reinstalling xp on laptop with different cd [fixed]

Liam · 06-07-2007

Hi,

My brother has an Acer Travel Mate 240, which he wants to sell as he has just purchased a new dell inspiron as he hated the crappy intergrated graphics.

The Acer Travel Mate 240 was bought from ebay second hand, and didnt come with any cds. The laptop has windows XP home oem and i was wondering if anyone could tell me; Would it be possible to use my windows xp cd that i have for my old pc to wipe the hard drive, then reinstall XP using the XP serial number on the bottom of the laptop?.

I did a little test and set the laptop up to boot from the cd and it came up with the windows options, recover install etc. I decided id test using recover, but it asked me for admin password which there is non so the password is enter. This then returns me to just c: with nothing else to do.

I might be able to get the cds from an american selling, but do i really need them? I understand i will have driver problems, but surely i can just find them on the internet.

Any insight and help as to if this is achievable is greatly appreciated =)

Edit; just read in another thread about difference of recover and repair, so thats the admin password problem solved i prosume, as i was trying to recover and didnt try repair..i will try that later and see if this works. Would still like to know if i can reinstall the entire hard drive tho as it needs formatting.

radar · 06-07-2007

Hi Liam,

Welcome to The PCHF!
You probably cannot legally use the copy of XP from your old pc (not too sure what the standing is if the pc has been disposed of).
What MS want you to do is go out and buy a new copy with the relevant COA.
I would reccomend that if you want to sell the laptop there are a couple of options, first is to buy the new copy of MS, secondly get a copy of one of the many distros of Linux (Ubuntu is a good one, and most sre free) put that on and sell it like that.
I may stand corrected on the old XP copy, but am sure that someone here will be able to give some feedback.
let us know how you do

Liam · 06-07-2007

Thanx for the reply,

The laptop has windows XP on it, and has the windows xp cd-key on the bottom of the laptop. So i wouldnt in theory be using the windows xp disk from my old pc to actually install that copy..Id only be using it to reinstall the files so i could then re-reg it with the cd-key that came with the laptop..So thats two seperate cd-keys, but using 1 disk to actually install the files as the laptop has oem xp. I prosume the windows xp disks are in someway tied with the cd-key? If so then it wouldnt work.

I prosume that if i wipe the hard drive then i lose windows XP on the laptop? I dont see any partition like a few people said there might be as i prosumed that a laptop with oem XP would just keep these files once i wipe the HD and then reinstall them. I prosume this wouldnt be the case with the travelmate 240 as i did some looking around and found it should have come with a recovery xp cd, which you can legally buy as it doesnt contain window files only files that recover the oem version on the laptop.

A good idea about installing linux on it, i actually have suse Linux, but i think its version 10 and ive never used it..i read the manual then decided i probably wouldnt get on with it very well lol.

elpmek · 06-07-2007

You can use whatever XP CD you've got to re-install. All it will ask you for is an XP CD key which you've got on the bottom of the ACER. If it won't register over the Internet ring the given number and tell them the story and they'll give you registration manually. This I know as I've done it not so long ago

regards

Liam · 06-07-2007

Originally Posted by elpmek

You can use whatever XP CD you've got to re-install. All it will ask you for is an XP CD key which you've got on the bottom of the ACER. If it won't register over the Internet ring the given number and tell them the story and they'll give you registration manually. This I know as I've done it not so long ago

regards

Thank You elpmek for the input, Sounds like great news as thats exactly what i want to do and sounds like it is going to work as planned =)

Much appreciated =)

radar · 06-07-2007

Thanks Elpmek,
Liam I stand corrected, he's completely right, as long as you have the Licence you should be able to use the media to reinstall XP.
Take care and keep us posted

Rodents210 · 06-07-2007

However, if it's OEM it may not accept the code again. A call to MS may fix this, but if not you can run Darik's Boot-And-Nuke to wipe the HDD completely and sell it like that. If you're selling it on ebay or online, or even if you're putting a listing in the paper or doing a garage sale, I would take a washcloth and dampen the product code sticker, then use a hair dryer to heat it. it should peel off without leaving sticky residue and without the sticker, the person won't try to use the product code (if the installation is unsuccessful) and then in your listing or on the table at the sale, I would specify that the HDD is completely blank and an Operating System is required to be bought separately. Once again, this is only if the OEM code won't work and you are refused a new code.

06-07-2007	#1
Liam Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 1970 Posts: 14	reinstalling xp on laptop with different cd [fixed] Hi, My brother has an Acer Travel Mate 240, which he wants to sell as he has just purchased a new dell inspiron as he hated the crappy intergrated graphics. The Acer Travel Mate 240 was bought from ebay second hand, and didnt come with any cds. The laptop has windows XP home oem and i was wondering if anyone could tell me; Would it be possible to use my windows xp cd that i have for my old pc to wipe the hard drive, then reinstall XP using the XP serial number on the bottom of the laptop?. I did a little test and set the laptop up to boot from the cd and it came up with the windows options, recover install etc. I decided id test using recover, but it asked me for admin password which there is non so the password is enter. This then returns me to just c: with nothing else to do. I might be able to get the cds from an american selling, but do i really need them? I understand i will have driver problems, but surely i can just find them on the internet. Any insight and help as to if this is achievable is greatly appreciated =) Edit; just read in another thread about difference of recover and repair, so thats the admin password problem solved i prosume, as i was trying to recover and didnt try repair..i will try that later and see if this works. Would still like to know if i can reinstall the entire hard drive tho as it needs formatting. Last edited by Liam; 06-07-2007 at 09:49 AM.

06-07-2007	#2
radar Elite Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 568 PC Experience: Very Experienced	Hi Liam, Welcome to The PCHF! You probably cannot legally use the copy of XP from your old pc (not too sure what the standing is if the pc has been disposed of). What MS want you to do is go out and buy a new copy with the relevant COA. I would reccomend that if you want to sell the laptop there are a couple of options, first is to buy the new copy of MS, secondly get a copy of one of the many distros of Linux (Ubuntu is a good one, and most sre free) put that on and sell it like that. I may stand corrected on the old XP copy, but am sure that someone here will be able to give some feedback. let us know how you do __________________ Did we help you? If we did, please Donate

06-07-2007	#5
Liam Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 1970 Posts: 14	Originally Posted by elpmek You can use whatever XP CD you've got to re-install. All it will ask you for is an XP CD key which you've got on the bottom of the ACER. If it won't register over the Internet ring the given number and tell them the story and they'll give you registration manually. This I know as I've done it not so long ago regards Thank You elpmek for the input, Sounds like great news as thats exactly what i want to do and sounds like it is going to work as planned =) Much appreciated =)

06-07-2007	#6
radar Elite Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 568 PC Experience: Very Experienced	Thanks Elpmek, Liam I stand corrected, he's completely right, as long as you have the Licence you should be able to use the media to reinstall XP. Take care and keep us posted __________________ Did we help you? If we did, please Donate

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06-07-2007	#4
elpmek Tech Support Team Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 2,684 PC Experience: Experienced	You can use whatever XP CD you've got to re-install. All it will ask you for is an XP CD key which you've got on the bottom of the ACER. If it won't register over the Internet ring the given number and tell them the story and they'll give you registration manually. This I know as I've done it not so long ago regards

06-07-2007	#7
Rodents210 Elite Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Upstate NY, United States Posts: 1,046 PC Experience: Very Experienced	However, if it's OEM it may not accept the code again. A call to MS may fix this, but if not you can run Darik's Boot-And-Nuke to wipe the HDD completely and sell it like that. If you're selling it on ebay or online, or even if you're putting a listing in the paper or doing a garage sale, I would take a washcloth and dampen the product code sticker, then use a hair dryer to heat it. it should peel off without leaving sticky residue and without the sticker, the person won't try to use the product code (if the installation is unsuccessful) and then in your listing or on the table at the sale, I would specify that the HDD is completely blank and an Operating System is required to be bought separately. Once again, this is only if the OEM code won't work and you are refused a new code.