Help plz, I don't want my $1600 to go to waste!

[Austin772]

Hi, I recently built a top of the line comp, and I borrowed XP Home from a friend, but it did not have a product key on it. So it got it mostly installed except i couldent get past the part where i needed to type in the Product key because the Xp Home my friend gave me did not come with a key. So i went to best buy and bought a new xp, so I start up the compy and it goes straight to the "type in your product key" screen. So i type it in, and wouldent you know it does not take the key. I think it wont take it because it is already half way installed with the other disc, so it is expecting the key for the other disc. Is there anyway that I can erase the intallation process of the other CD so I can start fresh with the new one? Plz help, I dont want my $1600 that I spent on this comp go to waste!

 

[bill_bright]

Sure - as long as you are legal now and have your own license, tell the installation to start fresh and reformat the drive. Since this a new PC, nothing worthwhile - except lost time - will be lost.

 

[Austin772]

Ok I set the cd as the first boot device, and tried to install again, but when it finished creating a new partition, it gave me an error screen. Any ideas?

 

[pscowboy]

Get a 98 boot floppy; boot up with it.

At the "A" prompt, type fdisk (say yes to large disk support). When you get to the menu, go to the place to delete partitions - Choice [3]?

Delete all the partitions that are there. When done, Esc out and reboot to effect the changes.

Pop in your purchased XP cd, remove the floppy and reboot. The install will go fine.