Help with Windows XP restore disk

[webeto]

I recently was asked to solve an issue my mother-in-law had with her ACER Aspire T310 desktop. The PC would not boot. I replaced all components one-by-one with parts from my PC and found the motherboard was at fault. I ordered her a new motherboard and installed it.

When booting the PC i was presented with an error message saying windows did not start properly and offering me various startup options: safe mode/last known good config etc. No matter what i chose it would not work (pc would reboot and go to same screen). I tried using the OEM recovery CD and booting from that but it just came up with an error message stating "that this was not an acer system".

I connected my win 2k hDD and booted from that, then formatted her HDD. Now when i try to boot from the OEM disk i get the same message "this is not an acer system". I am assuming the recovery CD knows what type of motherboard it used to have and is looking for that.

Please can someone help as she is getting impatient and we all know what women are like (especially Mother-in-laws!!)

Cheers

Matt

[Ponch]

Was the PC not under warranty anymore ?

I'm afraid the XP license was linked to that PC and particularly to that motherboard but now you replaced it by an other brand's...

You can try to get a hold on an other XP OEM disk and see if your serial works with that one. That would be legally on the (good side of the) edge.

[TheFlash428]

Well, she should appreciate the work you're doing--since I assume you're probably not charging family members...

Your right about the disk somehow recognizing the foreign mother board, and I'm not sure how you could get around that. You may want to try and call Acer to see if they can help. Otherwise, you may be stuck having to get another copy of Windows to install(?)

[severach]

The stop error on boot is because the new motherboard has some different hardware than the old one. Some details about switching motherboards without reinstalling Windows XP can be found here.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums...74/m/1400925745

The restore error is because the restore disk is not just tied to an Acer model, but probably a very specific set of Acer models. If you were to have one, an Acer Windows XP install CD would also be tied to the Acer brand but would cover a large number of Acer models.

Microsoft's official policy is that the license was tied to the Acer motherboard. You lose the Acer motherboard, you lose the Acer license. Official policy says that when you buy a non Acer motherboard you need to buy a new license. However, if you can rustle up an XP OEM single user CD to install from, the product key on the sticker should come up Genuine, perhaps after a call to Microsoft with a sob story.

[Bezalel]

Microsoft's official policy is that the license was tied to the Acer motherboard. You lose the Acer motherboard, you lose the Acer license. Official policy says that when you buy a non Acer motherboard you need to buy a new license.

This case is different. Since the origional motherboard was defective, the motherboard can be replaced withoud creting a new PC. The Recovery CD won't work with the replacement but you can install with a hologram CD and the case COA. You will have to activate by phone and explain that the origional motherboard was defective.

[albator]

I hope you now realize, that ACER by saying they provide you with windows, were lying. This is a ripoff from oem. You dont have a windows cd, only licence, so now you need a windows cd because of a major hardware change. Or you can try to get a mb with the same chipset it had work for one of my customers.

[jaclaz]

Albator, you seem to have a little "peculiar" idea of software property .

Even if you have a VLK licence, you still ONLY own a licence (that allows you to legally do a lot more things than a Retail one and even more than a OEM one), the price you pay, directly to Microsoft or through the OEM or dealer, is proportionate to the amount of "freedom" of use given by the accompanying license.

Just read any EULA.TXT, you wil find the sentence:

The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed, not sold.

jaclaz

[albator]

you are missing my point, no windows cd= no cash for me. Why you want to pay for a restore disk bloated with adware ?

If he had a windows cd he could reinstall with different hardware, but he dont have a windows cd !, what the goal of having a os without a d or dvd rom ?

Edited April 14, 2007 by albator

[Ponch]

what the goal of having a os without a cd or dvd rom ?

The way Windows was licensed to him made him pay less when he bought his pc.

Edited April 14, 2007 by Ponch

[jaclaz]

you are missing my point, no windows cd= no cash for me.

Well, no, I see it perfectly.

On the contrary, you seem to miss the fact that noone (or at least most probably noone from Acer or Microsoft) pointed a gun to the head of webeto's mother-in-law forcing her to buy THAT Acer PC with THAT recovery CD.

She could have payed a few MORE bucks to buy another brand PC that came with a full OEM licence and disk or pay substantially MORE bucks to buy a PC and a FULL XP retail licence.

Now, if you are saying that Commercial policies of Microsoft and of Acer do not comply with your idea of how they should be made, it is OK with me, calling Acer liers or affirming that webeto's mother in law has been a victim of a ripoff seems to me a bit excessive.

I doubt that there is any ground for such claims, but you never know :

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/310...msftsued03.html

jaclaz