Reinstalling winxp sp2 on an acer laptop

[Guest]

Hi,

I am trying to reinstall winxp on my acer laptop and have used a cd obtained
through msdnaa to install with.

I get to the cd key stage and am told my cd key is invalid. I am using the
cd key off the coa sticker on the laptop.

I have read articles about making the cd recognise OEM cd keys and this
hasnt worked.

I have also read an article that said Acer doesnt use standard cd keys and
they are modified so are only usable with acers install programs.

Can I please stress I want to use a legit cd key that is stuck to the bottom
of my laptop but I do not have the original acer disks with me to reinstall.

I am getting behind on work and could really do with a working laptop asap.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The OEM Product Key affixed to your Acer computer
is only valid with the computer manufacturer's recovery
method or CD. You'll need to contact the computer manufacturer
and order the proper Windows XP recovery CD.

The MSDN CD will not work with any OEM Product Key.

How to replace lost, broken, or missing Microsoft software or hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246/en-us

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| Hi,
|
| I am trying to reinstall winxp on my acer laptop and have used a cd obtained
| through msdnaa to install with.
|
| I get to the cd key stage and am told my cd key is invalid. I am using the
| cd key off the coa sticker on the laptop.
|
| I have read articles about making the cd recognise OEM cd keys and this
| hasnt worked.
|
| I have also read an article that said Acer doesnt use standard cd keys and
| they are modified so are only usable with acers install programs.
|
| Can I please stress I want to use a legit cd key that is stuck to the bottom
| of my laptop but I do not have the original acer disks with me to reinstall.
|
| I am getting behind on work and could really do with a working laptop asap.

 

[Guest]

If you haven't already formatted, there is an I386 folder on the C: drive
that contains the XP setup files. (run winnt.exe from a DOS bootCD)

Some also have a recovery partition. Try pressing F12 at boot time and see
if a recovery-partition boot is an option.

 

[Larry Samuels]

One word of advice--copy smartdrv.exe to the boot cd and run it before
winnt.exe.Otherwise the dos based install will take hours (I have seen it
take more than 12 hours on a system where a normal install took less than 30
minutes).

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-