Reinstalling Windows XP Home on a Packard Bell laptop

[David]

Hi,
I needed to replace my HDD on my 4 year old Packard Bell (PB) A7145 laptop.
As readers may know PB laptops don't come with Windows XP installation disks
but rely on the use of restore disks & a restore partition on the HDD. I no
longer have the restore partition so thought that I only needed to reinstall
Windows XP and use the product key that came with the original laptop. That
didn't work because it looks as though PB use a particular OEM version of
Windows. I see that the sticker is marked NEC presumably indicating that it
is a special version.

My options seen to be:
- buy another Windows XP but that will cost more than the laptop is worth,
- find a copy of the NEC version of Windows XP Home & if so from where? PB
don't support their laptops older than 3 years old so won't supply it,
- ask Microsoft how they might be able to help. Any suggestions for a
telephone number to call for MS assistance please?

David

 

[philo]

Hi,
I needed to replace my HDD on my 4 year old Packard Bell (PB) A7145 laptop.
As readers may know PB laptops don't come with Windows XP installation disks
but rely on the use of restore disks & a restore partition on the HDD. I no
longer have the restore partition so thought that I only needed to reinstall
Windows XP and use the product key that came with the original laptop. That
didn't work because it looks as though PB use a particular OEM version of
Windows. I see that the sticker is marked NEC presumably indicating that it
is a special version.

My options seen to be:
- buy another Windows XP but that will cost more than the laptop is worth,
- find a copy of the NEC version of Windows XP Home & if so from where? PB
don't support their laptops older than 3 years old so won't supply it,
- ask Microsoft how they might be able to help. Any suggestions for a
telephone number to call for MS assistance please?

David

It has nothing to do with Microsoft,
if the manufacturer will not supply a recovery CD
you'd need to purchase XP

Maybe it's time to try a free operating system

It will cost you just the price of a cd to try PCLinuxOS for example

 

[thecreator]

Hi David,

Question: Is the old HDD still available?

Do you have access to Acronis True Image Home version? You may not be
able to boot that Hard Drive, but you may be able to access the information
on the Restore partition, if you Slave that Hard Drive on another computer.
You might be able to create a Slip-Stream XP CD to reinstall XP onto the
replacement HDD.

Do you have Nero?

http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

The Downloads for the product are still available online.

 

[David]

Hi David,

Question: Is the old HDD still available?

No. The old HDD was not working at all.

 

[Alias]

No. The old HDD was not working at all.

Then you gotta either buy XP or use Open Source Linux for free. I would
recommend Ubuntu. Check it out at www.ubuntu.com/

Alias

 

[Alias]

Tks for the reply

I did start to load Red Hat LINUX yesterday afternoon but didn't understand
the the question about Mount Point. Also I doubt if there are LINUX drivers
for the laptop available

Download the .ISO from Ubuntu and burn the image to a CD. Set the BIOS
to boot from the CD and you can run Ubuntu off the CD without installing
the OS and see if your hardware will work with it. It probably will,
being as the lap top is an older one.

Alias

 

[philo]

Download the .ISO from Ubuntu and burn the image to a CD. Set the BIOS
to boot from the CD and you can run Ubuntu off the CD without installing
the OS and see if your hardware will work with it. It probably will,
being as the lap top is an older one.

Alias

For a beginner, Red Hat may not be the way to go.

Ubuntu (as suggested) is good, but I happen to prefer PCLinuxOS

chances are it will pick up all the hardware ok

 

[Daave]

Replies are inline.

Hi,
I needed to replace my HDD on my 4 year old Packard Bell (PB) A7145
laptop.
As readers may know PB laptops don't come with Windows XP installation
disks
but rely on the use of restore disks & a restore partition on the HDD.
I no
longer have the restore partition so thought that I only needed to
reinstall
Windows XP and use the product key that came with the original laptop.
That
didn't work because it looks as though PB use a particular OEM version
of
Windows. I see that the sticker is marked NEC presumably indicating
that it
is a special version.

My options seen to be:
- buy another Windows XP but that will cost more than the laptop is
worth,

Bad option.

- find a copy of the NEC version of Windows XP Home & if so from
where? PB
don't support their laptops older than 3 years old so won't supply it,

You may have luck here:
http://www.restoredisks.com/

- ask Microsoft how they might be able to help. Any suggestions for a
telephone number to call for MS assistance please?

This is an OEM situation. Microsoft is normally not involved in this
sort of situation.

You left out another option:

Obtain a generic OEM installation CD to match your version of XP (that
is, Home or Pro). Hopefully you know someone who has one. If you can
find one, your product key on your COA sticker should work. No need to
purchase a license. As long as you have your laptop, you have the
license to run XP (the type it came with) on it.

 

[Daave]

Replies are inline.

Hi,
I needed to replace my HDD on my 4 year old Packard Bell (PB) A7145
laptop.
As readers may know PB laptops don't come with Windows XP installation
disks
but rely on the use of restore disks & a restore partition on the HDD.
I no
longer have the restore partition so thought that I only needed to
reinstall
Windows XP and use the product key that came with the original laptop.
That
didn't work because it looks as though PB use a particular OEM version
of
Windows. I see that the sticker is marked NEC presumably indicating
that it
is a special version.

My options seen to be:
- buy another Windows XP but that will cost more than the laptop is
worth,

Bad option.

- find a copy of the NEC version of Windows XP Home & if so from
where? PB
don't support their laptops older than 3 years old so won't supply it,

You may have luck here:
http://www.restoredisks.com/

- ask Microsoft how they might be able to help. Any suggestions for a
telephone number to call for MS assistance please?

This is an OEM situation. Microsoft is normally not involved in this
sort of situation.

You left out another option:

Obtain a generic OEM installation CD to match your version of XP (that
is, Home or Pro). Hopefully you know someone who has one. If you can
find one, your product key on your COA sticker should work. No need to
purchase a license. As long as you have your laptop, you have the
license to run XP (the type it came with) on it.

 

[Daave]

I once did what Daave suggests (obtain a generic OEM installation CD
to match your version of XP), and it worked fine. So long as you
enter the product key on your laptop rather than on the disk, it is
also fully legal, and there should be no problems with Activation or
Windows Genuine Advantage.

I think that one problem with this method is that some OEM CDs have
the product key pre-programmed, so you don't get the chance to enter
the product key on your laptop, and the intallation may fail
activation since it's using the product key on the disk.

To get around this problem, try to find someone with an OEM
installation CD that isn't branded (ie just says Microsoft on it, and
not DELL or COMPAQ, etc). These unbranded CDs often come with PCs
that aren't "big names". I guess that that's what Daave means by a
"generic" CD.

Precisely. This is what it looks like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...ion SP3 English for System Builders 1 Pack CD

(or http://tinyurl.com/4mxfxg )

Generic (i.e., unbranded) OEM installation disks will work in this
situation. Branded OEM disks more than likely will not work because they
are altered to work only with certain PCs. For more info on System
Locked Preinstallation, see:

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000506.html

Also, it must be an OEM CD and not a retail CD. If you use a retail
CD, it will say that the product key is invalid. There is a way
around this (by copying the retail cd and changing an ascii text
file) but I don't have the details.

Interesting. I wasn't aware of this method.

The bottom line is since the OP still has the license to run XP on his
laptop, there is no reason to purchase another one.

 

[Daave]

I think this is it... www.thetechguide.com/howto/setuppini.html

Thanks for the post. (Actually, that *does* look a little familiar.)