I had updated the bios for my aptiva mobo and now I can't reinstall windows?

[socalch]

I updated the bios for my aptiva 2139e5u from siemens which makes the board. it's great since I'm much more stable now but when I tried a clean reinstall windows I get a bios mismatch and when I try to use other programs on my product recovery disk I get a message saying that this program is not lisencsed for this machine. ok I've got a old 182 mb HD and was wondering which essential files/folders I should copy just in case my overclocking corrupts some essential windows files. basically I be screwed if I pc stopped working so I'm going to take precautions. oh and IBM basically says I'm screwed since I updated my bios from another website(but I was crashing all the time before my update)so no help there.

[Dillbert2000]

Wait a minute did you update your motherbaord with the correct bios version or didn't you?

If your Bios was tinkered with by IBM then that IS why your Screwed. Do you have a "restore" disk or a windows disk. If you have a factory restore disk then it is garbage with your new bios but if you can get a windows disk then your ok.

good luck.

[Nathan]

I think you are leaving out some info here. The reason why you have a recovery disk is so you can reinstall all the device drivers. I've seen that error before. The times it has appeared for me is because the recovery CD was bad. It wouldn't take the serial number off the machine and gave a very similiar message.

1. Are you trying to put in a 182 MB hard drive?

2. What size was in it before?

3. Does the CD-rom work when you go to use the recovery disk?

[bigslammer]

yeah the cd seems to be in working order, no scratches and it works in windows just says that I'm not liscensed to use it but I'm am liscensed to use it just the bios is different. I've called ibm like three times and asked them to email me the original bios and big surprise they weren't any help I've checked all over their website and no luck. thing is I think I can copy the folders/files off the cd so I'm wondering what folder/files that I can copy off my recovery disk and put them on my 182mb extra HD(that would let me reinstall win98) just in case I screw up things on my regular 8gb HD(and I have screwed things up). also worried about when I want to put linux on another partition on my 8gb. thx for the help. but you maybe correct nathan if this is exactly what happened to you(but I tried other programs on the recovery disk and they ask for a password so I just think it's very well write protected.

[CMonster]

I'm jsut a bit confused, but here is my 2cents:

In my opinion you have two choices;

1. Obtain the correct BIOS from IBM (chicken's chance in Hong Kong?), which should include the serial number that your product recovery disk is looking for;

2. Get another copy of Windows and install it like everyone else in the PC-clone world does - of course you may still need to download specific driver files from IBM, but they are available online

ONE MOR THING...if you can clone the drive to another that would leave you pretty safe ..perhaps worth the $100 or so it might cost for a medium size drive

[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 10-26-1999).]

[Mntsnow]

I would go with Option 2 in my humble opinion. (If you end up using the "recovery disks" you WILL end up with all of the programs that came on your system when new (including all of those that you didnt want in the first place!)

Mntsnow

[socalch]

thx for the input. I'll probably just hold my breath until win2000 comes out and buy a copy of that. IBM was absolutely useless in this case(but I'm sure they're ok, just happens that they can't help me with something that is as simple as emailing me the original bios).

[Axel]

Here is part of your answer - Many license files key a portion of the license off the BIOS version - something most users do not typically tinker with until Y2K came along.
So - when you altered that, you blew away several of your soft license files on your system.
It's a mystery to me why you went to someone other than the manufacturer for a BIOS upgrade.
If you did as most of the Flash BIOS upgrade screens tell you and saved a back-up of the old BIOS, I'd reinstall it, and go to IBM support for an assist on your other problems.
Barring that - buy a new drive and reinstall everything, then add the 182 MB in as a slave and pull what you want off it before encasing that fossel in plastic and making an interesting paperweight for your grand children.