Serial on COA not working on fresh reinstallation of XP

[Jason404]

I have a Thinkpad X31, and I am trying to reinstall a fresh copy of XP Pro on it, after I trashed the old installation in a Linux related accident.

There is no recovery partition, and I do not have any recovery CDs.

I have tried installing XP Pro from a generic OEM XP SP2 CD, but the key on the COA at the bottom is not being accepted. I cannot complete installation, let alone activate it. I guess there is a IBM version of the OEM disc that I need?

I have made the 1802 BIOS edit, to use an unofficial wifi card. Would this make any difference to a BIOS locked OEM CD?

What do I do in this situation??

Cheers

[bill bolton]

I have a Thinkpad X31

Are you sure the COA on the X31 is for XP Pro?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[Jason404]

Yes, it says XP Professional. I thought all X-Series, if not all Thinkpads, came with Pro, rather than XP Home?

I previously had XP Pro on the laptop, from when I bought it (second-hand), and by using a key viewer, I could see that the key being used was the same as the one on the COA.

[carbon_unit]

You don't have the right version of Windows XP or else it would work, it did before. The previous install must not have been a factory preload or it would not have used the COA number but instead would have used a volume license key.
I think the factory restore cd's would work even with the no 1802 hack. Ask around and see if anyone offers you some.

[Jason404]

If anybody has the restore CDs for a Thinkpad X31, PLEASE tell me!

I have an FTP server, where the .iso images can be uploaded. Thanks!

[ryengineer]

If anybody has the restore CDs for a Thinkpad X31, PLEASE tell me!.....snip

Go to Marketplace of this forum and request one, hopefully someone will make a copy for you.