Product keys

[induhvidual]

My dad bought an XP computer a few years back and his motherboard died
recently and he bought a new one. I inherited the old one and rebuilt it for
myself.
I wiped the hard drive, reinstalled the windows that came with it, and have
been using it for a month or so now.
I just switched out an optical drive and moved some stuff around, and now
Microsoft wants me to re-activate my copy of windows.
When I put in my key, it tells me that that key has been used too many
times, or something to that effect.
Anything I can do about that?

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

The activation dialog has a 'phone in' option that will let you activate the
system.

To run the activation dialog, go to start/run, and type:
%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /A

--
Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
interface.
http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales/help/help_en-us.htm#RateAPostAsAnswer
Mark L. Ferguson
..

 

[JS]

How to activate Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307890
You can activate by phone.

JS

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I just switched out an optical drive and moved some stuff around, and now
Microsoft wants me to re-activate my copy of windows.
When I put in my key, it tells me that that key has been used too many
times, or something to that effect.
Anything I can do about that?

Yes. The message is misleading. You can reactivate as often as you
need to, and there is no "too many times."

When you get the message, you are given an 800 number to call. Simply
do so and activate over the phone. It's quick and easy--normally under
five minutes.

 

[nass]

My dad bought an XP computer a few years back and his motherboard died
recently and he bought a new one. I inherited the old one and rebuilt it for
myself.
I wiped the hard drive, reinstalled the windows that came with it, and have
been using it for a month or so now.
I just switched out an optical drive and moved some stuff around, and now
Microsoft wants me to re-activate my copy of windows.
When I put in my key, it tells me that that key has been used too many
times, or something to that effect.
Anything I can do about that?

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a
Hard Drive with XP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html
Windows Product Key Update Tool Instructions
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/se...en&sGuid=b6d96eb0-1e92-40d2-8cb4-b5ab369b68ac

Product Key Failure
http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=542594&SiteID=25
HTH.
nass