I got a computer from a surplus supply at work. It’s an e-machine that was being used as a file server. We outgrew it and have now implemented a true blade server at work.
When he switched everything out, the IT contractor we hired wiped the machine clean and I took it home. It boots fine and prompted me validate my copy of windows. It was unable to connect to the internet, but I was able to call the Microsoft automated validation number and everything went fine.
I’m hoping to use this tower at home as a file server, but it still won’t connect to the internet. It says there’s a problem with the driver. I installed a new NIC and it finds that driver but the driver won’t “start” because there’s an error.
As there’s nothing on this computer at all, I thought the easiest thing to do would be to just reinstall the OS as start clean. Well, there’s no restore partition and I don’t have the installation disks. I can’t call the IT guy because he was an outside contractor and my boss probably wouldn’t want to pay $500/ hour to get my home server running.
Any ideas on how I can (a) troubleshoot my network connection problem or (b) just reinstall XP Pro from scratch?
Thanks!
