second hand computer with xp on it

  • Thread starter Thread starter john
  • Start date Start date
J

john

my friend bought a secondhand computer from a store and
it already had windowsXP on it. and the person who owned
it before didnt give the second hand shop the password to
get into XP. so my friend has a computer that he cant get
into.
He wants to remove XP and put his copy on there as i am
thinking that the version on there now is not a legit copy

how can he get round this to uninstall XP

ive tried loading the bios but it wont get into it for
some reason
and the boot sequence doesnt boot the floppy or cd-rom
until just b4 the login screen..

so is there anything we can do to remove XP
 
-----Original Message-----
Just boot with your XP cd.
Click to expand...
Thanks Paul but we have tried that the boot sequence is
all screwed on this computer it doesnt boot untill just
before the login screen
and i cant get into the bios to change the sequence
 
-----Original Message-----
Just boot with your XP cd.
Click to expand...
Thanks Paul but we have tried that the boot sequence is
all screwed on this computer it doesnt boot untill just
before the login screen
and i cant get into the bios to change the sequence
 
Can you boot to dos with a floppy? Use a Win98 or ME boot disk, boot with cd
support and go to the cd drive change to the I386 dir and run winnt.exe.

--
 
-----Original Message-----
Can you boot to dos with a floppy? Use a Win98 or ME boot disk, boot with cd
support and go to the cd drive change to the I386 dir
Click to expand...
and run winnt.exe.


no we cant it doesnt boot from the floppy at all
the guy that owned it before must of played round with
the bios either that or the floppy is screwed
 
Try hitting the F8 key on bootup that takes you to the Safe mode. Once
there try get to the I386 dir. and run winnt.
 
on the box it says its a compaq but when you first boot
it up a picture comes up with APRASIO created by acer
or somthin like that
Click to expand...

Sounds like it may be a Compaq Presario. Try this:

During the POST, you'll see the cursor in the upper right hand corner
of the screen; now press F10. If it's a real Compaq it should enter
the BIOS setup screen. From there you can change settings.
 
john said:
my friend bought a secondhand computer from a store and
it already had windowsXP on it. and the person who owned
it before didnt give the second hand shop the password to
get into XP. so my friend has a computer that he cant get
into.
He wants to remove XP and put his copy on there as i am
thinking that the version on there now is not a legit copy

how can he get round this to uninstall XP
Click to expand...

First thing I would do is boot and as the BIOS info goes to black, tap
on F8 a few times to get the boot menu. Take Safe Mode and you ought to
get an Icon for Administrator - and the password for that is often left
blank. If you get in that way, you can then

Use a run of the line
control userpasswords2
to select any account there and Reset Password

Use Control Panel - USer Accounts to make a new account

Otherwise you have to format the disk as a part of a new clean install
of XP or any other system. The machine ought at least to have the
makers means of restoring it to ex-factory state,

The copy is not that likely to be illegit - but if he tries to install
from his present CD using a key that has been used on another machine
and not removed from that, then that *would* be illegit
 
john said:
Thanks Paul but we have tried that the boot sequence is
all screwed on this computer it doesnt boot untill just
before the login screen
and i cant get into the bios to change the sequence
Click to expand...

Goto the website for the type of motherboard and get an update to the
Bios. Boot from that floppy disk. It will update the bios, removing
whatever password the original person had.
 
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