2 XP machines, same product key

[PanHandler]

Yesterday I bought a new eMachine at Wal-Mart for $298, with XP Home
preinstalled. After getting it configured and loading some programs I wanted
to get some info on the machine, so I loaded the Aida SysInfo utility and
while poking around in it noticed that the OS key looked familiar. I went to
my list of machines/keys on my other computers and found the SAME key in use
on one of my old (5 Year) eMachines that I sold about a year ago! I read
both keys at least five times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
What the hell? What are the odds of M$ doing that accidentally, and on top
of that, the chances an individual would ever catch it? How the hell can
this be?

PS:
XP was preloaded, so it didn't even do the validation thing.

 

[neil]

Are you reading the product key from the label on the side of the machine or
using some software to read what is in the machine.?
eMachine may use the same key to load an image but your personal key (if you
like) will be on the label stuck to the PC case.
That may explain what you have seen.
Neil

 

[David B.]

Perfectly normal, you would see the same behavior on Dell, HP, Sony, etc,
Microsoft had nothing to do with it, it is the PC mfg that uses a volume
type key on their drive images.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Yesterday I bought a new eMachine at Wal-Mart for $298, with XP Home
preinstalled. After getting it configured and loading some programs I wanted
to get some info on the machine, so I loaded the Aida SysInfo utility and
while poking around in it noticed that the OS key looked familiar. I went to
my list of machines/keys on my other computers and found the SAME key in use
on one of my old (5 Year) eMachines that I sold about a year ago! I read
both keys at least five times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
What the hell? What are the odds of M$ doing that accidentally, and on top
of that, the chances an individual would ever catch it? How the hell can
this be?

It's not an accident and Microsoft didn't do it, eMachines did. It's
the key they use to bulk install XP on a large number of machines over
a long period of time.

 

[PanHandler]

Thanks for the help people!