) install discs for ME that I want to install, but apparently the XP lockout won't let the machine look at the DVD (D:) drive, so they won't run.

The only thing I can do is 'boot' from the ME install discs (a floppy in A: and a DVD in D:). It gives me a drive read error and lets me escape to DOS (with the a: drive active) . The only thing I can do then is run DOS on the a: (floppy) drive. It won't let change me drive to C: or D:

I'm thinking that I will have to somehow corrupt the OS install before I can reinstall the ME. Big magnet perhaps? I don't care about the data on the machine.

There's got to be a better way - does anyone know what it is ?

TIA

06-13-2009, 02:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
Allen Lilly Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: UK Posts: 23 OS: XPSP2	[SOLVED] Remove unregistered XP, replace with ME Hi I hope someone can help. I have an old PIII machine running Windows Millenium Edition. Yes, it's ancient, but it's fine for just sitting in the corner playing music. I lent it to my brother in law who 'helpfully' upgraded it to WinXP (SP2) using some restore discs he has. The problem is that the XP discs had already been installed on his main machine and Windows has some way of knowing whether they have been used before. Apparently there was some kind of 30 day countdown to register with Microsoft then it locks you out. I have now got a useless PC back from him. The 30 days has expired. The machine says it can't find an operating system on startup. I have (legitimate) install discs for ME that I want to install, but apparently the XP lockout won't let the machine look at the DVD (D:) drive, so they won't run. The only thing I can do is 'boot' from the ME install discs (a floppy in A: and a DVD in D:). It gives me a drive read error and lets me escape to DOS (with the a: drive active) . The only thing I can do then is run DOS on the a: (floppy) drive. It won't let change me drive to C: or D: I'm thinking that I will have to somehow corrupt the OS install before I can reinstall the ME. Big magnet perhaps? I don't care about the data on the machine. There's got to be a better way - does anyone know what it is ? TIA Last edited by Allen Lilly; 06-13-2009 at 03:12 AM.