Formatting Laptop

Donnie

spud17 wrote: »

I've had dealings with a set of these, albeit with a desktop, when you install, they somehow take a 'fingerprint' of the BIOS.
They autoactivate, and will then only ever work on that machine.
Also includes all the trial stuff you don't want.

Best bet is to beg/steal/borrow a plain MS XP disk.

That's not quite right. The OS Disc will work on any HP/Compaq, but the driver disc will differ.

Donnie

aj9648 wrote: »

hi - another queston - if I use someone else's copy of XP or obtain from another source (*cough cough*) and use the COA code from the copy I have - will the code be still accepted?

Or is the COA installation specific?

I'll send you a HP/Compaq OEM disc, you can use the key on your COA. Check your PM box.

aj9648

Ok thanks Donnie

spud17

Donnie wrote: »

That's not quite right. The OS Disc will work on any HP/Compaq, but the driver disc will differ.

Don't want to sidetrack thread, but have to disagree in my case.
The people concerned had lost their original recovery media (c.2003), bought a new set from HP (4 disks?).
The PC would not activate using a regular XP disk, with either the extracted key or the case key.
MS phone activation would not work, the phone help referred me back to HP.
Put in the 4 disks, everything was fine and auto-activated, but with all the trials and Norton.
Eventually found a site with a way of hacking the main HP disk, replacing with a load of stuff from a normal XP disk
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1017483

Donnie

spud17 wrote: »

I've had dealings with a set of these, albeit with a desktop, when you install, they somehow take a 'fingerprint' of the BIOS.
They autoactivate, and will then only ever work on that machine.
Also includes all the trial stuff you don't want.

Best bet is to beg/steal/borrow a plain MS XP disk.

Maybe this is where the confusion lies. One of the Recovery Discs will be a HP/Compaq OEM disc. This will work on most if not any HP/Compaq machine. It's the Driver disc that will differ.

The OP should now have a HP/Compaq disc.

aj9648

I will use the link Donnie sent via PM and let you know how I get on

Donnie

aj9648 wrote: »

I will use the link Donnie sent via PM and let you know how I get on

Back up your Drivers too.

aj9648

Hi

It worked a treat -only problem is that the wireless seems to have stopped working - do i need to reinstall anything to set this up?

Donnie

aj9648 wrote: »

Hi

It worked a treat -only problem is that the wireless seems to have stopped working - do i need to reinstall anything to set this up?

Are there any Drivers missing in the Device Manager?

aj9648

Not sure. The only network adapters I can find is 1394 Net Adapter and realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Ethernet NIC