Hi. It's been my understanding all along that you can change up to 5 system
components at once and still be able to activate a new clean install of XP
(RETAIL!). Because of this:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/s...-at-an-alarmi/
, and Seagates adament refusal to honor their warranty (they said the
printing on the drives label wasn't totally readable; this was the result of
me trying the drive in 6 different systems, one in a PC repair shop) I
decided to upgrade the mobo, but ended up with a nice barebone systems and a
Western Digital HDD. With this new install the motherboard with it's
integrated audio, video, etc., CPU, RAM and HDD will be new, and the only 2
things left from the last install I activated, which was the Seagate install,
will be the optical drives. Am I going to have a problem activating? This
will be the systems 4th mobo/CPU/RAM upgrade, and I haven't had a problem in
the past. Thanks!

John P. said this on 4/8/2009 2:03 PM:
> Hi. It's been my understanding all along that you can change up to 5 system
> components at once and still be able to activate a new clean install of XP
> (RETAIL!). Because of this:
> http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/s...-at-an-alarmi/
> , and Seagates adament refusal to honor their warranty (they said the
> printing on the drives label wasn't totally readable; this was the result of
> me trying the drive in 6 different systems, one in a PC repair shop) I
> decided to upgrade the mobo, but ended up with a nice barebone systems and a
> Western Digital HDD. With this new install the motherboard with it's
> integrated audio, video, etc., CPU, RAM and HDD will be new, and the only 2
> things left from the last install I activated, which was the Seagate install,
> will be the optical drives. Am I going to have a problem activating? This
> will be the systems 4th mobo/CPU/RAM upgrade, and I haven't had a problem in
> the past. Thanks!

If you have a valid excuse, there should be no issue activating. Just
call the phone # and spend the few minutes. Its not like you can't,
you just may not be able to over the internet. I've reloaded the PC 4
times in 2 days and had to start calling after the 2nd or 3rd. My
excuse, "I didn't like the way it installed, I answer a question wrong
and started over". MS seems to be pretty understanding.

Here is some interesting reading on activation:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb457054.aspx

yes, the protocol is
based on something
called "hardware hash"

there is more info
on the subject on
microsoft.com

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @hotmail.com
"share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>

"John P." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:02B08581-003A-4953-9790-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi. It's been my understanding all along that you can change up to 5 system
> components at once and still be able to activate a new clean install of XP
> (RETAIL!). Because of this:
> http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/s...-at-an-alarmi/
> , and Seagates adament refusal to honor their warranty (they said the
> printing on the drives label wasn't totally readable; this was the result of
> me trying the drive in 6 different systems, one in a PC repair shop) I
> decided to upgrade the mobo, but ended up with a nice barebone systems and a
> Western Digital HDD. With this new install the motherboard with it's
> integrated audio, video, etc., CPU, RAM and HDD will be new, and the only 2
> things left from the last install I activated, which was the Seagate install,
> will be the optical drives. Am I going to have a problem activating? This
> will be the systems 4th mobo/CPU/RAM upgrade, and I haven't had a problem in
> the past. Thanks!