eMachines restore failed... need help!

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Hi All,
I am new here, so if I say something that doesn't make any sense, please forgive me. Also, I'm not sure if this is the right forum.... I hope so.... :)
I have an eMachines desktop Model running XP home that I wanted to give away to my neighbor. It was working fine, but my husband wanted to do a total system restore so none of our info or settitngs would be on it. OK, fine. We did the restore with the eMachines retore CDs, which seemed to work, until the system rebooted after finishing the second CD. We start to go through the Windows registration, and we only get to the "What's your computer's name?" before it stops-- you can move the mouse, so it's not frozen, but it doesn't progress no matter how long you leave it. We got another set of eMachines restore CD's, same problem.
I borrowed a regular (not eMachines restore) XP home CD and installed that, and it worked, but I don't have a proper key since it's borrowed. I did get it totally up and running with the borrowed XP, though, no problem.
Since I'm just giving it away, I'm not too keen on buying a $200 windows XP, though. And my husband feels we might have a hard drive problem and that maybe it would need a new hard drive. I'm more inclined to buy the harddrive, but obviously only if it'll work.
I would scrap the whole thing, but my neighbor already told her kids who are so excited.... blast it all.
Please tell me you guys have some ideas! Thank you!
 
It doesn't seem likely that a bad hard drive would do that. If when you clean off the Xp cd's and they then don't work, you probably are going to need a new operating system, which you can buy for ~ $100 if you go to the right place.
 
It's time to replace the power suppy and possibly the motherboard... Your Emachines has lived it's useful life
 
i wouldnt use the borrowed cds because those dont have the emachine drivers that match your pc hardware..you have the right restore cds for that model? try it again.... or try duplicating those cds and try them as restore cds. just an idea :)
 
sAm-iAm said:
i wouldnt use the borrowed cds because those dont have the emachine drivers that match your pc hardware..you have the right restore cds for that model? try it again.... or try duplicating those cds and try them as restore cds. just an idea :)

As soon as you buy a computer, the restore discs are most likely out of date even then... not to mention after OS updates and program additions that happen over time. I don't know if Emachines has updated drivers for each motherboard posted on their site like the real computer manufacturers do. I restore drivers and utilities all the time, especially for laptops. Thank goodness, the major manufacturers have everything I need to get a "clean" install of the OS complete and correct
 
If you can get your hands on some OEM windows XP cds then you can just input the product key on (green sticker on the side of the case) and theoreticaly it should work..

Then just download the relevant drivers from the net (and if you're generous enough burn 'em to a CD for them..)
 
N3051M said:
If you can get your hands on some OEM windows XP cds then you can just input the product key on (green sticker on the side of the case) and theoreticaly it should work..

Then just download the relevant drivers from the net (and if you're generous enough burn 'em to a CD for them..)

You're right N3051M,
you might not even need OEM XP CD's. I have used upgrade XP disc's successfully
 
Do not buy any new hardware. The fact that you had the machine up and running using a different version of Windows other than eMachines is proof that physically the computer is fine. eMachines has a very long reputation for being, well, crap to be honest and I can't see their restore CD's as being any better. Give that eMachine away and never look back.
 
Gnomeofdeath said:
Do not buy any new hardware. The fact that you had the machine up and running using a different version of Windows other than eMachines is proof that physically the computer is fine. eMachines has a very long reputation for being, well, crap to be honest and I can't see their restore CD's as being any better. Give that eMachine away and never look back.

With spending enough to buy a new motherboard and power supply, this Emachines would become a nice simple computer system. The reason I mention buying a new motherboard is just to get rid of the crappy crippled Emachines board, not to mention that crappy little Emachines power supply. Where can you buy a good computer for less than $150? www.retrobox.com

I can refurbish Emachines computers for less than $150 and the only thing that will remain Emachines is the name on the case
 
as the old adage says: you get what you pay for, and sometimes less.

Emachines are absolute garbage.
 
Gnomeofdeath said:
I don't think you can buy a decent computer for $150.00. You might get lucky at a computer resale shop or recycler.

Retrobox is a recycler and their Compaq systems are great! They will outlast Emachines anyday and be much more productive systems
 
Tedster said:
as the old adage says: you get what you pay for, and sometimes less.

Emachines are absolute garbage.

So true Tedster,
I'm glad to see Wal-Mart selling HP systems now
 
oh you can get many used computers for a decent price that will outperfrom a new barebones system.
 
Tedster said:
oh you can get many used computers for a decent price that will outperfrom a new barebones system.

Yes Tedster,
I have bought several Compaq Deskpro's with Intel processors (850MHz Celerons) and Intel motherboards, and a minimum 256MB memory from Retrobox for less than $80 including shipping. By adding a bigger hard drive and a combo DVD/CD burner you will have a great basic XP system. Yes, I said XP. These Deskpros take perfectly to XP... They look like new too
 
i have a suggestion

zoek said:
Hi All,
I borrowed a regular (not eMachines restore) XP home CD and installed that, and it worked, but I don't have a proper key since it's borrowed. I did get it totally up and running with the borrowed XP, though, no problem.

okay, i had an emachines and tried to use the restore cd's after i purchased a new motherboard not from emachines after it fried. man i was upset. anyway, i really think ur problem stems from those borrowed restore cd's. i know it is not a motherboard, but from my experience with computer break downs, this specific culprit needs the computer manufacturers cd's etc.

if im wrong in this reply, heck just kick me.
 
most emachine failures are due to bad PSUs and motherboards. Usually the failures are catastrophic - the PSU takes the motherboard out when it dies.
 
There's supposed to be some quirks, using the restore disks with any peripherals installed/connected.

Also, google "magic jellybean keyfinder" download and run it; you'll get your key.

Good Luck.
 
eeekMachines Restore Disks

I've been trial and erroring different solutions for an eMachines T1100 that came with XP Home preinstalled, ever since sp2.

It's a drag to have to redownload everything whenever it hiccups.

Anyway, after making ISO images of the original disks and extracting what I could, I 've learned that they're .GHO images of the drive as setup by the factory and Norton Ghost 7.0 (maybe a scaled down version) is on the disk.

I think it was freddiereyes.com or some such site where there's an article and file you can download, enabling you to use Ghost to clone your drive to cd's.

I tried it and got a set of 6 cd's that worked twice; on the third use, I started getting a ' Cannot read GHOSTERR.TXT", error message.

I have no manual for using ghost, so I'm kinda lost. Anyone have any suggestions, besides a new computer?

I found that link: http://www.freddyreyes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23
 
Ghost isn't really hard to use. Basically is is menu driven. You clone 1 drive or partition to another. Is is always best to have a second hard drive or CDs/DVDs to do this. The clone is an exact duplicate of your source. When you clone to another hard drive, you cannot have both hard drives connected at the same time once cloning is done and the program is finished as windows will see "2" hard drives with an OS on them and crash.

Ghost does cloning in a roundabout way. It first creates image files and then do clone, you reverse the process. It is rather slow. Apricon EZ gig is a much better program it does a direct clone. I am sure there are others.
 
Hey Tedster. Thanks for the reply. The thing that I was after was getting the info to cd's. the original install formats the drive to 1 partition and I haven't learned to change that. The bootdisk at the link above sets ghost to file sizes that will fit on cd.

If your location's for real, the BEST of luck to you.
 
I was having the exact problem as the original poster.

The solution I found was a modem card I had removed from the computer was causing the computer to hang at the "What's your computer's name?" part of the initial setup.

Putting the modem back into the computer allowed it to get past this part of the setup and finish successfully.
 
You can GHOST to any device to include a CD.

and yes- my location is real. We gave Saddam a necktie party this morning.
 
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