[velocity09]

Ok after weeks and countless hours of trying and researching anything and everything there is to know about repairing and installing windows xp, I cannot get pass this initial step! I can bypass it and formatt my drive with the xp pro disc I made but it won't take my xp home disc. I boot my pc from my CD drive by pressing any key, but then after my pc reading my disc and figuring it's not an xp professional service pack 2 it requests it. Well, I've made a few coppies of each and I am pretty sure I've done it correctly since my first install was with xp pro but got to the point of inserting my product key and all I had was the xp home sticker on the pc's case. I had to start from scratch but now this. I've bypassed it by inserting the xp pro disc just so I could make changes thru cmd I tried boot.ini and deleted xp pro and added xp home but it didn't seem to work. I also read something about bringing up the notepad and editing it but I wasn't able to. Sorry for the rambling but I'm desperate. I've never done much with computers until these past couple of weeks and learned so much that I feel pretty confident I can follow complicated instructions.

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after further researching around this site I came accross this reply from someone else:
Posted 29 May 2008 - 12:29 PM

You cannot use XP Home CDs with a Media Center licence, Media Center is essentially XP Home in different colours flagged up as XP Professional. You really need a Media Center CD, not a Home one. By repairing your installation with an XP Home CD, you'll create a hybrid setup which will throw up all kinds of wierd and wonderful errors that you'll never find resolutions for.

I forgot to mention that the pc is a media center and according to this poster is falgged up as xp profressional. But if that is the case why did it not take my product key? could it be that I made the xp boot disc off of another pc xp home pc? do I need to use the key from the pc that I used to burn the discs? I guess that If I copied the i386 folder it would mean that it contains the information from that specific pc, am I correct? if so, it's all making sense. I am at work now and will try to do another xp pro install and hopefully can get pass the 34 min. mark (another hic up)and use the key from the pc that I made the copy from. any help would be appreciated, I'm tired of talking to myself.

[velocity09]

after further researching around this site I came accross this reply from someone else:
Posted 29 May 2008 - 12:29 PM

You cannot use XP Home CDs with a Media Center licence, Media Center is essentially XP Home in different colours flagged up as XP Professional. You really need a Media Center CD, not a Home one. By repairing your installation with an XP Home CD, you'll create a hybrid setup which will throw up all kinds of wierd and wonderful errors that you'll never find resolutions for.

I forgot to mention that the pc is a media center and according to this poster is falgged up as xp profressional. But if that is the case why did it not take my product key? could it be that I made the xp boot disc off of another pc xp home pc? do I need to use the key from the pc that I used to burn the discs? I guess that If I copied the i386 folder it would mean that it contains the information from that specific pc, am I correct? if so, it's all making sense. I am at work now and will try to do another xp pro install and hopefully can get pass the 34 min. mark (another hic up)and use the key from the pc that I made the copy from. any help would be appreciated, I'm tired of talking to myself.

[SpywareDr]

As already mentioned, Windows XP Product Keys are product specific. You must have:

• A XP Home Product Key for a XP Home CD,
• A XP Pro Product Key for a XP Pro CD,
• A XP Media Center Key for a XP Media Center CD,
• (etc., etc., etc.)

In other words:

• A XP Home Product Key will NOT work with the Professional or Media Center versions of XP
• A XP Professional Product Key will NOT work with the Home or Media Center versions of XP
• A XP Media Center Product Key will not work with the Home or Professional versions of XP
• (etc., etc., etc.)

--

Microsoft Support > (Windows XP) Setup stops responding with 34 minutes remaining
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828267

[velocity09]

That I knew, what I want to know is how to bypass the part where it asks to insert xp pro service pack 2 disc. If my pc came installed with xp media do i need to burn a regular xp hom disc to boot from cd or do i need an xp hom media disc to boot from? If so how do I make one?

[SpywareDr]

If your PC came with Windows XP Media Edition you need a Windows XP Media Edition CD.

You don't "make" one. You borrow or buy it.

[Alzeimer]

but got to the point of inserting my product key and all I had was the xp home sticker on the pc's case.

If your sticker says XP home edition you need that version to use that product key.

If the inside of your PC case (motherboard) is the original one for that sticker use a XP Home CD.

If it is not the original inside then that product key will probably not work on any motherboard unless the same model as the original one.

You say you now have XP Pro installed on your PC, I am guessing somebody change the version and reinstall a Pro version with a different key.

If you can boot into windows and retrieve your current product key (if a legal key) you will be able to use it with a XP Pro cd

If you want to install XP home over XP Pro you first have to completely erase your hard drive or it will not allow you to overwrite a Pro version for a Home version (by erasing your HD it is like you are installing it on a brand new and empty HD)

Hope that helps

[velocity09]

Uts the original everything, never been touched and i did not get a cd with it since it was preinstalled and its an xp home media edition shouldnt it ask for an xp home cd to be inserted? I have already completely reformatted the drive and tried doing a clean install but it wont take my xp home just xp pro cd. As far as buying one, why would i if i already paid $1000 for the pc from a big store with xp home media preinstalled, i shouldnt have to buy the media disc. And why is it that i cant make one? I just did for an xp home and xp pro disc using my other pc.

[Alzeimer]

If XP Home Media Edition sticker then you need an XP Home media Edition cd.

XP Home Edition will not work with that product key.

[Alzeimer]

As far as buying one, why would i if i already paid $1000 for the pc from a big store with xp home media preinstalled, i shouldnt have to buy the media disc. And why is it that i cant make one? I just did for an xp home and xp pro disc using my other pc.

Legally you are not suppose too, morally it depends on you.

[velocity09]

I was honestly not aware it was illegal. I figured that i was making a copy of some product I payed hundreds of dollars for and using it to fix another product that I payed over $1000 dollars for (8 yrs. Ago) and nothing more. Why dont they provide these discs? That way i can get it fix. Can incontact microsoft even though my pc is that old and get a copy from them?

[rshaffer61]

why would i if i already paid $1000 for the pc from a big store with xp home media preinstalled,

If it came preinstalled then it must be a name brand system correct?
There should be a recovery partition on the drive already since that is what all the manufacturers are doing to keep from including the actual media with the system.
That lowers the price of the system doing it this way.

[velocity09]

It is a sony and how do i access the recovery partition?

[rshaffer61]

Try this and see if it works.

f10 at sony logo on startup .

[velocity09]

I tried f10 but it wouldnt take the password "blank" what now?

[rshaffer61]

So there is a bios password then?