Installing upgrade to Pro and FUBAR-ed laptop

[Jenn]

OK...I ran recovery on my Viao. My Viao originally came
with Windows XP Home and my boss bought my Windows XP
Pro. I have been operating with XP Pro fine, but ran
recovey to clean up my computer. Anyway...trying to
upgrade to XP Pro, installation kept locking up. I cold
booted laptop, and installation would restart until it
gets to 1 minute remaining...locks again. When I cold
boot from there, my laptop powered up in the Home edition,
but wouldn't let me sign in...giving me error
#0x80004005. I looked that up on the other computer, did
what it suggested, booted from XP Pro CD.....follow
directions, but couldn't get past the administrator
password...I never set one up, but apparently my laptop
thinks I did. Anyway, tried a couple other options and
now I can't even boot from CD....I can't do
anything...stuck on "Press any key to boot from CD..."
screen......I just need to get back running, even if it's
in Home edition!!!! Help....I gotta get this fixed by
Monday for work?!?!?!

 

[Haus]

Hello
Well it sounds like you may not be able to save any of your files, hope you
did a backup.

Try to do a clean install.
Put the XP Pro CD in and shut down the puter, then turn the puter on when it
says press any key to boot from CD then hit a key. Follow the instructions
here.
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/cleanxp.htm

After installation turn on the firewall and visit the MS Windows Update site
and download the updates, this is for your security and safety.
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp

--
Hope This Helps
Haus
Not a MS-MVP
Not a MVP
Not nothing, just a good ole boy.

 

[E.T.Me]

Zounds like yer "ANY" key is baroke.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Did you remove any PC cards or other hardware that was
installed.

Why run recovery to clean up the computer? There is a disk
cleanup for that and add/remove to get rid of unused and
un-needed programs.

So you were running XP Pro after the upgrade from XP Home
and decide to upgrade again?

Which directions did you follow, trying to start the
recovery console "r"?

You need to do a repair install by beginning an installation
and select "repair an existing installation" as the option.
Since XP Pro was the last system you installed you will need
to use you XP Pro CD. Be sure to keep the product key with
the CD.


message | OK...I ran recovery on my Viao. My Viao originally came
| with Windows XP Home and my boss bought my Windows XP
| Pro. I have been operating with XP Pro fine, but ran
| recovey to clean up my computer. Anyway...trying to
| upgrade to XP Pro, installation kept locking up. I cold
| booted laptop, and installation would restart until it
| gets to 1 minute remaining...locks again. When I cold
| boot from there, my laptop powered up in the Home edition,
| but wouldn't let me sign in...giving me error
| #0x80004005. I looked that up on the other computer, did
| what it suggested, booted from XP Pro CD.....follow
| directions, but couldn't get past the administrator
| password...I never set one up, but apparently my laptop
| thinks I did. Anyway, tried a couple other options and
| now I can't even boot from CD....I can't do
| anything...stuck on "Press any key to boot from CD..."
| screen......I just need to get back running, even if it's
| in Home edition!!!! Help....I gotta get this fixed by
| Monday for work?!?!?!

 

[midnight]

If you haven't backed up your files and need to reformat or delete the
partition to do a clean install one way to recover your files is to do a
side by side installation of Windows XP into the same partition but into a
different folder. Your Windows folder and Program Files folder will be named
something like Windows1 and Program Files1. This will allow you to save any
files you need before deleting the partition and doing a clean install.

Midnight