pc format/reinstall xp pro issue

hi everyone, ok, well my problem is rather odd. My brothers computer is a dell demension 2300. and it has xp pro on it, and the tag on the case is for xp pro, w/ the serial number. it was bought around 2002 and well is no very sluggish due to spyware and other junk, ive tried removing all the crap and to still no avail. he dosent have the restore cd, but i have an xp pro cd and when trying to install it, first off it dosent ask me to boot from cd when its in the drive at boot. so i figure well ill start it off through window's ,well i open the setup, and when it gets to ask for the serial i type in the code on the side of the pc case, it says invalid key, so i went d/l magic jelly bean key finder and it turned up a diff code than whats on the case, which i figured after digging throught some fourms and found out something about the oem numbers and the xp numbers, or something like that. but any way, i tried the one that magic jelly bean gave me, and it to said invalid key. i was thinking of trying to get the HD formated then try to get the xp pro cd to boot on the bootup and install it that way but i dont wana totaly wipe it if i cant get xp back on it w/ the serials not working.

can any one offer any advice to me?

 

hey, i was just looking at it, and, now that i notice, the splash screen just is just windows xp, neither home/pro edition....

 

by splash screen i mean the one on startup, not sure if its called that or not lol

 

All XP splash screens are like that. It's a change made by SP2.

Press the Winkey+Break or open the Start Menu, select Run and type in 'sysdm.cpl' (no quote marks) to open the System properties window. You'll find what version he has under the General tab.

Also, if if your disc is a retail disc it won't work. It must be an OEM installation disc since the license issued from Dell is an OEM license.

You can contact Dell and ask for the restore disc. They may be able to help, but they will charge you.

 

the copy i have is a retail copy, so thats why the oem key that magic jelly bean and the one on the case dont work right?

errr guess ill see what dell has to say

 

forgive me if this is shuned upon, but what if i had a blacklisted serial, purely hypothetical, and it still said invalid key when i used it within window's. what about the normal, "press any key to boot from cd...." then installing it that way? thats how i normaly install OS's but this one never asked to boot from cd, not sure why, didnt check boot order, but i assume its floppy then cd, not sure i supose i should go check it. but yeah, if i did it that way w/ another (proven to work w/ my cd) serial, i should be able to install it right?

 

ok, well i wiped the drive, set the boot order to cd rom first, got it going in the setup process, after xp copied all the files to the hd in dos mode, then when it restarts and goes into the more user friendly interface, it give me an error saying "error, could not install D:\i386\asms. the paramater is incorrect

windows could not continue the installation"
(D being the cd rom drive)

i clicked ok, it rebooted and did the same thing, 99.9% positive the cd isnt damaged, i used it recently.

 

gosh this board rocks, i keep finding answers to my questions, sorry i dint use the search guys, ill check the cd rom drive and stuff, then if that fails, try to get an other cd, if worse come to worse, ill put 2k pro on it

 

ok, the cd checks out fine, that asms folder is fine according to the mskb's help, so i guess tomrrow ill check the cd drive, its 545 am, god i need sleep.

 

If the product key is bad, it won't work no matter when in the process you use it. The product keys have nothing to do with any particular CD. If you're talking about a blacklisted VLK serial, just read the MG rules concerning piracy.

 

thanks, cant find them...

BUT

am haulting(and do not plan to use any black vlk's)

and have asked my bro to search for the restore disc, and emailed dell about trying to get one