Asking for activation but already activated

[J Jenkins]

I bought a laptop from ebay a few months ago, with Windows XP
pre-installed. No CD came with it, but it has a sticker with the XP
serial
number. When I first used it I had to activate XP which I did with no
problem, by modem. Then, a few days ago, it started giving me the
activation screen again each time I re-booted. So I have to go through
the
whole ritual each time. It DOES successfully activate each time - it
says
so - so this doesn't look like a problem with a pirate copy. Nor is it
a
problem with the 30 days grace period having expired.

Also, this isn't the problem that some people have had, whereby they
are told to activate and then it says "already activated" -- but the
30 day counter carries on ticking down. My counter doesn't seem to be
decreasing.

Nor have I made any system changes.

Any ideas?

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

The article will show you how to 'deactivate' in the registry and try it all
over (you won't need phone in activation)

328874 - How to change the Volume Licensing product key on a Windows XP
SP1-based computer: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=328874