Having read some of the articles on this forum, I think I've possibly diagnosed my own problem, but I wonder if someone can help me find the cure! I've just returned from working in the Far East, in a particular country where there are literally no laws governing software piracy at all - it is accepted that most copies of XP are dodgy, and very difficult to get your hands on legit versions. I'm not particularly ofay with loading software etc., but have just returned home to the UK with a on laptop which our engineer at work had loaded Windows XP. To cut a long story short, after unpacking everything, including the computer, I find I can no longer log in to my account on the Welcome screen - or rather, it allows me to start logging in, then logs me straight out again. Many of the messages on this forum suggest that this is caused by the installation of cracks to get round activation. What I am asking is, is there a way I can get the laptop back to the point where it is at least asking me to activate (it isn't at the moment, just logging me straight off) so that I can buy a legit copy of XP, phone Microsoft and explain in some way, and get my laptop's installation activated without having to reinstall Windows from scratch. I've honestly no interest at all in being illegal, despite the prices of the XP package....but that's another issue, really. Can anyone advise? Many thanks J.

You have an Xp cd? if so, set your CDROM as first boot device in BIOS, put Xp cd in drive and reboot. Once at the Xp setup screen, make like you were doing a fresh install and select the drive/partition Xp is ALREADY on, and click OK/Next. You will then be presented with a message along the lines of "Xp already detected on this drive, would you like to repair?" yes you would. I'm hoping that the anti-activation cracks were applied after the original install, rather than actually being part of your cd, which is unlikely. What i've just suggested will return all system files to there original state, without fear of losing any settings or data. Once you're done, you should at least be asked for activation, or even better, may have to do nothing at all.

That is the best advice one can give. That is good Hooner. Try booting in Safe mode (That is Press F8 before teh Post screen goes off. It will goive you several boot options. Select SAFE MODE with networking. If it allows it and gets you to windows safely Then insert the Xp Cd ( Good one) and upgrade. All your files will still be there. But if it doen't work. Hooners advice is the best.

Thanks for that - I've gone through the repair process, and it is now asking me for activation, so at least I can deal with things in a straight up way now. Take care J.