XP Repair

I'm working on an old hp laptop that has Windows XP Home installed.
It stopped booting at the light blue Windows splash screen with the small
windows logo (not the black screen with the larger Windows logo).

No efforts to repair worked so I tried to do a Repair Install with a handy
XP Home CD.
That attempt failed when the install refused to accept the CD key from the
computer.
Now the process seems to be stuck in the middle of the install - after each
reboot.

I'm stuck. What might anyone recommend so I can rebuild this computer from
scratch?

There are no recovery CDs. hp doesn't have them any longer. They are only
available (maybe) from a 3rd party now.

Thanks,

Fred

In news:ulOqDFQKGHA.720@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl,
Fred Marshall had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

> I'm working on an old hp laptop that has Windows XP Home installed.
> It stopped booting at the light blue Windows splash screen with the
> small windows logo (not the black screen with the larger Windows
> logo).
> No efforts to repair worked so I tried to do a Repair Install with a
> handy XP Home CD.
> That attempt failed when the install refused to accept the CD key
> from the computer.
> Now the process seems to be stuck in the middle of the install -
> after each reboot.
>
> I'm stuck. What might anyone recommend so I can rebuild this
> computer from scratch?
>
> There are no recovery CDs. hp doesn't have them any longer. They
> are only available (maybe) from a 3rd party now.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Fred

Call HP again and tell them that you now know that they are required by
agreement with Microsoft to provide a method to re-install the operating
system.

With an HP it *might* have a hidden partition - try F11 during boot.
Non-destructive recovery might be the best place to start IF it has that. No
matter if it is "out of warranty" - they STILL must provide a way to
re-install the operating system. If they don't file a complaint.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"I am glad of all details, whether they seem to you to be relevant or
not." - Sherlock Holmes

At xp boot menu,select r for recovery,select 1 for disk C: press enter for
password,typeiskPart In DiskPart delete the partition(s),create one,then
press
ESC key,type:EXIT Restart to cd boot menu,select,install xp,new copy.

"Fred Marshall" wrote:

> I'm working on an old hp laptop that has Windows XP Home installed.
> It stopped booting at the light blue Windows splash screen with the small
> windows logo (not the black screen with the larger Windows logo).
>
> No efforts to repair worked so I tried to do a Repair Install with a handy
> XP Home CD.
> That attempt failed when the install refused to accept the CD key from the
> computer.
> Now the process seems to be stuck in the middle of the install - after each
> reboot.
>
> I'm stuck. What might anyone recommend so I can rebuild this computer from
> scratch?
>
> There are no recovery CDs. hp doesn't have them any longer. They are only
> available (maybe) from a 3rd party now.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Fred
>
>
>