here goes:

i recently bought a refurbished dell laptop and just received it through the mail. i bought it understanding that it did not have an operating system installed. i have a xp operating system disk and was planning on loading that into the computer. well, i turn the computer on and it seems that there is an unactivated verstion of xp already on the computer. when turned on, it prompts me to activate the computer... i try to do this, but when it scans for connectivity it says it is unable to do so (my internect connection is connected to the laptop). i cannot get past that window.

through the bios i tried to change the order of how the computer starts up and put my cd/dvd drive first... this did nothing, as well. it went straight to that activation screen over starting up the disk (xp os disk).

have any ideas?

thanks for your help on this one!

ab

Can you boot into Safe Mode?

F8 after BIOS POST or comp logo before windows?

yes. it is now running in safe mode.

i am currently attempting to install the new xp from the disk onto the computer through the safe mode... i think this might do it!

if you rt click my computer then click properties

what service pack (if any) is listed after XP

also is there a registration # (dont tell us the # just yes or no).