Laptop Computer

ally_uk

Hi there

A customer has just bought in a laptop with a interesting error

Firstly he is not running a Genuine Copy Of windows XP which as we all know isn't the smartest way to go about things hence he is being prompted with the Your copy of windows is not genuine screen during the logon process.

Secondly The user's device manager is empty no devices at all it's just blank nothing at all is present lol

Thirdly when i go into Safe mode I a being presented with a BSOD which is telling me irg_less_equal or something along those lines

I suggested that he invests in a genuine copy of XP

and I am puzzled why the devices have disapeered the customer ran a defrag and disk clean up and was presented with the whole no devices saga

Any ideas guys?

Many Thanks

WanBoy67

It's a laptop, so a license should have been provided from the manufacturer on the bottom of the laptop - what Im saying is, it's not an OEM PC. And it's not a genuine copy of Windows XP so the license provided with the laptop is Windows 2000? If that's the case then personally I wouldn't bother fixing it - the probable age of the laptop, the cost to do a reload (cause it sounds like it needs to be, to be honest - a min 2 hour job IMO ) and then the cost of the legit XP license would mean the customer would nearly be better off buying a new laptop with a genuine version of Vista/XP. If they wanted their laptop fixed anyway (cost regardless), personally I wouldn't touch it until it's legit cause you can guess what else they'll look for 'free'

It sounds knackered, epescially when it BSODs in Safe Mode. Spyware/P0rn hell no doubt.

Ricka182

It sounds infected to me....I would plug the drive in to a good protected machine, strip the wanted data, and then get a legit copy of Windows......

MR_BENN

ally_uk wrote:

Hi there

A customer has just bought in a laptop with a interesting error

Firstly he is not running a Genuine Copy Of windows XP which as we all know isn't the smartest way to go about things hence he is being prompted with the Your copy of windows is not genuine screen during the logon process.

Secondly The user's device manager is empty no devices at all it's just blank nothing at all is present lol

Thirdly when i go into Safe mode I a being presented with a BSOD which is telling me irg_less_equal or something along those lines

I suggested that he invests in a genuine copy of XP

and I am puzzled why the devices have disapeered the customer ran a defrag and disk clean up and was presented with the whole no devices saga

Any ideas guys?


Many Thanks

How old is the laptop and what make is it?

When the device manager window popped up were you logged on as the customer account or as Administrator?

I concur with wanboy67 the OS probably is OEm and pre-loaded when bought. Most Laptops come with recovery disk. Did he supply them?

Slowhand

ally_uk wrote:

Thirdly when i go into Safe mode I a being presented with a BSOD which is telling me irg_less_equal or something along those lines

This blue screen isn't your average Blue Screen of Death, this is a different beast entirely. It's a hardware error, and by the sounds of it, it's probably causing the device manager to be blank. Sounds like there is an IRQ conflict, probably between the sound card and the network card, (sometimes they like to share an IRQ channel, usually doesn't cause a problem). The best bet would be to re-install the OS, unless you'd like to spend some quality time messing with IRQ settings. Valid or not, reinstalling the OS should clear up the issue, unless the problem stems from a piece of hardware, itself. If it's something along the lines of the motherboard, (which it usually is on a laptop,) then it's time to junk the machine and get a new one.

Try re-installing the OS. Or, if it's XP, run the recovery console and repair the install. If the blue screen still comes up, then you know the issue isn't being caused by Windows abusing the hardware, it's being caused by the hardware, itself. Normally, I'd say try reinstalling the driver of whatever device is causing the ol' "IBM Blue Screen" to come up, but if you're not sure of what device is causing the error, if any, then it's hard to know what driver to reinstall.

Sie

Slowhand wrote:

ally_uk wrote:

Thirdly when i go into Safe mode I a being presented with a BSOD which is telling me irg_less_equal or something along those lines

Normally, I'd say try reinstalling the driver of whatever device is causing the ol' "IBM Blue Screen" to come up, but if you're not sure of what device is causing the error, if any, then it's hard to know what driver to reinstall.

There usually is more information on the BSOD that should highlight what the problem is if only the IRQ channel or device. I would take another look at it for clues.

As said though if its not genuine then its up to you if you spend time on it or not...

JDMurray

The BSOD is caused by a bad or incorrect driver installed for one or more hardware devices. Most likely the owner wiped the OEM Windows OS and installed Windows XP without also installing the drivers for the laptop's motherboard, integrated hardware, and peripherals. Download all the drivers from the laptop's Web page and install them. Check for firmware updates for the BIOS, CD/DVD drive, and video. And sell him a genuine copy of Windows XP too.

blargoe

IRQ not less or equal usually means driver related problems.

1. He isn't being truthful about all of what he did to the system to put it in this condition.
2. You should make it a policy to never, never support customers who insist on running illegal operating systems on their computer. If for no other reason, because they can simply blame it on you. If I was starving I would not take that customer's business.