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Thread ID: 50174	2004-10-12 22:43:00	WinXP-home+SP2 unregistered rebel	swan (2648)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
280738	2004-10-15 01:57:00	> Piece of piss and not even hi tech. Point proven :-) Its not even high-tech! Imagine what you could do with 40 billion dollars.........	Chilling_Silence (9)
280739	2004-10-15 02:13:00	Are we just gassing OT here Chill, or are you doing the circular argument thing and heading back towards Stephen's boot problems? Thought I'd better ask.:D Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
280740	2004-10-15 02:17:00	Win XP can't kill your desktop. The OS may have stopped working. It can do that to itself. The machine, coincidentally, won't boot from floppy or CD. This can be caused by a number of things. In order: 1) check that the BIOS "knows" that the floppy and CD drive exist, and are enabled. 2) check the BIOS settings for Boot order: floppy/cd/hdd is a good selection. 3) check that you have a floppy and a CD which will boot another computer. 4) make sure the floppy drive isn't full of dust to the point that it can't work. (don't laugh -- I have seen them like that) 5) unplug the hard disk (it might have self-destructed ;-)) 6) try booting from floppy, and CD. 7) If that doesn't work, there''s something wrong. :D 8) unplug most memory ... 9) or take it to a good computer repair shop and say: "Fix it". ....	Graham L (2)
280741	2004-10-15 07:43:00	Bill is fiendishly clever: 1. I checked the BIOS, and the floppy and CD do exist (both worked frequently and well right up to the 30day limit), and the hardware tries to boot from them (whirr whirr) as per setup, and that the floppy and CD actual discs are recognisable on my laptop. But Windows over-rides BIOS with a "this is not a system disc, please replace with a system disc and hit any key to continue". Then a screen arises: plain white DOS-text on a black window: "Please select the OS to start: Windows XP or Windows; use up/down arrows to select, or F8 for advanced or to troubleshoot; will boot from XP in 30 sec (and countdown) if there is no keyboard input." Guess what - the keyboard has no effect on this screen at all, which then boots into the nomal XP welcome screen and log-on password request. This passes into "must either activate and or register before u can enter". Attempts to activate by modem get a nice connect to Bill-modem on 0800 930 850, but rejects me after the handshake is completed. 2. The screen options then are to phone activate and WinXP gave me a 6x9number matrix and another 0800 676 334 or 09 356 3093. So I ground my rebelious teeth and got Ms Wilemina Gates on the line and she led me thru the menu and I entered the 9x6 groups of digits - and *get this* - one time I typed in the wrong figure by mistake and she picked me up and asked me to enter that group again! Chill! After entering all - I got rejected as invalid and the option to be put thru to Senior Inspector Bill. 3. So I will take my box into the repair shop. I have an old Win2K CD that I will reinstall. I have 3 HDDs in the machine. It's a very old box with a new (3-year-old) motherboard and I kept the old HDDs making the C:2Gb-old still be master (I don't need the speed) one a D:3Gb-old- slave and the new E:40G my (v.fast!) slave storage unit. I didn't do any of the install myself, I had a good shop in town (since gone outa business - sigh) to do it all for me. So I will ask the new man to remove C:, slave it to another machine, and wipe it clean. I will then be able to boot from the CD drive with my Win2K install disk, and do without some of the built-in bells and whistles of WinXP. I already know Win2K will recognise my External Maxtor HDD without my having to install the drivers. 4. So - I remain a confirmed rebel. I loved Windows 3.1 and nothing else afterwards. Again thanks v.much to all u guys for yr suggestions and humour, Stephen	swan (2648)
280742	2004-10-16 00:42:00	The "this is not a system disk, please replace " message comes from the BIOS. It can't read the floppy/CD. It then skips past them and tries the HD. It does have a system type boot secort which does work, so it now tries to load the self-terminated XP.	Graham L (2)
280743	2004-10-16 04:37:00	Dear Graham L Thx again - it does seem strange that the Bios is not finding /recognising /reading the designated 1st boot device. As u say, these actions are PRE-HDD seek. That is a "puzzlement" ...	swan (2648)
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