About Lauren Bennett Expertise I am a computer science major and my dad is an Electric Engineering, so my life has revolved around computers. For as long as I can remember, I have been buying and selling computers. I tend to travel a lot, so I have always had a laptop. I have bought 5 of them for myself, and bought around 30-40 for friends and family. I have dealt with the good and the bad of various version and brand names. If you are in need of buying a laptop, feel free to contact me and I'm sure I will be able to guide you into purchasing the laptop that will be the best fit for you. I will custom build you computers for you to choose from so you can get an exact idea of what to go and buy when you do it yourself and so that you have an exact price. However, I am in the USA and am only knowledgeable about computers here in the US. I do not know about foreign currency or the quality of computer brand names outside the US.
Experience B.S. in Computer Science. Buying and selling for years. Assisting friends/family.
Question I recently bought a Compac Armada laptop off of Ebay. Computer works fine but I went in and noticed there were other users listed and tried to delete them. I ended up locking myself out of system. The seller said he would have to wipe the hard drive and reload windows. Is there a way I can do this myself? What do I need to buy? It had Windows 2000 NT installed. PLease help!
Answer Yes, the only way to get into a locked computer is to reinstall the operating system. If the system is under warranty, they will ship you the reinstallation disk right away along with all the drivers and original software. However, I am not sure if they do this after the warranty has expired. I always buy full 4 year warranties and sell the computers beforehand.
I'd call HP first and see what they offer you - it may or may not be cheaper than buying it elsewhere. I would avoid buying the reinstallation disk off eBay or a similar site because you have no way to verify that they have never used the CD and/or that it is authentic. You could get in huge legal trouble without even knowing it.
Have you thought about just buying a Windows XP upgrade disk and getting a better operating system? I would advise Vista unless you go with Home Basic because I doubt the computer could handle the graphical needs of the higher end Vista operating systems.
Most of the drivers you need will be available for download on the Internet - HP will be able to give you the names of your video card, sound card, etc.
Reinstallation is fairly simple - there are a ton of walkthroughs available on the internet if you do a Google search.
Let me know if you have any other questions or need anything cleared up!
