[sarah35]

hi my sisters only computer packard bell easy note 3300 was full of junk, it was to slow to even run task manager or any scan, Thought Id be able to sort it out for her and have made a very silly mistake

I was aware she had an original xp disc, that she bought when she had a really old desktop,

So I have formatted the hard drive , I said, Id just wipe it all off and it would be as good as new, oops

I did do this and it worked then i noticed there appeared to be two copies of xp and no recovery console, wish I had left it alone, So thinking ,I would try again, to make it 100% right ,I seem to have wiped it and the packard bell recovery disk dosn't work

so what I have is a computer with no windows,

a genuine xp upgrade disc

a toshiba recovery disc from my old xp laptop, that isnt worth the new battery and power wire, ok hard drive (i think)

I have a packard bell desktop imedia on xp and its working fine

so was just wondering if there was anyway I could fix it, clone it , copy it, anything at all, if anyone knows a way round this could you email me , please,

everythings been shop bought from new ,and standard not added too, and we have all the genuine microsoft codes,

thanks

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Hi Sarah35! Welcome to G2G!

Even with only an XP Ugprade CD, you can still perform a clean install of Windows. What you need to do is put the CD in the CD/DVD-ROM drive of the computer and have the computer boot from the XP Upgrade CD. Once it boots from the CD, it will ask you towards the beginning of the installation to insert another CD that has a version of Windows on it. This can be any CD that you get from anyone and it can be any version of Windows from Windows 95 to 98 to ME to 2000. So that being said, you can borrow one from a family member, friend or even a neighbor, because it doesn't matter what it is as long as it is a full version of some version of Windows, except of course not an Upgrade version.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 19 September 2008 - 05:39 PM.

[Fenor]

Hi Sarah35! Welcome to G2G!

Even with only an XP Ugprade CD, you can still perform a clean install of Windows. What you need to do is put the CD in the CD/DVD-ROM drive of the computer and have the computer boot from the XP Upgrade CD. Once it boots from the CD, it will ask you towards the beginning of the installation to insert another CD that has a version of Windows on it. This can be any CD that you get from anyone and it can be any version of Windows from Windows 95 to 98 to ME to 2000. So that being said, you can borrow one from a family member, friend or even a neighbor, because it doesn't matter what it is as long as it is a full version of some version of Windows, except of course not an Upgrade version.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 19 September 2008 - 05:39 PM.

[sarah35]

hi thanks for the reply

I have done this, not sure ive done it properly though,

when i put the upgrade disk in it looks like its doing something for a good five mins then i get the option of recovery, or repair and i think install,

after a short while like you say it tells me basically that i need to put a full version of 95 98 2000 xp etc in .i did try the discs at this point.

I have had it booting from hard drive booting from cd, ive tried all the discs , they all do the same sort of thing ,packard bell recovery , toshiba recovery , i even just dug out an old millenium qtech recovery disc just now, the packard bell did nothing that was downloaded the others said for toshiba only, the qtech not for this computer,

I didn't know if there was enough info on those discs to do anything

we just dont have a full version of any disc, just the oem ones i think there called , not even sure what that stands for, Ive been reading up to much i think, and trying so many things im getting really confused, i was trying to put in some partitions i think and the laptop went off which is strangle as it was plugged in and even though its old now every thing ,battery, power are good.

thanks for replying if you think i may have done it wrong or if you know of anyway i can bypass these problems,could you let me know , I am not that great with pcs, cheers

sarah

[Fenor]

Recovery CD"s do not count as full versions of Windows and therefore would not work. Get a real Windows CD of one of the versions I listed above and you should be fine.

*EDIT* -- I'm sure you know someone with one. You don't need a CD Key from them, so no one would even hesitate to give it to you.

*EDIT2* -- And yes, OEM versions of Windows will not work. And you also can't use an XP CD because you wouldn't be upgrading anything since the CD you put in is already the version you are trying to upgrade to.

Edited by Fenor, 19 September 2008 - 06:32 PM.

[sarah35]

I have tried so many different things googling this that and the other , the day i started working on it i finished at 5am and i had to be up 2.5 hours later

I got really obsessed with it, it wasnt going to defeat me,lol when really it isn't worth that much trouble.

I have asked everyone i know that might possibly own a full copy of anything , but no look as yet, will have to have a look on ebay,

cheers for letting me know its been driving me mad that i might of overlooked something minor, and looking for ways round it, I spent a lot of time tonight trying to download linux and i failed there too, not suprised.

thanks again
im kind of relieved now,

sarah

[Neil Jones]

Upgrade CDs only require to look at a Windows CD of a previous version, you don't need to install 98 or whatever before XP.
My XP upgrade CD was quite happy to install after I waved a Windows 95 OEM CD under its nose.

According to the blurb a full-blown XP CD would do it as well - full version, not another OEM or Upgrade. The 98 Upgrade CD should be fine as well.

The wonderful Auhma site has this to say:

As with earlier versions of the Windows operating system, an Upgrade installation requires that you have a previous version to serve as a “qualifying product.” However, this time around you will not be able to use the Upgrade from Windows 95. Windows XP requires Windows 98 or newer to qualify.

NOTE: By design, Win95 should not work as a qualifying product. However, there is a bug in the Setup program on Windows XP CDs (both Home Edition and Professional). Apparently, Microsoft will not be fixing this bug. As a result, though you will not be able to perform an upgrade installation from a Win95 install, the following operating system CDs will suffice as “Qualifying Media” for a clean install:

* Windows NT Workstation, Versions 3.51 & 4.0
* Windows 2000 Professional
* Windows 95
* Windows 98 (Original & Second Edition)
* Windows Millennium Edition

Also, the old question remains of whether an OEM CD or “Restore Disk” supplied by your computer manufacturer will “qualify.” The answer is that not all will work for this purpose, mostly because the Windows CAB files are not in evidence. Check with your computer manufacturer to confirm that your copy qualifies, or buy your Upgrade copy directly from them. Presently, the only company that I have confirmed all their OEM CD’s will “qualify” is Dell.

That was the case as of January 2004. Since Dell and on occasion Compaq and HP provide a Windows CD that is effectively a standard installation with a pre-activated VLK built-in, it should still qualify.

The Win95 thing wasn't fixed between the original XP and Service Pack 1, it was still the same with an SP2 CD so I see no reason why it should change six years down the line with an SP3 disk.

Edited by Neil Jones, 20 September 2008 - 02:31 PM.

[Murray S.]

Howdy all:

Just a word of warning here but has anyone read the XP EULA concerning upgrades?

2. UPGRADES. To use a Product identified as an upgrade, you must first be licensed for the product identified by
Microsoft as eligible for the upgrade. After upgrading, you may no longer use the product that formed the basis
for your upgrade eligibility.

The EULA specifically states they user must first be licensed for the OS you intend to upgrade so just anyone's Microsoft install cd won't work. Should they use a cd that was licensed to someone else or is still currently in use, you could very well be advising them to do an illegal install.

Threading on a thin line here.

Murray