FACTORY CONDITION

[Guest]

My PC had a virus a think...well all my programs got deleted just left broken
short cuts.i had to reinstall every thing again and is ok now. i think its
about time my PC had a clean start any way its on XP home its all up to date.
quite a new machine. but the problem is i herd now Microsoft dont supply
recovery disc's now which is why a never got one a think. and another thing
were i got it from TINY COMPUTERS went bust just after i got the machine so a
cant take it to them. any ideas on how i can do this or get my hands on a
recovery disc..preferably with out me havin to pay for another licence for
windows like i have all redi been asked to do!!! any help would be
appreciated thanx.

 

[Guest]

If you have a valid license for your copy of XP then any XP CD should work
for installing. Discs are not system specific and do not contain your
activation code. That's usually found on the tower or the jewel case. You
could always call MS and tell them of your dilema. They are usually very very
helpful. TTFN.

 

[Kevin]

My PC had a virus a think...well all my programs got deleted just left
broken
short cuts.i had to reinstall every thing again and is ok now. i think its
about time my PC had a clean start any way its on XP home its all up to
date.
quite a new machine. but the problem is i herd now Microsoft dont supply
recovery disc's now which is why a never got one a think. and another
thing
were i got it from TINY COMPUTERS went bust just after i got the machine
so a
cant take it to them. any ideas on how i can do this or get my hands on a
recovery disc..preferably with out me havin to pay for another licence for
windows like i have all redi been asked to do!!! any help would be
appreciated thanx.

Ashley,
It's the responsibility of the OEM, not Microsoft, to supply a way to return
their machine to its original, factory-fresh condition. This could be a
"restore" CD or a hidden partition on the hard drive. They do not have to
furnish a Windows disk.

Give Microsoft a call and explain your situation. The problem with Tiny
Computers has left many people in your situation. Maybe the folks at
Microsoft can help.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Since your computer manufacturer is no longer is business
and they did not supply you with a recovery CD, you'll need
to purchase a conventional "Full Version" of Windows XP
and use it to perform a "clean install". The Product Key
affixed to your PC is only valid with the PC manufacturer's
recommended recovery method and is not valid with any
other Windows XP CD.

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

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

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:

| My PC had a virus a think...well all my programs got deleted just left broken
| short cuts.i had to reinstall every thing again and is ok now. i think its
| about time my PC had a clean start any way its on XP home its all up to date.
| quite a new machine. but the problem is i herd now Microsoft dont supply
| recovery disc's now which is why a never got one a think. and another thing
| were i got it from TINY COMPUTERS went bust just after i got the machine so a
| cant take it to them. any ideas on how i can do this or get my hands on a
| recovery disc..preferably with out me havin to pay for another licence for
| windows like i have all redi been asked to do!!! any help would be
| appreciated thanx.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

If you have a valid license for your copy of XP then any XP CD should
work for installing. Discs are not system specific and do not contain
your activation code.

No, that's not correct. CDs and Product keys have to match with respect to
whether it's XP Professional or Home, with respect to whether it's Retail or
OEM, and with respect to whether it's a Full or Upgrade version.

That's usually found on the tower or the jewel
case. You could always call MS and tell them of your dilema. They are
usually very very helpful.

If his copy of WIndows XP is OEM, Microsoft won't help him at all. His
recourse is with the OEM, not Microsoft.

 

[POP]

Soooo, you're saying the advice to contact MS and explain the
situation is useless? Hell, what's the worst they can say; no?
It's certainly worth a try in a situation like this one.

Pop

 

[Jonah]

My PC had a virus a think...well all my programs got deleted just left broken
short cuts.i had to reinstall every thing again and is ok now. i think its
about time my PC had a clean start any way its on XP home its all up to date.
quite a new machine. but the problem is i herd now Microsoft dont supply
recovery disc's now which is why a never got one a think. and another thing
were i got it from TINY COMPUTERS went bust just after i got the machine so a
cant take it to them. any ideas on how i can do this or get my hands on a
recovery disc..preferably with out me havin to pay for another licence for
windows like i have all redi been asked to do!!! any help would be
appreciated thanx.

Ashley if its a Tiny PC then it will be a OEM copy. Get a Generic copy
of OEM same version as the one you had ie Home or Pro. Install it with
the key on the sticker on your PC. Then activate by phoning Microsoft
and go through the activation process, They will activate it you over
the phone.

Some people here wilol tell you this is not legal, that is not true I
do it all the time it is the COA / Activation makes it legal not the
actual CD as long as the CD is the correct version.

If you don't have the original COA CD Key sticker then you are stuffed
and will have to buy a new copy of XP.

Jonah

 

[DL]

Are you sure there is no hidden recovery partition?

 

[demdike]

Dain and is ok now. i think its

L wrote:
Are you sure there is no hidden recovery partition?

All Tiny-branded Windows XP machines have a hidden recovery partition.
Machines made by the original Tiny company used a bespoke version of
Powerquest DriveImage known. as T-clone. These need an original Tiny
reload CD to unlock the partition.
Tiny machines built by Time/Granville used a series of improvements
allowing for increasing complexity of hard drives (disk size/NTFS
partition/serial ATA). As a result there were several different
recovery disks, though version 0.4 should work on all. They boot using
a Win98 boot sector on the CD.
The exception are machines with Windows XP SP2 preinstalled. Granville
preloaded these formatted to NTFS and had to use a new recovery
system.The CD carries a copy of the "Windows Preinstallation
environment" and runs a windows-based recovery program known as T-Rex,
We never worked out just what this was based on, though DriveImage XML
is a suspect. For these you need a specifically branded T-Rex CD.
Demdike