Advent 7104

I have an Advent 7104 and had to reinstall xp home. There wa no recovery cds created ever for it. I have the genuine product key that is posted on the underside of the laptop. I used a dell xp home installation cd. It loads perfectly and I activated it with a new product key from microsoft. When I went to restart the laptop it said that windows needs to be activated. When I select Yes it comes up saying I have already activated it. I click ok and I get brought back to the log in window.
Any suggestions

Hi, you didn't mention why you used a new product key when you had a key already. Dell disks are usually identifiable as such and wont allow use on a non dell machine - this could be the cause of your problem. You can use any normal XP cd to re-install, as long as it is XP Home - just use the number on your machine.

long shot, but try this
boot into "safe mode with network support"
install Internet Explorer 8 while in safe mode
reboot to normal mode and see what happens
Please post back as this is very much an experiment and we'd like to know if it works

sorry, just realised I need to texplain that a bot more - you should be able to get into wiodows in safe mode, but you cannot activate in safe mode
Once you've got into safe, got to http:///www.microsoft.com/downloads and then download IE8 for Windows XP. Don't try using Windows update - just download and setup IE8.
Once thats installed, adn if I'm right youshould be able to bypass the activation bug and get into windows
Note you may need to activate Windows for a second time and may need to got through the keychange routine again

according to the UKTSupport site that model should have a hidden recovery image, so if you've not destroyed it during you attempt at installing windows you could try that
See http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/laptop/7104.htm
The instructions are around 3/4 way down the page

Also, in case you didn't get a driver CD with that machine, the same page has links to the same (but differently branded) model which should work

Hi Gents,
Many thanks for your replirs.
Stephen D. I have used this Dell Wins XP home os on another laptop. Fujitsu. It loaded fine. Used the product key on it and its fine. I think Advent require an OEM version of XP home.
Jon I tried to get access to safe mode with Networking but cant get in. I downloaded IE8 onto a cd from another laptop and tried to load it in safe mode on my advent but it would'nt let me. Said I was missing some files. By the way I have the driver CD for the advent. Cheers for that. My next mission is to get an XP home edition to see if that will work as Stephen recommended. Could I copy a windows file onto a blank cd from another laptop and load that.

No; you would need an XP Home OEM CD to match the XP Home OEM product key label. After installing, you will need to install the drivers for your hardware. First, I recommend you read the last post from Jon S carefully and follow his advice.

Sorry for taking so long in getting back you all. I have'nt checked for a recovery file as of yet but I have a feeling its not going to be there. Im nearlly sure I stupidly deleted all partitions. Regarding that OEM CD that I need to work with that product key. If I purchased Wins 7 would I be able to load it on to this laptop without any problems.

Impossible to say. If it was working you could run a Microsoft tool to advise on possible incompatibilities but this only runs under Windows, AFAIK.

If you are willing to spend money on Windows 7 then spending money on a PCIQ Professional would give you access to the XP OEM CD you lack and, possibly, the opportunity to try Windows 7 without having to commit to buy a copy.

I'd have severe doubts about Windows 7 working on that.
According to UKTSupoort its got a Conexant AC-link AC97 modem and audio card. My experience so far of getting AC97 stuff to work in Win7 so far has not been good. Sound drivers install - but don't playback sound, while the modems just don't work
Also Intel only list wireless card drivers for XP and Vista, thought the Vista one may work in Win7

I believe it is possible to install Windows 7 and run it for 30 days before needing to supply a product key. If so, then if you borrow an installation disk you can test drive Windows 7 and see if you can get it to work. I would be prepared to install a 'trial copy' of Windows 7 for a client on the understanding that they would purchase it (and get the licence key) if it worked satisfactorily (provided I could not find anything in the Microsoft licence agreement that prohibits this).