Re: XP Nightmare

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"ACCIDENTPRONE" wrote:

Okay thanks for your help one and all but I now have what I believe is the
disc for this machine but even if I start the machine with the cd in the drive
it will not read it. It goes to the log in page and asks for my user password
and when I enter it the error message comes up saying that the stupid
evaluation copy has expired. Immediate shutdown!
But also I can't connect to the internet coz when I did the system restore
my USB wireless transmitter stopped working also so there's no help there.
What I am wondering is when did this 120 evaluation period start. This
is the first time I loaded the os cd. And still no mouse no matter which USB
port I connect to but the machine still accepts keyboard commands.
I used to think I was the computer whiz on my block but no more.
I am an idiot , I should have researched the problem more and
made sure I had the right cd the first time and maybe even have
read the instructions. I think I might try resetting the BIOS clock to
several years back when I bought that MSCA training manual for XP
I guess that's when my 120 day evaluation period starts. Can any of
you kind geeks walk me through that on a machine in this condition?
Thanks AP

You have to set the machine to boot from CD or it will continue to boot to
the hard drive as you are seeing. Enter the BIOS and change the boot priority
to the CD drive first. Save the changes when you exit, and reboot the
machine. It should now boot to the install disk.


"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

ACCIDENTPRONE wrote:
During a system restore I lost my mouse control, and like all
newbies I did some really dumb things to try to fix it. After hours
of trying to navigate the control panel with keyboard commands
I got the bright idea that I could just reload the OS and everything
would work out in the long term. So since this is a business
computer I went through the giant pile of software in a drawer to
try and find the OS cd. I grabbed one that I thought would work,
stuck it in the slot and lo and behold it said it would try to restore
my system but it said that it was an 120 day evaluation version
that I guess came with a MSCA Training Kit. I thought, no problem
I'll load this and look into a Ubuntu OS later or maybe another
version of windows. But it was not to be. Everything went just fine
until the reboot and the login screen, I got an error message
saying that my 120 days had expired and that I needed to buy a
new windows OS. Now I can't get into the system at all. After the
error message it just shuts down. I guess my question is how in
the world am I going to get this os unlocked? The OS is Windows
XP pro sp3 and the cd I used is Window XP pro Evaluation Version.
The machine is a Dell Optiplex 170L

Mike Hall - MVP wrote:
Start here..

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/op170L/en/UG/adtshoot.htm#1107774

If you do not have or know the location of the items which you
need, contact your system administrator

helmsman wrote:
What is wrong with the above page?

Absolutely nothing?

What do _you_ see?

The OP has a Dell Optiplex 170L.

The web page given is the "Advanced Troubleshooting Guide" for the "Dell
Optiplex 170L" - direct to the part about "Reinstalling Microsoft Windows
XP".

The problem I see is the OP has misplaced everything for this computer and
tried to use something completely unrelated to it and has had an epic
failure. They need to locate the proper media and follow the given
directions. ;-)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html



.

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