Hey guys,
P4 2.4Ghz
768MB Ram
40GB HD
XP Home SP3, Activated
Here is my situation. I was trying to fix my buddies computer because he said it was slow. So I did a disk defrag, disk cleanup, got rid of unnecessary startup programs, and removed unused programs. All was fine. Then internet explorer 7 wasn't working. It would not open. Even Internet Connection would not work. So I did a system restore from 2 days earlier, same thing. Would not work. I fiddled around with the DSL/Router but that did not work. Tried the default security settings in IE but no luck. So I popped in the XP CD, and I thought that I could run a repair install, essentially deleting the old windows files and installing new ones. So thats what i did. Turns out now when I boot up and put in the log in password, it says I need to activate Windows. Cannot get into safe mode either because it too says I need to activate windows. What I thought was odd was when it was repairing the files, it said it was installing on drive E:. So I guess it made another copy of Windows onto another partition??? How because I never created a new partition on the C: drive. Thats the only drive on the system. So now I am locked out of my computer. And I dont have the XP Key that was on the sticker on the computer case. The original installation was activated, because it said your windows is activated. All I want is to backup all the files onto my external USB HD. Then I would be happy. I know the files are still there because I did NOT partition or format the C: drive.
So how do I solve this problem???? Can I just pop in the Windows XP cd and delete the E: partition?? Then I would still have the C:. I haven't checked to see if the E: partition even exists, but Im sure it does.
Thanks
P4 2.4Ghz
768MB Ram
40GB HD
XP Home SP3, Activated
Here is my situation. I was trying to fix my buddies computer because he said it was slow. So I did a disk defrag, disk cleanup, got rid of unnecessary startup programs, and removed unused programs. All was fine. Then internet explorer 7 wasn't working. It would not open. Even Internet Connection would not work. So I did a system restore from 2 days earlier, same thing. Would not work. I fiddled around with the DSL/Router but that did not work. Tried the default security settings in IE but no luck. So I popped in the XP CD, and I thought that I could run a repair install, essentially deleting the old windows files and installing new ones. So thats what i did. Turns out now when I boot up and put in the log in password, it says I need to activate Windows. Cannot get into safe mode either because it too says I need to activate windows. What I thought was odd was when it was repairing the files, it said it was installing on drive E:. So I guess it made another copy of Windows onto another partition??? How because I never created a new partition on the C: drive. Thats the only drive on the system. So now I am locked out of my computer. And I dont have the XP Key that was on the sticker on the computer case. The original installation was activated, because it said your windows is activated. All I want is to backup all the files onto my external USB HD. Then I would be happy. I know the files are still there because I did NOT partition or format the C: drive.
So how do I solve this problem???? Can I just pop in the Windows XP cd and delete the E: partition?? Then I would still have the C:. I haven't checked to see if the E: partition even exists, but Im sure it does.
Thanks