Question about reinstalling Win with a different OEM disc

Here is the link:

http://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=gateway

I guess gateway is owned by acer now.

But if Windows were originally installed from an XP SP2 CD, would he still get the error about a newer version when he ran winnt32.exe?

Have you tried to create the recovery CD using these steps?

http://support.gateway.com/s/SOFTWARE/Medialess/MLXPH1/MLXPH1su5.shtml

It says it is a one time process, so I don't know if that means that it only lets you run this program once.

I can't find any programs for making recovery discs. That was one of my first thought. So I guess it was a one-off creation thing.

This specific computer, for a number of reasons, is a lost hope. But I'd still like to figure out if there's a way to reinstall XP without actual recovery CDs. I'll try contacting Gateway/ACER though...

Yea, was going to suggest see if you can still order XP recovery from Gateway online . You still have your product key sticker on the computer also?

Yes, I have the product key. I contacted Gateway, but they couldn't help. They suggested buying a new license.

Instead I cleared off the whole XP installation and installed Ubuntu Linux.

why wouldn't gateway help? Is the machine too old for them to support any more?

I did find this link that explains how to use combofix to install a recovery console if you don't have a windows CD

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix#manual_recovery


From all I have read, you are not supposed to use combofix unless you have been trained so I would not use it without help from someone who knows what they are doing.

There is some kind of number Gateway needed, which, according to them should be in a "Gateway" folder (which I didn't have) or in the BIOS (which was forgotten password protected) Without that number they gave up.