Windows Genuine Advantage
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Colci,
At this point, data rescue can take either a software approach or a hardware approach.
Hardware: mount your broken computer's existing Hard Disk Drive (HDD) into either another computer or an external hard disk enclosure to gain access to the data you need, then copy the data to the "host" computer for safekeeping. When all data is rescued, put the original HDD back into the original computer and do a clean installation of XP. Finally, copy data from the host computer to your computer. While using this method, it is not unusual to encounter error messages about being denied access to files and folders on the "transplanted" disk. Please use the solution in this MS KB to overcome the problem of being denied access: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421/en-us
The external enclosure choice IMO is the best, since after you have completed the rescue and XP is cleanly installed and running normally, you can use the enclosure with another disk installed as a destination for the backups of the data on your computer that you have not been doing.
Software: Your current installation of XP is not working properly, so you can choose to put a new, independent installation of XP onto the computer, or use a CD-based installation of XP, to gain access to the files "stranded" by the malfunctioning installation of XP.
To install a new, independent copy of XP onto the computer, follow the instructons for installing XP into a new folder, aka a parallel installation, in this MS KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316941/en-us The parallel installation of XP will know nothing of the programs previously installed on the computer, so if you plan on using say a third party CD burning program or third pary backup program to offload the data to be rescued, that program will have to be installed so that the new XP installation can work with it. Parallel installations also may encounter the "access denied" error mentioned above, but you can use the same KB to correct that problem as above.
This is the only option that does not require the use of another computer. Finally, note that the reason for a parallel installation is solely for data rescue. You should plan to do a clean installation of XP after your data is recovered, since it is not rcommended to have two installations of XP on the same partition of a hard disk drive.
Your other software option is to make a BartPE CD following the instructions at this page: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/download/ This will generate a mini-XP Operating System that will boot up your computer and run it, that has the ability to navigate the file structure on your dead computer and transfer files over a network to another computer. There are modules available for download that allow writing such data to CDs, but installing these modules is an advanced task that only you know if you can do.
Let us know how you make out.
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Colci,
In your situation, I would back up my files then do a clean installation using the first CD that you were sent.
My guess is that your original nongenuine installation may have had quite a few hacked and cracked files plus might have been running a script that interfered with Product Activation or Validation. Whenever you get the error message about Windows not being able to check the license on the computer, quite often the only recourse is a reinstallation or a clean installation.
Good Luck!
