[sinosiris]

First, before I get decapitated for posting this, I have read some other help threads for this problem, but none are quite the same, which is what I mean by an "odd XP boots problem". Plus, others were very concerned with keeping their files, while I desire the opposite, and there is some potential reasons for the problem not in any of the others I have found.

Alrighty, so, I have a mildly old (3 or 4 years) Emachienes computer that came pre-loaded with Windows Vista. After a wonderful run with the popular "fake-antivirus" virus, I just plain decided to wipe the whole thing. Restore points didn't help, tried it all, etc. Of course, I didn't have any OS disks for Vista, but I did have one for my old XP that had gotten stolen a while back. It was a dell, not an emachienes, so I was concerned that the disk may not work, and from what research I did, it was a shakey maybe. I registered windows fine, updated windows right away, and put AVG/Spybot S&D/AD-aware/CCleaner on it. The disk did work, and for about 2/3 weeks, everything was fantastic.

Then one day, you can image my dismay at the fact that my computer wouldn't boot.
No error messages
No blue screen of death
It is not overheating
It just turns off

As if someone had unplugged it, or held the power button to cause an improper shutdown. I would just assume it won't work with that disk, but it did for weeks with no issues, so that doesn't seem the likely problem. So here I am, about to start my classes online in less then 3 weeks, computerless, and completely not in the financial position to buy a new desktop. I tried reloading the XP disk again, and it booted fine when it first setup and logged in for the first time. Then I shut it down over night, and now it won't turn back on. Can someone help me? I'm desperate, because I need this computer for school.

[Mark1956]

Hi, this is a little confusing as you have stated the first problem was that it would not boot and then you go on to say that it shut down by itself, how did this happen if it would not boot?

Then you finish by saying after the second install, following the first time you shut it down, it would not boot back up again. Please confirm that your present predicament is that it simply will not boot at any time.

Are you using a genuine copy of XP or is it a Recovery disk for the old Dell machine. If it is a Recovery disc for another PC you will have all the wrong drivers for the motherboard and any other hardware installed which need to be removed but that will be tricky, if not impossible job to do if the PC will not boot.

Furthermore, a Recovery disk with an OEM licence cannot be used on another PC as the licence terms will not allow it. It can only be used on the PC it was originally installed on. If this is the case I can't quite figure out how you got it to run for any length of time without a crash.

You will have a Vista OEM licence for the PC so you need to borrow a copy of Vista that matches the version on the licence sticker, install it and then download all the drivers for your specific model from the eMachines support site.

So you need to check if the disc you used has an OEM licence, if it does you cannot use it.

P.S. Please don't use Bold font when writing posts.

[SUEOHIO]

The computer came with vista preloaded? what operating system is on the COA sticker on the computer vista or xp?if it has a vista sticker you cant use an xp disk on it. how it supposedly got activated is beyond me.it sounds to me among many problems it didnt activate at all no surprise there and you have been locked out.the only way using a dell branded oem disk would work is like to like. in other words the dell disk is xp and if you had xp on the computer to begin with then you could use the disk and use the product code on your computer to activate it. but you cant mix and match operating systems.the fact that the computer is four years old its also possible the hard drive is failing.when you used the ccleaner if you used the registry cleaner feature also thats another reason for it possibly not booting.when an operating system isnt activated at all or correctly you have 30 days in which to do so otherwise you get locked out.to start with if you are going to want to use vista you can try getting the correct recovery disks for your model of computer from emachines which is now owned by acer.if you want to use xp you will have to see if theres drivers for your model and get a copy of xp with a COA sticker.