Can I use a Dell or Medion XP disc to reinstall a HP?

Werewolf · 9 Sep 2012 at 13:34

Hi

A simple one (I hope), it's been an age since I had to reinstall XP without either a straight forward blank OEM (IE one bought with hard driver etc), or an OEM on the same manufacturers machine.

I've been asked to fix a friend of my mum's HP laptop that apparently has been sat on the side for a year+ due to it being well and truly purple shirted*.

The problem is, it's a HP and from what I can tell never came with a proper windows instal disk, doesn't have a hidden partition to reinstall from, and the owner didn't run a "create restore disc" option (if indeed there was one).

So I need to install windows on it to fix a problem (no task bar, even opening up task manager to start explorer doesn't give taskbar**), but I don't have any HP discs, and it looks like they basically haven't supplied them for ages.

So, can I use a Dell Windows XP disc, or an "vanilla" OEM disc (IE what you get if you buy an OEM version from OCUK etc) to install windows, but use the product key on the bottom of the laptop?

*Apparently it had a dodgy power connector, it took them 3 motherboard swaps and sending the thing back to fix where some numpty used screws that were too long to put it back together, AND left some sort of plastic sheet or paper inside the housing, blocking the fan vents (I said it had been well and truly purpler shirted

)

**I've tried sfc with the fix options, and pretty much every option I could find online (it doesn't even work when I create a new user account on it), so a reinstall is the only option left from what I can see.

robinbredin · 9 Sep 2012 at 16:27

You can use any XP disc to restore XP on that laptop. Just use the product key that is on the blue sticker attached to the system to activate the XP. Just make sure, if the laptop cane with XP SP1, then the disc is XP SP1.

Werewolf · 9 Sep 2012 at 20:19

Cheers, that's a relief

It must be nearly 5 years since I last used XP much, and usually had the correct OEM disc to hand.

kitfit1 · 10 Sep 2012 at 19:30

You actually can't just use "any" xp disc to do a new install. You will need an OEM disc as opposed to a Retail disc. Simply because you can't use an OEM activation code with a Retail disc and vice versa.
The easiest thing to do would be to download all the drivers for the laptop from HP's website and then use N-Lite to integrate them into an OEM xp disc ready for a new install.
Have you tried the Recovery Consol on an xp disc to try to repair the current install ?

linktoinsanity · 11 Sep 2012 at 09:04

I agree with Kitfit. You can't just use any XP disc, it has to match the license type. Ie OEM or Retail.

In answer to your original question though, as long as you use the CD Key that came with your laptop, you can use any company OEM disc to reinstall Windows XP.

Werewolf · 11 Sep 2012 at 16:41

Cheers, I've got OEM discs for Dell and Medion etc, I just wasn't sure if I'd need a "blank" OEM (IE one bought as an oem from a retailer).

I hate computers makers who don't include proper reinstall disks

I tried recovery console which didn't work, and it looks like the existing install is badly botched up (basically no taskbar ever, no desktop icons, no explorer unless it's manually started from task manager, and it looks like a reinstall is the only option).

To make matters that little bit worse, the HP website has no idea of the machine either by serial number or model number (so I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of those machines some companies make and sell to the retailer as an exclusive, with the retailer doing all the support).

kitfit1 · 11 Sep 2012 at 17:25

You certainly won't be able to use any other make of OEM disc because they will have all the wrong drivers for this laptop.
Do you know all the hardware that is fitted to the laptop, by that i mean chipset, graphics, Lan, Wlan ect ? If you do you could then download the drivers from the manufacturer's website and slipstream them into a normal OEM disc.

lurkio · 11 Sep 2012 at 18:37

Your OEM disc will work fine

I have used dell xp OEM discs to install a variety of other manufacturers laptops

You will just have to download the drivers from the manufacturers site

Job done

linktoinsanity · 12 Sep 2012 at 15:37

kitfit1 said:
You certainly won't be able to use any other make of OEM disc because they will have all the wrong drivers for this laptop.
Do you know all the hardware that is fitted to the laptop, by that i mean chipset, graphics, Lan, Wlan ect ? If you do you could then download the drivers from the manufacturer's website and slipstream them into a normal OEM disc.

What are you going on about? Very rarely do install discs actually have the drivers On them in the first place. They usually come with a seperate disc for the drivers. So no, there will be NO problem using a Windows install disc from another manufacturer. Slipstreaming is an option I agree, but would be a bit time consuming.

kitfit1 · 12 Sep 2012 at 19:30

linktoinsanity said:
What are you going on about? Very rarely do install discs actually have the drivers On them in the first place. They usually come with a seperate disc for the drivers. So no, there will be NO problem using a Windows install disc from another manufacturer. Slipstreaming is an option I agree, but would be a bit time consuming.

Have you actually read any of this thread ?
Laptops come with an OEM disc that includes all the drivers. Very rarely, if ever are they just vanilla OEM discs. In fact 99% of them are "Recovery Discs" not Vanilla OEM discs at all. Because laptops in particular tend to use "out of the ordinary" hardware, installing the correct drivers is important. Even more so with WinXP, because it came with very few drivers on the install disc in the first place. So before shouting your mouth off, do some research.

Dervious · 12 Sep 2012 at 21:42

As I deleted the recovery partition on my HP laptop, and I can't be bothered to find the recovery DVDs that I created 5 years ago, I have recently used a Dell OEM XP install disc with no problem. I just had the remove "Dell Support" from the Start menu and download appropriate drivers for my laptop's hardware.

linktoinsanity · 13 Sep 2012 at 09:05

kitfit1 said:
Have you actually read any of this thread ?
Laptops come with an OEM disc that includes all the drivers. Very rarely, if ever are they just vanilla OEM discs. In fact 99% of them are "Recovery Discs" not Vanilla OEM discs at all. Because laptops in particular tend to use "out of the ordinary" hardware, installing the correct drivers is important. Even more so with WinXP, because it came with very few drivers on the install disc in the first place. So before shouting your mouth off, do some research.

I am wondering the same of you to be honest. Have YOU read any of this thread? In the original post he asks if he can use a DELL OEM XP disc, not a restore disc.

This disc is a standard XP disc, which does NOT have drivers on it. I should know as I actually have my previous DELL's XP install disc. It is OEM and can be used to install XP on any computer with an OEM license, something which I have done, numerous times.

Also, more proof it works:

Dervious said:
As I deleted the recovery partition on my HP laptop, and I can't be bothered to find the recovery DVDs that I created 5 years ago, I have recently used a Dell OEM XP install disc with no problem. I just had the remove "Dell Support" from the Start menu and download appropriate drivers for my laptop's hardware.

Shall I post that again for you?

I'll just quote this for truth:

before shouting your mouth off, do some research.

I'll be interested to know what Werewolf has decided to do and I suggest in future you don't bother posting a load of untested tripe in someone's thread when they are asking for your advice.