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A long time ago when i installed my 160 GB hard drive, i moved my XP files to it useing the provided program worked fine at first. Then i shutdown, removed the old drive completely to put in my next half-built project... re-booted... and XP wouldn't start. Turns out I had an OEM version and didn't know it. So lets skip ahead to now... I've been stuck with Vista for over a year and its driving me crazy. So with the money I got for Christmas I bought some recovery disks from HP for my computer. Didn't work on my retail motherboard so i put the compaq/hp motherboard back in an ddidn't work then either. Turns out when HP replaced my faulty motherboard that literaly caught on fire (lol) they replaced it with another faulty Motherboard that has the wrong tatoos on it. So when i go to install these $50 CD's it reads it as the wrong system and won't intall. They said take it to a service center (which is a two hour drive) and pay to have their mistake fixed. I don't have the time or the money to do that. So does anyone have any ideas on how i can fix this without paying for something more? (PS. I tried hacking it and only got halfway before it was stoped in its tracks right before it fixed my recovery partition that i could have used to fix XP.

So does anybody have any links to micrsoft? lol
Or a hacker? lol again

Looks like your only option here is to either get the motherboard fixed or buy yourself a copy of Windows. I would suggest you go with the latter if it's cheaper.

Replace your motherboard, there not that expensive $50-70 for the low end mobo but last for a while like ECS, ASRock and $100+ for a good one.

this is exactly the reason why i dont buy prebuilt pcs

There is a problem with replacing his motherboard at this point. He only has an OEM version of the XP install CD. That means that upon installing the new motherboard, he won't be able to reinstall XP because the OEM install disc will only work with one kind of motherboard.

It's always advised to reinstall XP after a big hardware change such a motherboard. Very rarely will two boards share the same addresses and such if they're made by different manufacturers. Since he has a prebuilt POS, he will more than likely need to reinstall XP before it even loads properly. Since he can't do that, advising him to get a new motherboard just means that you're adding to his cost because he'll need to also buy an OS install CD.

Man did HP screw you big time, The only thing I think you could do is (If you save up) replace mobo and get a windows (Just IMO, someone may have a better idea)

Like I said before, your only two options right now are to either get the motherboard fixed, or buy yourself a copy of Windows. Last I checked, XP Pro runs around US$300 and XP Home runs around US$100. Prices may have dropped due to Vista's expected release.

S2000_Skyline12 wrote:Man did HP screw you big time..

HP didn't screw him. He screwed himself by buying a brand name machine with OEM software. Caveat emptor.

prince1142003 wrote:It's always advised to reinstall XP after a big hardware change such a motherboard. Very rarely will two boards share the same addresses and such if they're made by different manufacturers.

I didn't ave to reinstall Windows after switching out my MSI motherboard and Athlon XP processor with an ASRock motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 processor. Just plug-and-play. Guess I was just lucky.

Yeah, lucky. When I switched from an ASUS to an ABIT, everything worked fine. But under the covers, IRQ addresses within Windows were messed up. The AGP address on the old board turned out to be a PCI address on the new one. And that wasn't the least of my problems. Point is, sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't, and sometimes it'll only work partly. I don't advise taking the risk.

If you change the mobo, then do this:

1 - Buy a cheap Windows 95 or 98 CD.
2 - Get the XP Pro upgrade. (It says: Need Windows 95, 98, 2000 Pro, or XP Home to upgrade to this XP Pro package) Its cheaper than the full XP version.
3 - When installing XP it will ask you for a Windows CD as proof that you used to have that older windows. (Doesn't need to be genuine. infact I used a... *ahem* CD.)
4 - It should work and the setup should say something like: "CD Successfully validated"
5 - Then when you choose to install in setup, pop the XP Pro upgrade CD in the tray when it tells you.
6 - Format, Install, Activate, and all that. You have a GENUINE version of Windows XP Professional with a new motherboard aswell. Bye HP.

Hope that helps. I would actually get a Vista Buisiness upgrade. I got one for $0.00 and a $9.99 Shipping.

EDIT: I think the upgrades are sold in the Microsoft Marketplace...

The BBB kicks @$S! HP said they would fix my motherboard for free!!! The bad news is... I sold my AGP Card for a PCIE card and bought an ass load of stuff for this motherboard... so is there anyway to install with HP's CD on the old mobo then run a repair or something on the new one to get it to work? IF not then it's not a big deal cuz I'm buying vista in a week or so...

thx!

Carcrazy wrote:Sso is there anyway to install with HP's CD on the old mobo then run a repair or something on the new one to get it to work?

Propably not, since the chipsets on the mobos are very different from each other.

I bought an HP once... once.