Reinstalling XP on computer from yard sale?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
  • Start date Start date
J

John

My wife picked up a computer for our 4-year old son at a yard sale.

It's an emachines computer, and it has a label on the case with the
microsoft product key.

The computer boots up fine, but there's lots of stuff that pops up,
there's lots of junk installed on there, and apparently some of the
programs don't work properly. I can log on as some of the 'limited
users', there's one account I can't guess the password to. I haven't
been able to log on as an administrator. I'd like to do a fresh
installation of Windows.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the original software CD's (or recovery
disk, etc.).

Is there any way I can do a fresh install of Windows on this computer?
I can probably find someone to borrow a Win XP Home CD from, would that
work?

Or maybe there's a recovery partition on the emachines hard drive?

Thanks for any help you can give.

John
 
John ,
You probably could contact the manufacture, and with the serial # of the
machine get replacement restore disks

Dennis
 
normally you can find the restore discs for sale on ebay as well.

you might get lucky and have the restore partition on your emachine -
though i can't remember seeing one that had this setup. look up the
support documents on the emachines website for any instructions on
restoring the disc to its original configuration... its worth a shot at
least.

dan
 
John
If you have a freind that has his O/S install disk (dell compaq MDG whatever)
you can use their disk and your key code (most likely) just find the I386
folder and type winnt.exe. The install key code OEM !! is just the install
key to assess the disk.
Using the key on the machine SHOULD be accepted you need yours to register.
So when you use freind disk, when it askes for key USE YOURS! (I do it all
the time with OEM disks) LOL
P.S. you might have to find some differant drivers for your video sound etc.
but at least it will be clean and if you have a problum email me I'll explain
it step by step LOL
Tronsss
 
Tronsss said:
John
If you have a freind that has his O/S install disk (dell compaq MDG whatever)
you can use their disk and your key code (most likely) just find the I386
folder and type winnt.exe. The install key code OEM !! is just the install
key to assess the disk.
Using the key on the machine SHOULD be accepted you need yours to register.
So when you use freind disk, when it askes for key USE YOURS! (I do it all
the time with OEM disks) LOL
P.S. you might have to find some differant drivers for your video sound etc.
but at least it will be clean and if you have a problum email me I'll explain
it step by step LOL
Tronsss
Click to expand...

That almost certainly will not worked because most OEM versions are
now BIOS Locked which means they are self-activating when installed on
a computer with a motherboard BIOS from the same OEM that created the
disk. If they are installed on a motherboard with a different BIOS
they will not activate over the Internet and telephone activations
will be declined.

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
John said:
My wife picked up a computer for our 4-year old son at a yard sale.

It's an emachines computer, and it has a label on the case with the
microsoft product key.

The computer boots up fine, but there's lots of stuff that pops up,
there's lots of junk installed on there, and apparently some of the
programs don't work properly. I can log on as some of the 'limited
users', there's one account I can't guess the password to. I haven't
been able to log on as an administrator. I'd like to do a fresh
installation of Windows.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the original software CD's (or recovery
disk, etc.).

Is there any way I can do a fresh install of Windows on this computer?
I can probably find someone to borrow a Win XP Home CD from, would that
work?

Or maybe there's a recovery partition on the emachines hard drive?

Thanks for any help you can give.

John
Click to expand...

Boot into Safe Mode and log in using the default account named
Administrator. That one usually does not have a password assigned to
it (unless the previous owner specifically created one). From there
you can do several things:

1. Delete unwanted user accounts using Control Panel - User Accounts.

2. Remove all login passwords by using Control Panel - Administrative
Tools - Local Security Settings and set the minimum password length to
0 (= no passwords).

3. Open a Command Prompt window and enter the following command:

NET USER <user_name> <new_password>


Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
The anopt word in your statement is NOW!!! you must remember "John" stated
the machine was bought at a yard sale,... this would be assumed an older
machine, therefore not be bios controlled. Again, I do it all the time and No,
I don't have to call either,..... I just activate on line
Tronsss

Ron said:
John
If you have a freind that has his O/S install disk (dell compaq MDG whatever)
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
it step by step LOL
Tronsss
Click to expand...

That almost certainly will not worked because most OEM versions are
now BIOS Locked which means they are self-activating when installed on
a computer with a motherboard BIOS from the same OEM that created the
disk. If they are installed on a motherboard with a different BIOS
they will not activate over the Internet and telephone activations
will be declined.

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
Click to expand...
 
And yes this should work too. Just leave a lot of unnessesary stuff in the
reg.
Tronsss

Ron said:
My wife picked up a computer for our 4-year old son at a yard sale.
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
John
Click to expand...

Boot into Safe Mode and log in using the default account named
Administrator. That one usually does not have a password assigned to
it (unless the previous owner specifically created one). From there
you can do several things:

1. Delete unwanted user accounts using Control Panel - User Accounts.

2. Remove all login passwords by using Control Panel - Administrative
Tools - Local Security Settings and set the minimum password length to
0 (= no passwords).

3. Open a Command Prompt window and enter the following command:

NET USER <user_name> <new_password>

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
Click to expand...
 
Contact eMachines and order a set of recovery disks.
They are prompt with delivery,and much cheaper than purchasing a new copy of
Windows (about $20 delivered for the set)

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-
 
And why can't you then run suitably updated Spybot and adaware to cure all
these problems? Surely deleting the contents of My Documents and all temp
directories (or even some form of downloadable registry cleaner) can't be
all THAT difficult?
 
news.microsoft.com said:
And why can't you then run suitably updated Spybot and adaware to cure all
these problems? Surely deleting the contents of My Documents and all temp
directories (or even some form of downloadable registry cleaner) can't be
all THAT difficult?
Click to expand...

I never said anything about running or not running Spybot and AdAware,
at least not in this thread.

The combination of these two programs will find and remove about 95%
of the known spyware items that are out there, which is pretty good
but still not quite *all*.

The real problem with this machine, as I see it, is the inability to
log in to any account with administrator level privileges. All of the
working accounts are of the Limited Account type and that restricts
what you can do insofar as changes affecting other user accounts etc.

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
I still say for the record this IS THE BEST way it cleans everything and
fresh install
All you need is a OEM disk from a "older" machine I JUST did it again
yyesturday with a 2600 AMD e-machine and an old MDG restore disk all you have
to make sure is the disk has the i386 folder!!!!! So I repeat,
John
If you have a freind that has his O/S install disk (dell compaq MDG whatever)
you can use their disk and your key code (most likely) just find the I386
folder and type winnt.exe. The install key code OEM !! is just the install
key to assess the disk.
Using the key on the machine SHOULD be accepted you need yours to register.
So when you use freind disk, when it askes for key USE YOURS! (I do it all
the time with OEM disks) LOL
 
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