hi all. i need a favour if anyone can help. my son bought a laptop off ebay. it was only cheap. its a dell latitude. it seems he misread the ad and it does have the operating system(windows xp proffesional sp2)loaded on to it though it does have the licence. he assumed the disc came with it but it doesnt. he emailed the seller and the reply was that any windows xp disc will do. he found a proper dell windows restore disc on ebay and bought that for £6 but the laptop wont load properly. does anyone have a genuine windows xp professional sp2 disc i could borrow to see if we can get this laptop working before i have to buy it off him and throw it away. thanks all.
software help.
- Thread starter tonyjoe40
- Start date
consilio
Up the owls!
Its not strictly true that any CD will do. An OEM license will not work with a retail copy for example. If the restore CD is for the correct model laptop then i would look at why it isn't loading. Have you tried entering the boot selection menu and choosing CD?
you can find "windows xp activation software" on the net if you look. this will activate any windows xp version. am guessing you'll need to find the right xp drivers for your laptop as well, in ordrr to get sound etc working properly.
on a side-note.... every, and i mean EVERY, laptop i (and mates) have ever bought 2nd hand has been crap and a complete waste of money. you can buy brand new for under £300 nowadays. i know a £100 one on ebay is cheaper, but by the time you've messed about with buying £6 discs that dont work, then it dying and having to fork out £300 for a new one anyway you might as well have started new in the first place.
just a thought
on a side-note.... every, and i mean EVERY, laptop i (and mates) have ever bought 2nd hand has been crap and a complete waste of money. you can buy brand new for under £300 nowadays. i know a £100 one on ebay is cheaper, but by the time you've messed about with buying £6 discs that dont work, then it dying and having to fork out £300 for a new one anyway you might as well have started new in the first place.
just a thought
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if you need a copy of a xp disk let me know i am with mircosoft ( i pay them each year to have there newest software etc.. ), as i run my own pc support company.
i will copy you both oem & retail cd with sp3 on them & then you have to goto dell web site for the hardware missing & that.... easy but takes a few mins todo.
i will copy you both oem & retail cd with sp3 on them & then you have to goto dell web site for the hardware missing & that.... easy but takes a few mins todo.
hello the operating system is windows xp profesional sp2 i have the licence key the paptop is a dell latitude d505
and yes i would apreciate the disk
and yes i would apreciate the disk
- Do you know what the restore procedure is for dell?
- Is the disc correct?
If you need to boot from disc (kick start the restore process when the machine is turned on) then you need to ensure that you have set the machine to actually to this as Consilo says.
To set the machine to 'boot from CD' you would need to enter the BIOS menu (mother board menu) and select boot up device to be CD first.
- Is the disc correct?
If you need to boot from disc (kick start the restore process when the machine is turned on) then you need to ensure that you have set the machine to actually to this as Consilo says.
To set the machine to 'boot from CD' you would need to enter the BIOS menu (mother board menu) and select boot up device to be CD first.
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