Hi all,

A friend asked me to look at her computer since it was not working
well...it's really a mess, but I am getting it better slowly. She has a Dell
3000, Pentium 4 with a newly installed 80 G h/d and 512 memory. Windows XP
professional was installed originally. Someone else "fixed" this PC for her
when the H/D failed and took off with her original disks. Now the message
"not a genuine copy of Windows appears" ...we did purchase a new key and were
able to install after several tries. Waiting for the new disk to arrive.

But here is the problem! Even though she has 512 of memory; only 256
appears. The machine is very tired and slow to respond. It will not let me
clean up her disk or install much of anything. The AOl security center
almost paralyzed this PC...it's off for now! When the machine is first
turned on, this error message appears "OS Install Mode enabled. Amount of
available memory limited to 256 mb. Strike the F1 key to continue. F2 to
enter the setup utility.” I did go into the setup and look around; but am
not exactly sure what I should be looking for.

I have thankfully managed to back up all of her files and really would like
to do a complete re-install when the disk arrives. I will have all the
required software available. I am afraid that since she has SO much stuff
piled on this PC and really does not know what she is doing that she might
have compromised some files. How should I go about re-installing XP? Should
I format the hard drive to remove everything and start from scratch or is
there an easier way to fix her PC? As always; your help and input is
appreciated…Thanks!


--
always learning

"Iplant" wrote

> Hi all,
>
> A friend asked me to look at her computer since it was not working
> well...it's really a mess, but I am getting it better slowly. She has a
> Dell
> 3000, Pentium 4 with a newly installed 80 G h/d and 512 memory. Windows
> XP
> professional was installed originally. Someone else "fixed" this PC for
> her
> when the H/D failed and took off with her original disks. Now the message
> "not a genuine copy of Windows appears" ...we did purchase a new key and
> were
> able to install after several tries. Waiting for the new disk to arrive.
>
> But here is the problem! Even though she has 512 of memory; only 256
> appears. The machine is very tired and slow to respond. It will not let
> me
> clean up her disk or install much of anything. The AOl security center
> almost paralyzed this PC...it's off for now! When the machine is first
> turned on, this error message appears "OS Install Mode enabled. Amount of
> available memory limited to 256 mb. Strike the F1 key to continue. F2 to
> enter the setup utility.” I did go into the setup and look around; but am
> not exactly sure what I should be looking for.

The OS Install Mode message is some sort of BIOS message. I would contact
the tech support for the computer and ask about it. You need to figure out
why it is only recognizing 1/2 of the memory. Is one stick bad or is it a
BIOS setting or maybe it needs a BIOS upgrade. In any event it's hardware
issue, not an XP OS issue. Get that straightened out first. No point in
working the software end of the issue until the hardware is right.


> I have thankfully managed to back up all of her files and really would
> like
> to do a complete re-install when the disk arrives. I will have all the
> required software available. I am afraid that since she has SO much stuff
> piled on this PC and really does not know what she is doing that she might
> have compromised some files. How should I go about re-installing XP?
> Should
> I format the hard drive to remove everything and start from scratch or is
> there an easier way to fix her PC? As always; your help and input is
> appreciated…Thanks!

After the memory issue is taken care of see how things run. You might not
need to do a reinstall of the OS. Go through these malware removal steps.

Malware Removal
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware


--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]

Thanks Rock; that's what I thought and I'll try those steps as soon as I can.
I am still sleeping right now! LOL It's good to have those steps for the
malware too...one never can be too careful or too informed!
--
always learning


"Rock" wrote:

> "Iplant" wrote
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > A friend asked me to look at her computer since it was not working
> > well...it's really a mess, but I am getting it better slowly. She has a
> > Dell
> > 3000, Pentium 4 with a newly installed 80 G h/d and 512 memory. Windows
> > XP
> > professional was installed originally. Someone else "fixed" this PC for
> > her
> > when the H/D failed and took off with her original disks. Now the message
> > "not a genuine copy of Windows appears" ...we did purchase a new key and
> > were
> > able to install after several tries. Waiting for the new disk to arrive.
> >
> > But here is the problem! Even though she has 512 of memory; only 256
> > appears. The machine is very tired and slow to respond. It will not let
> > me
> > clean up her disk or install much of anything. The AOl security center
> > almost paralyzed this PC...it's off for now! When the machine is first
> > turned on, this error message appears "OS Install Mode enabled. Amount of
> > available memory limited to 256 mb. Strike the F1 key to continue. F2 to
> > enter the setup utility.” I did go into the setup and look around; but am
> > not exactly sure what I should be looking for.
>
> The OS Install Mode message is some sort of BIOS message. I would contact
> the tech support for the computer and ask about it. You need to figure out
> why it is only recognizing 1/2 of the memory. Is one stick bad or is it a
> BIOS setting or maybe it needs a BIOS upgrade. In any event it's hardware
> issue, not an XP OS issue. Get that straightened out first. No point in
> working the software end of the issue until the hardware is right.
>
>
> > I have thankfully managed to back up all of her files and really would
> > like
> > to do a complete re-install when the disk arrives. I will have all the
> > required software available. I am afraid that since she has SO much stuff
> > piled on this PC and really does not know what she is doing that she might
> > have compromised some files. How should I go about re-installing XP?
> > Should
> > I format the hard drive to remove everything and start from scratch or is
> > there an easier way to fix her PC? As always; your help and input is
> > appreciated…Thanks!
>
> After the memory issue is taken care of see how things run. You might not
> need to do a reinstall of the OS. Go through these malware removal steps.
>
> Malware Removal
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware
>
>
> --
> Rock [MVP - User/Shell]
>
>

"Iplant" wrote

> Thanks Rock; that's what I thought and I'll try those steps as soon as I
> can.
> I am still sleeping right now! LOL It's good to have those steps for
> the
> malware too...one never can be too careful or too informed!

You're welcome. Good luck.

--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]