Windows xp home advanced boot menu loop

Ah, perhaps a bit of good news, maybe....

I just found out that the Vista HDD originally came with Vista Home Basic and was replaced with Vista Home Premium.....So potentially, it is a version that I can install on the Dell as it may not be OEM. Not sure though so I am going to look more into extracting that product key and seeing if it will work once I get the Vista cd.

Wish me luck!

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Damn, finally managed to locate the vista product key using produkey but it is the home basic OEM,,,,damn!
 
Update:

Obtained a vista ulitmate cd and an XP home cd.

Currently attempting to install the Vista which seems to be going as it should but will have to see if it clears the activation hurdle being as the license is an OEM that was installed on a Gateway and I am attempting to install it on a Dell.

Figured it was worth a shot.

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Hello 4on40ff... I believe you are misunderstanding... Even if you can get past "activation" the license and key are tied to the original hardware of the Gateway which means that if that key is used with any other computer it is an illegal installation.
 
Didn't think about the legal issue just figured she bought it so it would be good to go but anyway,,,,

Installed and activated the xp home but I am unable to connect to the internet for some reason. I see in the device manager that there are marks by the list of "other devices"..... I remembered I had a program called Everest driver helper or something like that.. I will see if it says anything about the drivers....

Good time....:smile9:

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You should try to get the hardware/vendor IDs to determine which devices need drivers and then download those from the appropriate manufacturer. From How to troubleshoot unknown devices that are listed in Device Manager in Windows XP:
Use the System Information tool

The System Information tool can be useful when you have to determine the cause of an unknown device...

To use the System Information tool to view a list of problem devices, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type msinfo32, and then click OK.
  2. Expand Components, and then double-click Problem Devices.

    A list of the devices that are installed on your computer that may have a problem is displayed in the details pane, as follows:
    • The Device column lists the common name for the device, or the name of the device driver associated with it.
    • The PNP Device ID column lists device IDs, such as Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) ID, ISA ID, an ID for some other bus type, or an unknown type.
    • The Error Code column lists the error code associated with this specific problem. Frequently, the Device Manager error code helps determine what created the unknown device. For example, if your computer generates a "Bad or missing device driver" error message, three types of entries may be listed underProblem Devices, depending on the device type:
      • PCI PnP Device ID:

        Device Name | PCI\VEN_00000&DEV_0000&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\0&0000 | Error code
      • ISA PnP ID:

        Device Name | ?\PNP0000\0
      • Bad or Incompatible Device Driver:

        Device Name | ROOT\UNKNOWN\0000
Click to expand...

Automated driver update tools do not always find the appropriate drivers for devices, especially on notebook computers. It is best to get the drivers for the device from the manufacturer of the device and not from 3rd party tools or automatic driver update software.

If you need help, post back here with the problem device list.
 
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thanks for the tip...I am currently on the dell website but still not sure which I need..

I will use the system info tool and see what it finds.

Thank you
 
Managed to get all but one of them taken care of off of the dell site. Since it was a driver issue I only grabbed the ones listed as drivers.

This is the info of the remaining problem device:Network Controller PCI\VEN_14E&4&DEV_4311&SUBSYS_00071028&REV_01\4&232B014&0&0030

I am not sure if this is associated with the wifi not working.Been searching and continuing to do so.Thanks again for the tip.

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I think I found it. Tucked away a little bit on the Dell site was a Dell network driver for Dell wireless.
 
Yep, that was it. lol that little bugger was stashed away for some reason but one click and it came to light.

Thank you for the direction.

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Glad to see you were able to get the drivers all sorted. Let us know how things go with the rest of the system once you've had a chance to test it out a bit.
 
Ok, well she had it back less than two weeks and I got a call that a blue screen popped up real quick and it restarted. Her mom got ahold of it and it never did anything for her.

She ran tdss adn MSE but found nothing.

Just got home from work and got my hands on it.

Ran RKILL and it terminated 3 processess. Not sure what that means yet but I started a scan with MWB and right out of the gate it found 34 items...still running.

Also the first thing I noticed was the home page was changed to funmoods..seen that before so I figured it was infected.

This is good actually....might be able to narrow down sites she goes to and get her to avoid them from here on out!

I know this is not a malware forum but wanted to update on how it was running.

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She likely picked up the Funmoods Toolbar (adware/PUP) with something she installed. You know what to do to get additional help -- either here or at LzD -- although it sounds as though she needs some instructions in safe surfing. ;)
 
After running the various tools and having to restart now and then I did get the bsod to flash once but it only happened that one time...I tried selecting disable atuo restart after system crash but it has not crashed again.

Also, when I first starting working on this machine the error message for not recognizing the ac adapter would pop up. The research I did suggested an internal issue with the adapter itself and I recommended getting another one, which she did but it seems to be happening again at each restart.

At each restart I get a warning about the ac adapter not being recognized, or something to the like, and am told to unplug it and plug it back in and to press any key to continue.

I do not know if this is something she has encountered as well since getting it back or if this issue has just resurfaced.

Any ideas to the cause?

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After doing some research it may be that the bios need to be updated.

The bios version/date on the laptop is: Dell Inc. 2.6.3. 12/7/2007

The update on the Dell site is : AO6 2.6.3. 1/20/2008

so I am thinking I need to download it and update the bios but I am wondering if the issue with the ac adapter will cause a problem when I am prompted to press any button to continue when it restarts during the update process......
 
Well, I went for it and updated the bios and it restarted without the error message for the adapter.

Woohoo!
 
Well, I guess I was wrong....

So, while I didn't get the adapter warning after updating the bios I did get it the second restart afterwards.

So far a new adatper ac adapter has been purchased and I did find out that she did not experience this, just me.

..and I updated the bios....

Any suggestions as to why this ac adapter warning is still coming up?

Still reading....

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