installation problem

[lohocla]

ive been all over for this probelm, cant get an answer from dell but my problem is this. I had a dell 4100 i bought last year. I wasnt happy with it and I grew quite knowledgable about hardware so i decide that that dell garbage had to go. I upgraded everything, memory harddrives, motherboard etc... now my winme installation disk doesnt work with this computer as it is not a true dell machine anymore. why they would skimp and bundle a useless dell only disk is beyond me, which brings me to thinking that dell is evil, evil company. maybe someone out there has had a similiar problem and possibly knows a way around it, without the obvious; buy a new copy. not exactly cost feasible for me.
there has to be someway around it, if I had my old motherboard I could hook up everything to that and install on there then switch back to my gigabyte but i threw the old one away. o well
there has got to be another way though, anybody, ideas???

[stool]

I had the same problem some years ago with a Packard Bell. Once the mobo is gone, you are screwed, as the BIOS is so specialized for the manufacturer.

[Godfodda]

Originally posted by lohocla
now my winme installation disk doesnt work with this computer as it is not a true dell machine anymore.

What error or message does it give?

[lohocla]

"This version of Windows Millenium Edition cannot be installed on your computer. Please obtain the correst version"

thats what I get. there must be some way around this. I for one am against any software cracking, hacking or whatever, but if there is a fix for this I would like to get it. I had the same problem with a PacBell too, and now that I think of it I found a way to get around it but I cant remember what it is I did

[Mord-Sith]

hmmm well technicaly you own a copy of windowsME so I would assume that microshaft owes you a copy that works. As long as the old computer is no longer working that is. I would contact microsoft and see if you can get an exchange. Just tell them that your old computer took a dive and so you built a new one but now you cant install your os.

[lohocla]

thats exactly what I thought to myself. I mean I own the full version of Windows ME. Microsoft owes me a copy of WinMe. I am gonna contact them first thing in the morning. I am gonna call dell too and see what they have to say.

[youthemandan]

I had the same problem and what i did was i hooked the cd-rom drive floppy hard drive up to the old mobo and then installed it. Now before it can boot up after it installs put everything back into the other comp and boot up. Mines now running fine and i saved 200+ dollars!!!