Cannot validate WinXP Pro update

[Jim Berry]

I upgraded to WinXP Pro using the official XP Pro disk with SP2. The computer
is locked in this loop that allows me to sign in, notifies me that I cannot
log in without validating my OS, then when I check "Validate", goes into some
other land where the wallpaper stays in the background, there are no
shortcuts or menu bar, and there is furious activity on my hard drive whether
I am connected to the net or not. I have tried to boot from the CD by going
into the F2 land and setting that as first boot and even only boot option,
but all I get is a prompt to put bootable disk into drive a. All the options
for booting with prompt, ETC, from F8 just take me back to the sign in
screen. Is there any way to get back to install from here and redo the whole
thing?

 

[Mark Adams]

I upgraded to WinXP Pro using the official XP Pro disk with SP2. The computer
is locked in this loop that allows me to sign in, notifies me that I cannot
log in without validating my OS, then when I check "Validate", goes into some
other land where the wallpaper stays in the background, there are no
shortcuts or menu bar, and there is furious activity on my hard drive whether
I am connected to the net or not. I have tried to boot from the CD by going
into the F2 land and setting that as first boot and even only boot option,
but all I get is a prompt to put bootable disk into drive a. All the options
for booting with prompt, ETC, from F8 just take me back to the sign in
screen. Is there any way to get back to install from here and redo the whole
thing?

First, we need to know what you upgraded from and why.

 

[Jim Berry]

Right! I bought a Dell 4100 that had been upgraded to WinXP, and when I used
the validation tool was told that it was not authorized for me, so I bought
an official WinXP Pro and SP2 disk from Microsift. My first attempt at
installing it worked OK but whenever the power was turned off it came to a
black screen with the choice of starting WinXP or doing an install and if I
didn't hit the up arrow and choose Start WinXP it went to some blue screen
that said it couldn't install "Keyboard.dll and froze. So I put my official
disk in and at the prompt told it to "repair" the files. Now it is in that
frozen loop. Also, sometimes but not all the restarts a Norton box shows up
down in the left corner and says that it is doing a full scan in the
background, but won't get bigger when I click on it, just goes away. No menu
bar, no shortcuts.
Hope this is helpful. Jim

 

[Mark Adams]

Right! I bought a Dell 4100 that had been upgraded to WinXP,

What was it upgraded from, and what version of XP was it upgraded to?

and when I used

the validation tool was told that it was not authorized for me, so I bought
an official WinXP Pro and SP2 disk from Microsift. My first attempt at
installing it worked OK but whenever the power was turned off it came to a
black screen with the choice of starting WinXP or doing an install and if I
didn't hit the up arrow and choose Start WinXP it went to some blue screen
that said it couldn't install "Keyboard.dll and froze.

Here is how you do a repair install, you must have done it wrong:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

So I put my official

 

[Jim Berry]

The only thing in that link that looks like it will work is the suggestion to
disconnect the C: drive, make my slave a master, and reinstall WinXP Pro on
the new drive. I have set up my bios so that the only boot choice is the CD
drive, selected no auto restart on the F8 choices, and made a slipstreamed CD
that boots up fine on my other computers, but this one merely gives me
"invalid boot disk, put boot disk into A:". I don't have a 600+ meg floppy.
It won't boot from a USB stick either, still insists on a floppy in A. Is
there no other way to get to a CD boot without removing the old C drive and
totally starting over?

 

[DG]

The only thing in that link that looks like it will work is the
suggestion to disconnect the C: drive, make my slave a master, and
reinstall WinXP Pro on the new drive. I have set up my bios so that
the only boot choice is the CD drive, selected no auto restart on the
F8 choices, and made a slipstreamed CD that boots up fine on my other
computers, but this one merely gives me "invalid boot disk, put boot
disk into A:". I don't have a 600+ meg floppy. It won't boot from a
USB stick either, still insists on a floppy in A. Is there no other
way to get to a CD boot without removing the old C drive and totally
starting over?

Is Your CD drive defective?

 

[Mark Adams]

The only thing in that link that looks like it will work is the suggestion to
disconnect the C: drive, make my slave a master, and reinstall WinXP Pro on
the new drive. I have set up my bios so that the only boot choice is the CD
drive, selected no auto restart on the F8 choices, and made a slipstreamed CD
that boots up fine on my other computers, but this one merely gives me
"invalid boot disk, put boot disk into A:". I don't have a 600+ meg floppy.

Go into the BIOS and disable any reference to drive A or floppy drive. DG
has a point, try a known working CD drive as well.

 

[Jim Berry]

Fixed the problem- disconnected the slave, did a full install of XP Pro, and
just for kicks attached the modem to a phone line since it didn't seem to
recognize my wireless connection. That did the trick, it dialed some number
and activated my installation and I have been entertaining myself
reinstalling all my peripherals and programs. Thanks for the ideas, shame I
had to reinstall completely and lose those nice screen savers like the pool
of mercury that Windows no longer supports. Jim