I've encountered an odd problem... I had a computer with my sister's copy of windows xp on it, which worked great for the 30 days of trial (lost the registration key). After a month, I attempted to install a different copy of xp on it (didn't do any formatting or anything). Booting from disk, I was ABLE to do the PRELIMINARY stages of windows install, and then it needed to restart... so I restarted, it posts, goes through bios, and after a screen which said "Windows install is restarting" (or something to that effect), it instantly shuts off.

I found that if I didn't insert the install disk, it would boot up and get to the windows install menu (the one that takes 39 MINUTES, or whatever), and SIT there prompting me to insert the install disk. As soon as I inserted the disk (ANY disk, actually... install, audio, data) it would spin for half a second and then instantly shut off.

I suspected either a faulty disc drive, or maybe a dual-OS-booting problem.... so I tried a different cd drive with a different hard drive (HD had data on it but no OS), and same problem.....


...Thoughts?XP is not designed to be reinstalled after the activation period. I would suggest purchasing a license and activating your install.After the 30 day trial I did install a licensed version of XP, and that was what started the crash... very confused....The best APPROACH would be to use a bootdisk to format the drive and re-installing the legit Windows...it's probably detecting the other installation and just overwriting some system files but balking at the activation process.
A clean install is the way to go.thanks patio-- i was able to create a couple bootdisks designed to wipe hard drives... they booted properly, and I got into the interface for the wipe program, but for some reason my keyboard wouldn't work!! The keyboard works during BIOS, but doesn't seem to respond after that? thoughts? thanks guys!!If you have a PS2 keyboard i would switch to that at least until you get the re-installation complete.
They're not designed to be connected/disconnected while the machine is on...make sure you are powered down to make the switch.how about my usb keyboard with a PS2 adapter? i think I might be able to the adapter more easilyThat'll work...