I'm having serious doubts about eMachines computers.

I know two people who lost their power supplies within a couple of weeks of each other. In one case, the failure of the power supply apparently wiped out the motherboard and in the other case, the failur eof the power supply appears to have wiped out the CPU.

I'm not at all sure that it is worth replacing the motherboard or CPU.

I appreaciate learning this because it certainly increases the cost of getting it back up and running.

You're probably right, but he's still not completely out of luck. If he can get his hands on a Windows XP disc that's the same version (ie Home/Pro, same SP number included, etc) as what was originally installed, he should be able to use the OEM key included with the machine to get Windows installed. He'll then have to call Microsoft and tell them the hard drive went bad, mainboard was replaced, etc, and he should have a fully functional standalone Windows XP installation.

Vis-a-vis the licensing, Microsoft can blow it out their ass. You purchase a license to run Windows XP when you buy the system, meaning you've paid money to Microsoft. Microsoft can throw all the legalese garbage into the EULA that they like and a court will tell them just where to stick it if they try going after someone doing what I just described above.

We'd take one look at the PC, one look at the motherboard replacement, see that they were identical, see that the OS wasn't installing with the appropriate key which was on the side of the PC...

Then I'd install an activation crack and be done with it.

I'm not going to spend 2 hours on hold for Microsoft to BS me about how I, as a repair technician, have to tell a customer that they, microsoft, lied and misled them.

I COULD just hand the PC to the customer and tell them they need to activate it with Microsoft, which is their responsability which technically it is. But they will come right back, like a scared animal, and start complaining about how they got assrammed without lube by MS. Or worse, they'll take their anger out on me.

Either way, I get fucked, MS gets money.

Is it a violation of the TOS? Well, here's a question; If a company sells a software package with an EULA, and that EULA states they have the right to install it on any PC or have repairs done to it by a authorized repair center with OEM hardware, and then they don't fallow through on that then technically, they are in violation of their own EULA. If Microsoft is in violation of their own software contract for failure to ensure the software can be installed, then this customer is owed some form of remedy. I realize that and work a bypass.

Am I violating the TOS? You better believe I am, but I'm also covering Microsofts scrawny ass. I'm doing everyone a favor.

They can call me up later when they do a restoration or reinstall themselves and run into the same problem, then they can connect up with microsoft and a Microsoft representantive can get yelled at and more importantly, Microsoft can look bad. That way the ass-chewing goes to the proper people with the power to do somethnig about it.

I'v got a bottom line to uphold and it's hard enough in the world of disposable PC's to make a living doing repairs; you've got to be at the top of your game. I'm not going to start telling customers "hey, the $200 work on a $600 PC is done, I attempted an OS reinstall and it turns out Microsoft has decided that you need to repurchase the OS for another $200". That's rediculous.

For the record, you'd better believe I'v refused to do installs of pirated copies of windows. I'v get people coming upto me all the time and asking if I can use this CD-key here, on this piece of paper, to do it then hand the computer back to them. That always turns into a mess; I require either the holographic sticker or booklet with CD-key. It's when they have that and it still doesn't work I begin having problems.

Umm, did you replace your hard drive in the HP? HP (amongst others) creates a smallish (600MB~1GB) partition on your hard drive. The recovery software is looking for that partition. Swap out the drive, and those recovery disks are useless. You can buy a disk image set from them for about $14 for your machine. I recently have gone through this repairing a friend's Compaq laptop. I had to replace the drive, and order a disk image set. It took about 5 days for me to get it, but I didn't have to purchase an OEM copy with a drive for $100.

Good point. I work on a blue water sailing vessel with three or four PCs and it is an absolute nightmare if we need to reinstall windows or even adobe creative suite whilst in the middle of the Atlantic. Not to mention data calls are either too slow to do online activation, or cost $14 per minute for single channel ISDN. On top of that we go through so many hard drives due to the boats constant slamming and movement that we are often asked why we have activated so many time in the past. All I can think is why do we have to spend even more money on satcom charges to install licensed software?

Inevitable solution? (Other than decent backups) simply use a pirated copy and WGA crack. A sad state of affairs indeed.

The moral of the story: steal Windows.

It's not worth the money anyway.

But it's a funny world we live in, where stealing seems to bring you elss trouble than buying - and that's leaving money out of the equation.

I mean, really... if you buy Windows, you didn't really buy it as such. You bought a license to use it on one computer under the exact conditions provided by Microsoft, take it or leave it.
If you steal it, however... why, you don't have a worry in your life (BSA is not all-powerful, after all) - not only do you steal a license, but you steal so much that you can disregard the license altogether. Hey, you stole it, you might as well steal all the way.

Which only goes to prove: if you know something about computers, one way or the other, you'll stop paying for software.

Which only goes to prove: if you know something about computers, one way or the other, you'll stop paying for software.

I've come to the point where I consider paying for multimedia and software an altruistic act. I'll pay for software or music if I feel I should support whoever is getting that money. So I still pay for some shareware, and purchase content from the artists. But that's pretty much it.

The customer chose to use products, full stop. Microsoft has done a damn good job of exclusively promoting its products to Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and other Lenovo-compatible PC manufacturers such that nobody else's home OS products are advertised in mainstream media.

Er, doesn't the phrase "Hi, I'm a Mac" sound familiar to you?

I have been using Windows XP at work for at least a year and a half now, but I still haven't found any reason whatsoever to upgrade beyond Windows 2000 at home. Windows 2000 does not use product activation, and is stable. So what if Microsoft doesn't support it anymore? It still works great, and I have yet to run into a software application I like that won't run on it. Seriously... so many people just act like sheep, in regard to accepting the "Thou Shalt Upgrade" commandment from Microsoft, without question.

So, in conclusion, I remain steadfast in my resolution to never buy another Microsoft operating system. And surely copies of Windows 2000 are still available on eBay, or elsewhere.

Also, you may want to start experimenting with using Linux. I'm using it more and more often these days, as I learn its capabilities. So I would recommend downloading a Knoppix Linux image, burning it to a CD-R or DVD+R, booting it up via CD/DVD drive, and playing with that. It will not affect any of the data stored on your PC (unless you direct it to).