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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)
Hi
My father and my 13-y-o half-brother, living 115 miles away, have an
XP Pro PC that is running a non-legit copy of Win XP Pro.
I have been on at them for months to do something about this because I
could foresee that it would lead to trouble! one day.
When I telephone MS UK to ask how to legitimise the copy in use - by
purchasing a Licence to legitimise the operating system the clone
would only repeat the mantra "They must purchase a full,
shrink-wrapped new copy of the system".
I, personally, didn't mind this - after all it would not be me who
would be paying LOL - but the MS lady would not give me any assurance
that their PC would not lose all their data.
So they left well alone.
A week, or so ago, I am told that the PC either crashed or refused to
boot. (Getting a simple answer from a 13-y-o games fanatic is
impossible.)
When they got round to advising me of their problem I suggested
powering the PC off for a few hours, then re-booting it from scratch
and leaving it on for a VERY long time indeed.
I am now told that when turned on the screen is blank apart from a
very faint message at the top left-hand corner of the screen which
reads "Error Loading Operating System"
Over a period of 36 hours all that happened was that the message got
brighter and brighter.
Can anyone advise why this happened and what is the solution?
I would prefer a solution that does NOT involve trashing all their
data. BUT, if this is unavoidable, so be it. It's not MY data. LOL
(Just that I Shall never hear the end of it!)
Many thanks, in advance.
David
David Probett
davidprobett@pobox.com
Hi
My father and my 13-y-o half-brother, living 115 miles away, have an
XP Pro PC that is running a non-legit copy of Win XP Pro.
I have been on at them for months to do something about this because I
could foresee that it would lead to trouble! one day.
When I telephone MS UK to ask how to legitimise the copy in use - by
purchasing a Licence to legitimise the operating system the clone
would only repeat the mantra "They must purchase a full,
shrink-wrapped new copy of the system".
I, personally, didn't mind this - after all it would not be me who
would be paying LOL - but the MS lady would not give me any assurance
that their PC would not lose all their data.
So they left well alone.
A week, or so ago, I am told that the PC either crashed or refused to
boot. (Getting a simple answer from a 13-y-o games fanatic is
impossible.)
When they got round to advising me of their problem I suggested
powering the PC off for a few hours, then re-booting it from scratch
and leaving it on for a VERY long time indeed.
I am now told that when turned on the screen is blank apart from a
very faint message at the top left-hand corner of the screen which
reads "Error Loading Operating System"
Over a period of 36 hours all that happened was that the message got
brighter and brighter.
Can anyone advise why this happened and what is the solution?
I would prefer a solution that does NOT involve trashing all their
data. BUT, if this is unavoidable, so be it. It's not MY data. LOL
(Just that I Shall never hear the end of it!)
Many thanks, in advance.
David
David Probett
davidprobett@pobox.com