My laptop developed some errors and started to malfunction, did a compaq restore, Now it asking for the product key, have that on the certificate of authenticity, but how to enter it, can not seem to get the next button enabled so can not finish the restore . Now it 20 characters to placed in 25 spaces how to share the out????

Help urgent

Well that is a good question, but those are the numbers on the certificate which came with the 2 compaq restore discs in the the compaq bag, never had cause the check the authenticity of the authenticity cretificate before!!!!

Edited May 14, 200620 yr by mmwmtc

it shouldnt be 20 chars, it should be 25. are you sure the key your trying to use is for windows 98se?

Now it 20 characters to placed in 25 spaces how to share the out????

The Product Key is in XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX form, it contains 5 x 5 = 25 charcters.

It may look similar to Windows XP certificate:

According to MS KB article OEM Product ID Not Accepted During Reinstallation it looks like in some cases the OEM Product ID (20 characters) is required for re-installation.

Petr

Have you tried going to Compaq website, entering your model#, and see if they have specific instructions for a restore?