[figgy]

bought a fujitsu siemens SCALEO P mce pc from pc world with xp mce2005 installed....after getting a backdoor trojan that i was unable to remove i decided to reinstall mce 2005,didnt get a media disk with it just a lot of other crappy software,so after contacting pcworld they told me that i would have to contact fujitsu who in turn wanted 60 quid from me for a setup cd

no way i thought after forking out a fortune for the pc so i borrowed a 11in1 disk with mce 2005 on it
when it asks me to enter my key from my coa sticker on side of case setup tells me its an invalid key

can anyone tell me why this is happening,coa sticker on case is definately media center 2005

[mmarable]

The problem is that the 11 in 1 disk is an illegal warez disk. These are usually hacked so that the Windows installs don't require activation.

In essence, the copy of MCE2005 on the warez disk is looking for a volume license key as opposed to the normal end user key, which would require activation.

You're stuck. You will have to either use the recover disk(s) that came with your machine and deal with all the additional software extras, fight your case for the base media CDs, or cut your looses and pay the money for the MCE install disks.

[figgy]

the 11 in1 generated iso seems to have a setup.ini with data thats different from xp vlk so i assumed it was a standard mce 2005 discs it made,,i dont see why i should have to pay for something twice when it was already preinstalled on my machine and i have a coa sticker on the top of the case

[mmarable]

The argument you'll get from the vendor is that you knew you were not getting a full set of install CDs when you purchased the product from them, and that you purchased thier product knowing that you would get a recovery disk and nothing more. They will have small print documentation to back it up and you will be out of luck.

People get burned by this all the time. Is it unfair? Yes it is, but that's the way business is done.

As for your situation. You're kind of stuck. You can fight and argue with the vendor, but you will most likely lose. Even if they give up and provide you with full install CDs it won't be any time soon. To get up and running right away you're going to have to go with the recovery disk that did come with your machine.

Depending on how it's set up, you may be able to pick it apart and create your own set of installation media, and skip all the extras that they have included.