Legal XP Home key not working

[Rauschman]

I just reformatted a friend's HP Pavilion laptop with XP Home. In the
condition I received it, the computer would not even turn on, and I
didn't bother booting from a recovery disk or preinstallation
environment to run a keyfinder simply because there is a genuine
product label on the bottom of the laptop that states XP Home Edition
and has a product key. I installed XP with my own OEM XP Home disk
(because the laptop had OEM originally), and the key from the bottom
of the laptop was accepted without issue. Now I have SP2 installed and
the computer is saying the key is invalid. I tried to run activation
and change key by telephoning microsoft, but the key still will not be
accepted. I am guessing that this is because I'm trying to put an
original key into SP2. Any suggestions where I can go from here?

 

[][ce]

Now I have SP2 installed and the computer is saying the key is invalid.

How did you install SP2? Windows update? SP2 upgrade CD? I don't
understand why you're being prompted a second time to re-enter the
key. What version is your OEM disk?

][ce

 

[Rock]

I just reformatted a friend's HP Pavilion laptop with XP Home. In the
condition I received it, the computer would not even turn on, and I
didn't bother booting from a recovery disk or preinstallation
environment to run a keyfinder simply because there is a genuine
product label on the bottom of the laptop that states XP Home Edition
and has a product key. I installed XP with my own OEM XP Home disk
(because the laptop had OEM originally), and the key from the bottom
of the laptop was accepted without issue. Now I have SP2 installed and
the computer is saying the key is invalid. I tried to run activation
and change key by telephoning microsoft, but the key still will not be
accepted. I am guessing that this is because I'm trying to put an
original key into SP2. Any suggestions where I can go from here?

I'm not sure what the problem is, but the product key does not depend on the
SP level. The same product key works whether it's Gold, SP1 or SP2.

 

[GHalleck]

I just reformatted a friend's HP Pavilion laptop with XP Home. In the
condition I received it, the computer would not even turn on, and I
didn't bother booting from a recovery disk or preinstallation
environment to run a keyfinder simply because there is a genuine
product label on the bottom of the laptop that states XP Home Edition
and has a product key. I installed XP with my own OEM XP Home disk
(because the laptop had OEM originally), and the key from the bottom
of the laptop was accepted without issue. Now I have SP2 installed and
the computer is saying the key is invalid. I tried to run activation
and change key by telephoning microsoft, but the key still will not be
accepted. I am guessing that this is because I'm trying to put an
original key into SP2. Any suggestions where I can go from here?

Just a guess but the situation might be that the WPA database can only
recognize the resulting product ID from a COA in combination with the
version of Windows XP released by HP or the original OEM. The otherwise
result would be the failure to activate, either via internet or manually.
(It has been reported that parts of the 25-digit Product ID identify the
version of Windows XP and the block issued to an OEM). That's the nature
of the beast (or the game, as Microsoft plays it.)