Can't perform repair install, product ID rejected

[Guest]

I bought my computer from Alienware about 3 years ago, and I think that's
part of the problem. The XP cd provided with the computer is labled XP Home,
but installs XP professional. My product ID is on a standard colorful
Microsoft tamper-proof foil stickeron the inside of my case door, and is the
same one I used to install XP.

For about a month I've had a problem that causes my computer to freeze or
display a bsod with an DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, one suggested fix
was to perform an in-place or repair install. I can use my alienware XP cd to
install windows XP Pro to a clean harddrive by boot, or perform a new
installation from CD with another OS running. But for some reason, it rejects
the key if I try to proceed with an "upgrade installation."

Does anyone know a workaround? Possibly a way to activate an upgrade install
when booting from CD or through the recovery console?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I bought my computer from Alienware about 3 years ago, and I think
that's part of the problem. The XP cd provided with the computer is
labled XP Home, but installs XP professional. My product ID is on a
standard colorful Microsoft tamper-proof foil stickeron the inside of
my case door, and is the same one I used to install XP.

For about a month I've had a problem that causes my computer to
freeze or display a bsod with an DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error,
one suggested fix was to perform an in-place or repair install. I can
use my alienware XP cd to install windows XP Pro to a clean harddrive
by boot, or perform a new installation from CD with another OS
running. But for some reason, it rejects the key if I try to proceed
with an "upgrade installation."

Does anyone know a workaround? Possibly a way to activate an upgrade
install when booting from CD or through the recovery console?

Here's the trouble I see, right now.
You state that the CD you have is "labeled" XP Home - but it installs XP
Professional.
Is this a True Windows XP CD - or a burned CD - meaning a copy?

It is likely an OEM copy - meaning an "upgrade" install is likely
impossible.
A repair install is done (in the first step or two) just like a clean
install. You boot from the CD.

In any case - be sure you are typing the code correctly. "8" and "B", "5"
and "S", "1" and "I" and "0 and "O" are often mistakenly typed.

 

[Guest]

Yes, it's an OEM copy, but it's the original disk, and windows validation
(when trying to download things like dx9.0c from microsoft) has never given
me trouble.

When booting from CD, I don't get a choice to perform a repair install- it's
a completely automatic process aside from selecting a partition. I've read
the messages at the bottom of the screen (f6 to load third-party RAID drivers
and such), but none were relavent. Is there a step that I could be missing?

Another suggested fix for my original problem is flashing the BIOS, but
unfortunately, it seems that Intel doesn't support my mobo anymore. I'm still
looking into that as an alternative, as the problem began to occur around the
time I upgraded my BIOS... or it could have possibly been the reason I
upgraded it to begin with. Frustrating.

If there's no way to perform a repair install, I'm not going to worry about
it, but any assistance is very much appreciated.