SImonFoot wrote:
[Quoted Text] >
> hello, can anyone help in my hour of despair.Here is the problem and
> some facts. I have a Packard Bell imedia 2423.It has nVidia GeForce
> 8400GS,Amarillo 2 motherboard,AMD Phenom 9500, DVD dual layer drive
> and a Seagate Barracuda 7200 250GB hardk disk.It came pre-installed
> with Windows vista home premium.
>
> I had problems with corrupt files and not knowing much about computers
> i got my friend to have a look at it. I wish i hadn't.He took the last
> resort and without my consent reformatted it and installed an illegal
> copy of Windows vista ultimate on it(at the time i didn't have a
> recovery disk).I ended up with a computer stuck in reduced functionality
> mode and in despair. I bought a DVD master disk from Packard Bell and
> hoped i could fix my PC and return to my legal copy of Windows Vista
> home premium.
>
> My hard drive seems to have two partitions.Things have not gone
> smoothly though. I chose the recovery option from the master disk.
> It seemed to go ok until it told me to take the second disk out and the
> computer restarted. It then went to "start of the INITIALISE
> phase of the process" window.It seemed to be installing but then froze
> on 14% of installation and the HDD light stopped blinking.
>
> I aborted and it took me to Windows Boot Manager screen and left the
> following message:
> File: \Boot\BCD
> Status:0xc000000f
> Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration
> I tried the "windows and smart restore" option on the master disk.When
> the computer restarted i changed the boot priority to boot from
> HDD first.It froze again on 14% of installation and i pressed ESC and
> was left with a window saying
> "The unattend answer file contains an invalid product key.Windows
> installation cannot proceed without a valid product key".
> Im not sure what i can do to rectify it and would appreciate any
> expertise or advice from anyone.Do i need to reformat the hard drive in
> command prompt and then use the master recovery disk?
> thanks
My guess is that you aren't doing a full clean install. Many OEM recovery
processes give you a choice of a full (sometimes called "destructive")
recovery or one that keeps the existing installation and just "repairs" it.
Boot with Disk 1 of your recovery disk set and make sure you are doing a
true restore to factory condition. If that fails, your hard drive is
probably bad - although other components may also be faulty.
If you can't do the work yourself - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a professional computer repair
shop (not your local equivalent of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad). If
possible, have all your data backed up before you take the machine into a
shop.
Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
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