I have tried everything!

[.s1]

[ Hi! - If this is in the wrong forum, please forgive me ]

Hey guys, heres the story. I used to own an emchines, and for thoes of you who know emachines, you'd know they dont come with windows installation disks. They only come with "system restore disks" which has 1 large file in a symantech ghost extention. aaanywho, i got rid of that machine and custom built one. Of course this did not come with an operating system so i had a local shop put one on for me ( $99 friggin dollars).

Unfortinatly my OS just recently had a problem, and my only solution is to reformat/reinstall windows. My friend has made me a copy of his XP Professional, but it does not boot.

I have tried countless programs, methods, etc. to make a copy of this thing. Burning it is no problem. Buring it as a BOOT is no problem...... its GETTING it to boot that seems close to impossible. My latest efforts were the ones of www.msfn.org/articles.php?action=show&id=22&perpage=1&pagenum=1 , which ALSO did not work. I followed each step completely, double checking along the way. Followed it 100%. Burned the cd, popped it in, and bam. " booting from cd ..." then skips and moves on to " windows did not start... safe mode, safe mode with net.." ... I have *Never* been able to make a bootable cd. I have tried it in the CD rom, as well as the cd/dvd/r/w. The lastest achivement was putting it in the normal cd rom.

This got as far as:

Varefying Pool Data .....................................................................

Boot From CD:

1. FD 1.44MB System Type - (0F)

And it just sits there. If i touch any key it reboots and goes over the same process.

Now to be honest, i realy, REALY do not have another $99 to bring this thing back to the shop ( for atleast another month.. ) seeing as how my car decided to become another costly expense... Can anyone PLEASE suggest anything??? Bcause im REALY going off my rocker here without my own PC and these continous failures to create a bootable disk...

Thanks ,

.s1

[tguy]

Try copying the source files on the cd your to local drive. Then add this file to the root of your directory structure so that it is in the same directory as setup.exe, autorun.inf etc.

If you get stuck, visit: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=248

bootfiles.zip

[.s1]

Try copying the source files on the cd your to local drive.  Then add this file to the root of your directory structure so that it is in the same directory as setup.exe, autorun.inf etc.

If you get stuck, visit: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=248

Ok ill try thoes instructions too. ( do it over)

But i just found somethign very odd. Im looking at the cd i just burned usign the steps provided by this website, and i popped the cd back in this machine , to view it make sure everythign is up to par........ And the cd is blank? Its completely full, but its....blank? What happened?

[un4given1]

If the shop you took it to installed the OS then they are required to supply you with a copy of it. If they installed it without selling you a license then they are in violation of the EULA. Do you have a valid license? The E-machines license is an OEM license and the EULA does not give you permission to install it on anything but the original hardware. Other than that.. I'm afraid if you don't have a license you will LEGALLY have to purchase one. You won't find a way around that here... We do not promote or allow WAREZ. Thank you.

[.s1]

If the shop you took it to installed the OS then they are required to supply you with a copy of it.  If they installed it without selling you a license then they are in violation of the EULA.  Do you have a valid license?  The E-machines license is an OEM license and the EULA does not give you permission to install it on anything but the original hardware.  Other than that..  I'm afraid if you don't have a license you will LEGALLY have to purchase one.  You won't find a way around that here...  We do not promote or allow WAREZ.  Thank you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats what i thought.... Im going to take a ride over there and tell them to give me a copy or fix it again. Thanks for verifying that.

[.s1]

Well i went and they said ( somehow) i dont get a copy... they just do a full format and thats it.. no restore disks no copy of xp.. They said i can bring it back in for $35.00... and 3 days..

looks like im just gettin a new windows disk myself.

thanks for the help.

[Zxian]

Don't spend the money (the extra $35)!!!!!

If they've installed Windows XP on your computer for a fee, then you have paid them for the service and a licence of XP. They should be giving you a CD or the licence key. Otherwise, they've given you a pirated copy of XP.

I do remember reading about Microsoft giving out full licences of XP for information regarding where people got their pirated copies.

[member11]

I do remember reading about Microsoft giving out full licences of XP for information regarding where people got their pirated copies.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I read this article last few months but it only happens in EUROPE or Asia not US. I don't remember exact location though.

to the author of this thread.

the reason why you have problem with your XP CD is you or your friend didn't COPY/BURN XP setup CD (MS original cd) correctly. You need to have a MS WINXP CD.

how do you know if it is MS.? pop it in and see if setup runs file. Try again

[KJxp]

Just as a side thing...

Are you sure the CD is trying to boot? I thought you have to press a key at that "Boot from CD..." message, else it goes on to boot from the hard drive.

Am I mistaken here, that you have to press a key to cancel it? Or is this a per-bios setting?

(Sorry, I don't boot from CDs very often)

[DigeratiPrime]

@KJxp nice avatar!

Have you checked the boot order in the BIOS? You BIOS may be set to boot straight from the HDD to skip the cd check.

[KJxp]

I hope it wasn't copyrighted, since it didn't say so. http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=node/view/7897

[.s1]

To anwser everyones questions

- The shop said i dont get a copy of the xp.. I dont realy understand how i shouldnt, but im guessing they have a corp license so they can use the cd unlimited amount of times or something so thats why they dont give coppies.

- Yes, i have stuck the cd in on this machine, and the setup runs fine. even installs completely. But does not boot.

- Press a key to read the cd? No.. it just says "booting from cd (twice, 2 roms) " then sees theirs no bootable cd in there then goes to the empty harddrive. and sits there. " NFTD (made up lettewrs.. i forget the actual letters) Missing press ctrl alt del to restart"

- The bios has been set in many different ways. Floppy, then cd(s) then harddrive as well as cd(s) then floppy then harddrive, and cd only. None worked.

Back to square one i guess

[dman]

Theres no way any shop gave you a legit copy of XP AND installed it for $99. You were rooked.

I would mention their name to BSA. http://bsa.org/

[MageJubi]

Yep, sounds like you might have got burned, and will have to end up getting a legit disk anyway......as to the message you're getting. Is it "NTLDR is Missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del? If so,I found 2 causes (speaking for myself, mind you!)...Trying to reload on top of an incomplete installation, and, in a Raid-0 setup, the bios wanted to switch over to the non-system drive upon reboot...relocating the Sata connection took care of that situation, and reformatting the drive to clean up any previous installation files took care of it in another. (I prefer Killdisk to clean up the disk, then choose the quick format option when installing XP). Unplug any extra drives, start with a fresh format, and see what happens--good luck.

[bart of borg]

You can also go back to the Comp shop you got it from and hand them a letter stating intent to sue, with a privisio for extra damages resulting from your loss of business due to thier un-ethical and illegal actions in refusing to honor thier sales agreement. Microsoft DOES NOT give out corp VLK's to shops to use. Make the letter up, rather than paying a real lawyer to do it and in the letter, give the phone number of a friend with call display as the Contact number for Mr. Blah Blah - atty at law. If thet actually call him\her they'll see who it is and can act accordingly.

A nieghbor down the street did that about 2 years ago for a Mac he bought and they would not honor thier extended warranty. They called him the next day and had him bring it in for repair - no charge.