I have an old Gateway desktop with Windows XP Media Center. The computer tries to boot but gets in a loop - will not even boot in safe mode. During a move I've misplaced my original Windows disk. I tried loading XP Professional but when getting to the place in the installation process to enter the product key, it says it's invalid. I also tried entering the product key shown on the back of the CPU. Any ideas?

reboot the computer, and press F8 while rebooting, and choose safe mode with networking from the boot menu, once you are in windows, see if internet explorer works in safe mode, if it does, let me know so we can look for a solution

Hi

Unfortuantley if you cannot get into safe mode, then windows is stuck ina loop, the easiest thing would be to reformat the machine and reinstall windows

Please leave feedback/vote if my answer was helpful

1. Boot to your XP CD, enter Recovery Console and run the command CHKDSK /R and see if that resolves
2. Run diagnostics on the HDD, it may be failing, replace HDD if diags fail
3. In-Place (Repair) reinstall of WIndows http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/install-reinstall-uninstall

Hi,

Sounds like corruption in the registry. Have you tried booting in safe mode? Try hitting the F8 key on boot and see if you can get it to boot in safe mode.

Cheers,
Ripface.

you need to press the F8 key to get to safe boot mode then you can probably go in and figure out what is going on. If it's not F8, there will usually be some indicator what you need to do to get to safe mode. You can do some diagnostics when in safe mode, such as system restore. You may have a virus, but without more info, I can't say. Try that first, see how that goes

I would try booting in to safe mode see what happens

1. Restart your computer and start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. On a computer that is configured for booting to multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot Menu appears.
2. Select an option when the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, and then press ENTER.
3. When the Boot menu appears again, and the words "Safe Mode" appear in blue at the bottom, select the installation that you want to start, and then press ENTER.

If it works in safe mode you may have a permissions issue or infection of some type.
Run a virus scan.

Remove any devices connected to your computer.

Sometimes they make the recovery disk with windows on it, but not the programs that start windows during the boot up phase. One of the three main files that boots into windows is corrputed or your Master Boot Record is missing. There are two options you can try without the OS disc so lets see if one of those will work: 1) boot up and press F8 to enter safe mode. Once in safe mode sometimes you can also get into window because just the minimum of the program is loaded. F8 Safe Mode>in windows>click start>accesories>system tools>system restore. It will allow you to restore your computer to a prior date before you have problems. 2)if that don;'t work then F8 safe mode and while in safe mode choose Last Known Configuration. Kinda works the same way as restoe but you don't have to be in windows to do it. If those don't work then get your hands on a windows xp disc, anyone's will do, don't have to be yours. Let me know how it goes.
Rate this solution. You can also find out about this at support.microsoft.com>help and support>type in Windows XP boot disk in the search engine.If those don't work let me know and we'll move on to phase II.

Hello,

Remove the media card while booting.

If there is no media in the card reader, press F8 after the laptop beeps during boot and this should give you a Safe Mode boot screen, choose Safe Mode and then your default OS listed. After you get your desktop, restart the laptop.

If when you press F8 you get a boot from what screen, choose your hard drive and then immediately press F8 again to get the Safe Mode boot screen.

You need to either remove the flash media or use Safe Mode and then restart to reset the Boot Ini information script.

Let me know if this works for you or not, as we may need to take another measure.

Regards,
Worldvet

first off, XP is not supported any longer by Microsoft? So, after awhile xp will not work with current WEB browsers, etc.
its been so long since ive used XP i cannot remember how to get in to safe mode, let alone out of it? i would try to find out online with a pc that works.

Hi there, my name is Alex and Im here to help solve your problem.

It could be a number of problems.

1: Have you installed any new hardware or software? This can cause some conflictions. If there is any new hardware you have installed and your PC is constantly rebooting, then remove that hardware and try booting. If you have recently installed new software and getting the loop, then start windows in safe mode by pressing F8 before it boots windows. If you can access windows in safe mode, then uninstall any new software you may have added.

2: It could be you need a new power supply. They are very cheap to buy and I would recommend a qualified technician to install it for you

3: Your pc may be infected with a virus and has affected the boot file. Try to repair windows by using the windows xp disk. Insert the disk and run using the CD. You will then go through a few blue screens and press R to repair your windows xp installations

I hope this information has helped. Please let me know if you have any questions or further problems