From: lukas.mariman@REMOVEgmail.com   
      
   "POD {Ò¿Ó}"  schreef in bericht   
   news:Xns9B93BF121C89AWeLovePOD@193.202.122.133...   
   > Sentinel  once tried to test me. I ate their   
   > liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti   
   >   
   >> I have a question which I was hoping some of you have experience with.   
   >>   
   >> An acquaintance of mine has a PC that AFAIK came with Win XP   
   >> preloaded. He doesn't seem to have anything in the way of install   
   >> disks. And wouldn't you know, his Windows installation has gone belly   
   >> up (is that an expression? Anyway.)   
   >>   
   >> He does have a sticker on his PC with a Windows Key code.   
   >>   
   >> With that code, can I reinstall from any XP CD-ROM, say if I were to   
   >> use one of my own?   
   >   
   > I give it a 10% chance of working.... Firstly, your's is an Acer disc,   
   > which maybe BIOS locked to an Acer PC (sucks, I know) so that's a 50/50   
   > chance that you may not even get the disc to work.   
   >   
   > Then you run the risk of the version on your CD having a Key that does   
   > not match the key he has.  In work we have IBM's with the sticker on the   
   > side, but the sticker key doesn't work with the Fujitsu disc we keep   
   > using to repair failed machines, and have to use an authentic Microsoft   
   > key from a retail version we bought.  It looks like the sticker key only   
   > works with the IBM build.   
   >   
   > I'd say download a torrent version of XP and burn it to CD, at least   
   > that way you are getting an MS version and not an OEM locked version,   
   > then if his key doesn't work, you can at least find a key that will work   
   > on-line, but the sticker on his PC will make it legal...ish..   
   >   
   > Best bet is to go back to the manufacturer and say "Oi!"   
      
   Thanks for your input, although there might be some confusion here. I don't   
   know what brand his PC is. Might be Acer - someone else brought up Acer - or   
   it might be any brand, for all I know. I was mainly wondering if it is   
   possible to do a reinstall using a(ny) XP disc coupled with the key code   
   labelled on his machine.   
      
   I guess I'll find out tomorrow night. Maybe I can get into the recovery   
   console thing and do some magic from there?   
      
   In the meantime, thanks everyone, for your feedback!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)