Dell PC & New HDD TIA

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sandy58

A buddy bought a 2nd hand pc, Dell desktop with a screwed up hdd so he
bought a new Maxtor. He tried to load Win XP Pro but had no joy with
that. He doesn't have the Dell reload whatever cd's. Is there any way
to install Win XP Pro without these cd's? TIA
 
A buddy bought a 2nd hand pc, Dell desktop with a screwed up hdd so he
bought a new Maxtor. He tried to load Win XP Pro but had no joy with
that. He doesn't have the Dell reload whatever cd's. Is there any way
to install Win XP Pro without these cd's? TIA
Click to expand...

Apologies for double posting here. Senior slip. :-(
 
sandy58 said:
A buddy bought a 2nd hand pc, Dell desktop with a screwed up hdd so he
bought a new Maxtor. He tried to load Win XP Pro but had no joy with
that. He doesn't have the Dell reload whatever cd's. Is there any way
to install Win XP Pro without these cd's? TIA
Click to expand...

You need to provide more information.

Did this Dell originally come with XP installed? What does it say on the
COA sticker (do NOT post the product key!)?

Is the new hard drive hooked up correctly? How exactly did your buddy
attempt to install Windows XP -- especially since he doesn't have the
installation CD? Also, what is the model and model number of this Dell?
Knowing that would be helpful to find out the original method Dell
provided to the end user to reinstall the OS. BTW, it will be one of the
following methods:

Installation CD (Dell calls these Reinstallation CDs)

Recovery CD (this contains an image of the hard drive as it was the day
it left the factory)

Recovery Partition (the old hard drive that is out of commission may
have contained the sole means of restoring via a hidden recovery
partiton -- a poor method for obvious reasons!)

Dell might be able to provide installation media. If not, many people
have reported success with this place:

http://www.restoredisks.com/
 
If he has bought a Retail XP Pro disk, set the CD/DVD drive to be 1st in the
Boot Order, by going into Setup/Bios..
You do this at Startup
The Key to get into setup/Bios will be F1, F2, but probably DELETE Key.
It is at the bottom/ lower part of the screen.

Once that is done, insert disk, reboot, load files, make a partition,
format, install.
 
You need to provide more information.

Did this Dell originally come with XP installed? What does it say on the
COA sticker (do NOT post the product key!)?

Is the new hard drive hooked up correctly? How exactly did your buddy
attempt to install Windows XP -- especially since he doesn't have the
installation CD? Also, what is the model and model number of this Dell?
Knowing that would be helpful to find out the original method Dell
provided to the end user to reinstall the OS. BTW, it will be one of the
following methods:

Installation CD (Dell calls these Reinstallation CDs)

Recovery CD (this contains an image of the hard drive as it was the day
it left the factory)

Recovery Partition (the old hard drive that is out of commission may
have contained the sole means of restoring via a hidden recovery
partiton -- a poor method for obvious reasons!)

Dell might be able to provide installation media. If not, many people
have reported success with this place:

http://www.restoredisks.com/
Click to expand...

On the front round the "on/off" button it has GX260
Optiplex. Nothing about Windows on a sticker, just the serial number &
stuff like Made in Ireland, voltage etc. An attempt has been made to
install Windows XP Pro. Unsuccessfully. Windows page comes up....then
a blue screen (not the welcome screen) saying "windows
installing.......... Then a small oblong Windows emblem telling that
it is continuing then a long wait & then a request for the Windows XP
pro cd (which I don't possess. I have WinXP Home) I have boot disks
for all windows CD & floppy. How he attempted to format, install or
recover I have no idea. I can get into bios & where to choose what to
de ie: Last good setting, Safe mode, Safe mode with cursor etc but
when I tried to get into the one with Cursor (hoping to be able to re-
format the hard drive & at least see what was/wasn't in there) I was
refused entry. Thanks for your helpful replies guys. :-)
sandy58
 
Serial Number on a computer normally starts with SN:
That is Dell's reference number for your computer in their database.
If you ever contact Dell, you quote that Serial Number.

Product Key is altogether different; that is 25 digits(will be numbers and
letters), broken up into 5 groups of 5; and attached somewhere on the outside
of your computer originally..

No Product Key came with the XP Pro CD?
If you find a Product Key on the outside of the computer, it is not for the
XP Pro CD that you acquired; it is for the original operating System.
 
sandy58 said:
On the front round the "on/off" button it has GX260
Optiplex. Nothing about Windows on a sticker, just the serial number &
stuff like Made in Ireland, voltage etc.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, *all* Dells come with Windows installed and the Certificate of
Authenticity (COA) sticker that looks something like this:

http://i1.iofferphoto.com/img/item/354/750/76/X08.jpg

I'd look again for this sticker. Unless this particular Dell had a
non-transferrable volume license, it still has a license for the user to
use Windows. All the user needs to do is enter the Product Key. Of
course, you will need to first obtain the correct installation media and
it will need to match the type of license. I find it hard to believe
that a previous owner peeled off the sticker, but I guess it's possible.
An attempt has been made to
install Windows XP Pro. Unsuccessfully. Windows page comes up....then
a blue screen (not the welcome screen) saying "windows
installing.......... Then a small oblong Windows emblem telling that
it is continuing then a long wait & then a request for the Windows XP
pro cd (which I don't possess. I have WinXP Home) I have boot disks
for all windows CD & floppy. How he attempted to format, install or
recover I have no idea.
Click to expand...

This is the information we need! You say he attempted to install Windows
XP Pro. Yet you also say he has no XP Pro installation disk. Without
knowing what he did, it's hard to say what mistakes he made!
I can get into bios & where to choose what to
de ie: Last good setting, Safe mode, Safe mode with cursor etc but
when I tried to get into the one with Cursor (hoping to be able to re-
format the hard drive & at least see what was/wasn't in there) I was
refused entry. Thanks for your helpful replies guys. :-)
Click to expand...

I thought you said he purchased a new hard drive. I was assuming the new
hard drive was installed. Is it? Was the old hard drive removed?

Again, look for that COA. If there is no license, your friend will need
to purchase an installation disk. Then just follow the instructions for
a clean install:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

What type of XP Home CD do you have? OEM or Retail? If OEM, is it
branded or generic? If his Dell originally came with XP Home and he has
his Product Key and you have the same kind of Dell XP CD, he may be in
luck. But from what you have described, it sounds like he'll need to
purchase a new CD/license. Home is more affordable than Pro (and it's
pretty much the same).
 
Serial Number on a computer normally starts with SN:
That is Dell's reference number for your computer in their database.
If you ever contact Dell, you quote that Serial Number.

Product Key is altogether different; that is 25 digits(will be numbers and
letters), broken up into 5 groups of 5; and attached somewhere on the outside
of your computer originally..

No Product Key came with the XP Pro CD?
If you find a Product Key on the outside of the computer, it is not for the
XP Pro CD that you acquired; it is for the original operating System.
Click to expand...

As far as know, Mick he didn't get a Win cd with the thing. He was
trying his own. I am down to getting the hard drive format-ed & then
start again from scratch. :-) Is it possible from where I am now, to
clear the hdd & do a normal every day install of Windows XP (I have my
own) or is there stuff on the motherboard to interfere with that
little idea? Thanks for your help so far, all. :-)
 
If his Dell originally came with XP Home and he has his Product
Key and you have the same kind of Dell XP CD, he may be in luck.
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, the Product Key doesn't even enter the equation in
this scenario because of Dell's SLP process of using a pre-activated
"golden master" key.
 
As far as know, Mick he didn't get a Win cd with the thing. He was
trying his own. I am down to getting the hard drive format-ed & then
start again from scratch. :-) Is it possible from where I am now, to
clear the hdd & do a normal every day install of Windows XP (I have my
own) or is there stuff on the motherboard to interfere with that
little idea? Thanks for your help so far, all. :-)
Click to expand...

OK, now I have the "THING" ( the so-called new hdd) as my slave hdd,
format-ed it and it has one folder left. This was AFTER (quick)
format. RG60Plus. I checked for it on line & all I got was Korean/
Chinese forums which seemed to refer to it as a nasty associated with
IE8??
Has anyone heard of this? I use Firefox & stay away from IE.
 
A buddy bought a 2nd hand pc, Dell desktop with a screwed up hdd so he
bought a new Maxtor. He tried to load Win XP Pro but had no joy with
that. He doesn't have the Dell reload whatever cd's. Is there any way
to install Win XP Pro without these cd's? TIA
Click to expand...

No. All he bought was the hardware; he'll have to get his own software
programs if he didn't also buy the disks or recovery disks, etc..
 
sandy58 said:
OK, now I have the "THING" ( the so-called new hdd) as my slave hdd,
format-ed it and it has one folder left. This was AFTER (quick)
format. RG60Plus. I checked for it on line & all I got was Korean/
Chinese forums which seemed to refer to it as a nasty associated with
IE8??
Has anyone heard of this? I use Firefox & stay away from IE.
Click to expand...

How exactly did you format the hard drive? What did you use? Formatting
removes all data including the RG60Plus folder you mentioned.
 
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