Dell Tech suppport told me that my mother board has been corrupted and that it cannot be fixed. Is that true?

Question

My (x) friend got into the reg.edit program to "play" and my computer crashed. Now it says I must activate windows before I log on. Microsoft willl charge me 25 dollars for that service. Will it restore my computer? Dell told me to back up 21/2 years of research into someone elses computer then they can factory restore. Willl it restore if"CORRUPTED"? If not Dell is being very frivolous with my money and time.But asking someone if you can put your entire computer onto their computer is comperable to using a strangers toothbrush, or as sick and wrong as wearing your roommates dirty underwear! Help, computer was expensive, reasearch in computer, priceless!!! NO I DID NOT BACK ANYTHING UP, STILL NEW TO COMPUTERS, STILL STUPID

Answer 1

If your motherboard is damaged, no reinstallations will help you without replacing the board first. If Dell is telling you otherwise then it's really not a motherboard problem, and it doesn't sound like to me either. Microsoft will reactivate it for free, who told you it was $25? As a technician I have reactivated hundreds of computers and they either do it for free or won;t help you at all. Call the number and give it a shot. If you don't know anybody with a computer you can dump files onto temporarily, you could always buy a second hard drive, replace your old one and reinstall, then reinstall the old drive as a slave drive and copy the files over. Then you will have two drives and can use one to backup files from the other in case this ever happens again,. Should be able to get an 80GB drive for around $75 or less.

Answer 2

no $ 25 dollars for that service free help
1 try this click on start/all programs
accessories/system tools/ system restore icon try to go back to the time befor your friend went in too the reg.edit .. also
Activate Windows XP from Floppy Diskette Backup

Circumstances arise where you'll need to reinstall Windows XP on your machine when no hardware changes have been made. Rather than go through the reactivation process, create a floppy disk to back up the activation status file. Once XP has been reinstalled the floppy can be used to restore the previous activation status.

Create the Activation Status Floppy Diskette
Navigate to %systemroot%\system32 folder.

Copy the wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files to the floppy diskette.
then
back up all the files /your work / then use the system restore disk to reinstall the system
and
Reinstall Windows XP
Reinstall XP in the normal manner. After the install is completed and the XP Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) appears where you'd normally activate the product, decline to activate and let the installation complete.
Activate the XP Reinstallation
Restart the computer and use the F8 key to bring up the Advanced Boot Options menu.
Select Minimal Safe Mode using Up and Down Arrow Keys and press Enter.
Navigate to %systemroot%\system32 folder.
Rename the existing wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files.
Using the floppy diskette, copy the previously backed up wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files to the %systemroot%\system32 folder.
Reboot the computer

Answer 3

You motherboard isn't corrupted. Its Mr. X's head that corrupted.

YOU NEVER PLAY WITH WINDOWS REGISTRY.

If you can just buy a new hard drive (very cheap) and Move or Copy your data to this new drive. Remove the drive and use the Restore Discs that were included with your Dell. Takes about 1 hour for a full reinstall. Then install all the programs you did aftermarket (anything not already included when you bought the PC).

Put the new hard drive back in the PC and all your backup data is right where you copied it to.

Also note that if it is a legal copy (should be if a Dell) then MS cannot charge you for reactivating your PC. They can ONLY charge you if you had an illegal copy or you used MS tech support. Only call the activation # (no call charge).

For installation of a hard drive get a tech savvy friend to help you.

Answer 4

Your best best is to remove your hard drive and put it into someone else's computer, so that everything can be saved. Have a CD made right away, so you have it. DO THIS FIRST.

This won't do any harm. But if I moved your hard disk into my computer, I'd run my anti-virus on your drive first. Then COPY the data and BURN CDs.

If you have the original RESTORE disk or Windows XP Operating disk that you got from DELL, you won't be charged for reinstallation. Only if you hire someone to DO the work. But believe me, it is EASY. It is, however, time consuming.

Simple put your hard drive back into your computer. Get into the BIOS (use the DELETE key at startup) and change the BOOT order, so the CD Drive is first. Put in the Windows disk and restart the computer.

When the screen finally comes up to begin the installation, you want to DELETE the existing partitions first, then install on the available space.

Your computer should be as good as new when you are done. Simply insert the CDs that you burned earlier, and copy the data in place.

But for gosh sakes, be sure to get all of the Windows Updates, install Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware like AD-AWARE and SpyBot Search & Destroy

Good luck

Answer 5

oh, it Can be restored no problem... that's not the issue. the issue is how are you going to save your files and where. if you can't even get windows to come up then youre pretty much fked unless you work around in Dos or something (lol)... I mean, you could take what you have saved and put it on another hard drive temporarily until that one gets restored then put them back... but ya, sounds bad. good luck

Answer 6

I would suggest you to seek help from some1 who knows how to handle Operating system for this time since you said you are new to it. I don't think your mother board is gone. It's the problem with your hard disk. Ask your friend to backup your data and then do a reformat. hope that will solve your issue. And never let any1 play with registry.

Answer 7

If all you have to do is "Activate" then just go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System> Activate Windows... it usually costs no money whatsoever. If it says that "Couldn't activate windows, pick another method" just call the number they give you. They will read yo usome numbers, etc. and windows will work just as normally. It's no big deal, really... and it will not remove any of your information.

Answer 8

you can try to do a windows repair if you still have the operating system cd
if you have it you can contact me and i will walk you through it
i cant promise you it will work either cause i dont really know what your friend did
but this fixes most of the big problems

Answer 9

Try starting your computer in SAFE MODE and do a RESTORE a day or two BEFORE your friend "played" with regedit....