Need help fixing my girlfriend's laptop

Hellion

New Member
Ok, my girlfriend got a HP Pavilion dv5000 laptop with Windows XP (I believe the media center edition). I had set it up a while ago for wireless networking at the house. (It has a built in wireless NIC.) Anyways, just recently she can't get on the web. I can see in the corner of the desktop when it says connected to the wireless router, and it's transmitting data when I open that icon up. (It says the connection to the wireless network is strong, and we have full bars on the signal.) Yahoo messenger also loads up and you can see her buddies online and all that. But when you open up internet exploror, it gives you an error stating the webpage can't be found. No matter what webpage you are trying to view. I also tried this in her copy of Netscape Nagivator as well. I have tried everything, shut down the windows firewall, shut down norton internet security (tried the firewall first, then the whole program), etc.... I checked the router (Netgear) firewall too to see if there was any issues with that as well, but couldn't find anything. I also did a Reg Cleaner on the system, and a full virus check using norton, then the free downloadable AGV. The computer is also taking forever to start up. It takes a good 15 minutes to boot into windows. I have no idea what my girlfriend got this thing into, but It's really messed up. Normally I would just pop in a windows disk and reinstall windows. However, she has since lost her copy of the windows disk that came with the computer, so we may be S.O.L. Any advice or help you guys can give us would be greatly appreciated.
 
Also what running processes do you have in startup, I have a hunch that's one reason it may take a while to boot up because programs such as (but not limited to) yahoo messenger are in it. You can find your startup processes by going to "start", then "run" and type "msconfig" and after you run it go to the startup tab. Messenger services and Norton are known for hogging memory (though that does not mean you should stop your antivirus).
 
Ha, now I can't even get the computer to boot into windows. It gets to the loading screen, and loads forever. I left it on for about 45 minutes and it's still loading. I was able to boot up into safe mode, and tried to use last known good config option, but it's not working. I'm wondering if it would be ok to try this....
I have a windows XP disk, it's the OEM disk, not one of those that comes with the computer, but a purchased copy. Her laptop has the XP key on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop. If i was to pop the XP disk in and install XP, can I enter the key cd that's on the bottom of her laptop, and activate the registration? Anyone try this before? I don't want to format the laptop if it's not going to work, since we can't find the windows copy that came with the laptop.
 
Ha, now I can't even get the computer to boot into windows. It gets to the loading screen, and loads forever. I left it on for about 45 minutes and it's still loading. I was able to boot up into safe mode, and tried to use last known good config option, but it's not working. I'm wondering if it would be ok to try this....
I have a windows XP disk, it's the OEM disk, not one of those that comes with the computer, but a purchased copy. Her laptop has the XP key on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop. If i was to pop the XP disk in and install XP, can I enter the key cd that's on the bottom of her laptop, and activate the registration? Anyone try this before? I don't want to format the laptop if it's not going to work, since we can't find the windows copy that came with the laptop.

That should work. I've done it and had no problems. After all, its an OEM version that HP put on there. You might have to call microsoft for activation like I had though, they had no problems with what I was doing. Used my OEM cd to install but entered their key(not mine).
 
That should work. I've done it and had no problems. After all, its an OEM version that HP put on there. You might have to call microsoft for activation like I had though, they had no problems with what I was doing. Used my OEM cd to install but entered their key(not mine).

I was able to fix it. Had no issues reactivating Windows with the key that was on the windows sticker on the laptop. The laptop runs great. Very smooth, no issues at all.... yet. :) Thanks guys.
 
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