My friend installed a pirated version of WinXP on my laptop...

Y

YingYang

New Member
I have a problem that just recently cropped up after lending out my Gateway 450SX to my computer illiterate friend (first mistake). He managed to mess something up on it dealing with the OS that probably is a result of him being a magnet for malware and instead of coming to me to fix it, he went to his computer friend. This tech guy kept most of the data files intact, but installed a hacked version of WinXP on it which I didn't come to realize until just recently after trying to use the boot CD to clean up all the damage these idiots did.

Now, everytime I use the boot disc, the computer tells me that there is a version of windows on the computer, and it cannot install the version I have on the disc. I don't have any spare WinXP CDs laying around, and I am not going to drop $100 for his screw up. Can I just format the C drive and use the disc to get a fresh WinXP install? Or will the computer get pissy and not install the OS because I formatted the drive?
 
It should burger. If he has an operating disk and can boot to it he should be able to simply format using the windows disk.
 
Be carefull with that. Don't just try it without making sure you've got the actual full WinXP instalation CD. Most prebuilts and laptops come witht he repair disk, that in most circumstances serves the purpose of being a helpless CD.
 
I have been messing with it and finally got it. The problem is that that I couldn't reinstall the OS by opening it through Windows because it popped up with a dialogue box that basically said "we know what you want to do but we won't let you." At the same time, even when I went to the BIOS and told it to boot from the disc that Gateway gave me, it still loaded WinXP normally.

I went with what pyromaniac511 was getting at and had to hit ESC a few times on the Gateway screen which finally gave me a menu worth looking at. Even on this screen, I had to tell it to manually boot from the disc since it was not autodetecting it, but at least it finally installed. Still, I can see someone who doesn't much more than to "put the boot disc in the machine" would be royally screwed. Lesson learned: never let morons borrow or even play with your computer unless you like headaches.
 
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