Reinstalling XP Home Edition in an Emachines PC

us3rnotfound

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2003
5,334
3
81
Hi,

I have a friend that had an Emachines desktop with a dead motherboard/cpu/psu. So I replaced those with new hardware, and XP Home can't boot.

There is a COA sticker on the back of the PC with an XP Home Edition Serial.

How can I achieve a clean install of said OS?
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,909
558
126
Did you try Safe Mode? I recently rebuilt an eMachines that originally had an ATI RS480-based mobo, replacing it with an SIS 761GX mobo. On first boot after the swap, I pressed F8 to bring up the advanced boot options, selected Safe Mode and let Windows detect/install new hardware.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
Hi,

I have a friend that had an Emachines desktop with a dead motherboard/cpu/psu. So I replaced those with new hardware, and XP Home can't boot.

There is a COA sticker on the back of the PC with an XP Home Edition Serial.

How can I achieve a clean install of said OS?

Boot from the retail XP CD, reinstall the OS (or repair in place if you like), key in your retail key, and you'll be good to go.