bought a computer need help

S

sk8_aholic

New Member
i just bought a computer from factorydirect.ca (bought it for my mom so she can just go on the internet and use msn, things like that)
here is the computer:

http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog/product_spec.php?pcode=HP0533

my problem is. it already has xp installed. and it came with no xp cd. when i started it up it wouldnt just start windows. i get the screen that i can press f9 to go to boot order. and i can press f10 for setup. if i did nothing it would go to a black screen saying C:/ at the top. and i could type here. i typed fdisk and checked the partitions. it had 1 created with barely nothing on it. so i created a second 1 with all the remaining space hoping it would work after i restarted. but now when i restart i still get the screen that i can go to boot order and setup, but if if i wait and did nothing again, it would now go to a black screen saying " partition signature != 55AA ". when i restart and try to change boot order it shows the cd, the floppy drive, a usb one, a hard drive one, and another one at the bottom which i forget. all i can do is click enter on one or click esc to exit. when i click anyone of them it takes me back to the black screen that says " partition signature != 55AA ". so i have no idea how to get this computer going..

please help me thanks.
 
alright, so i got a xp disk and booted it by pressing f9 and pressing enter on the boot from cd-rom option.. it started installing fine. but around 4% a message came up saying something like "your volume isnt in c:/, please change your volume to c:". so i let it continue without touching anything figuring it may work for any reason, it made it to 35% then just stayed at 35% for hours and that is where i am now. how would i go about fixing this problem. also on the tower it came with the xp cd serial number right on it. how would i use this xp serial instead of the one that came with the xp cd im using, a friend told me something about i need to change it in the registry and its kind of complicated.
 
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i fixed it. i took the harddrive out of the computer, put it in an external case and plugged it into my regular computer via usb. i deleted partitions/formatted it and did not set the drive letter. i then put it back in its original computer and installed xp with an xp disk from my old comp, it ran and installed perfectly this time. after installation it says i have 30 days left to activate windows. now here's my new problem, i need to change or add the serial number to activate windows. a friend said its complicated and i need to do it through registry..
 
Nope... download: MagicJelly Bean software, and just change it from there (Mods, this is within the rules, right?)
 
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