Activation and a new mboard ?

[green]

I remember seeing a table that showed how XP allows points for what parts
you change to see how many before a reactivation ?

main question is - normal working setup (a friend) guessing its XP Home -
mboard gone

Q1) wondering if he changes will it still boot up ?

Q2) Is it likely he will need to reactivate ?

Q3) Does XP Pro have any of these issues ?

I'm guessing if it does it will nag him for 30 days so he'll be ok to get
going


Thanks

 

[Randy]

My 2 cent worth.

Q1.Maybe. I have done this twice and it depends on how much of a change the
two MB are and how lucky you get. One of mine did boot and one didn't. I
found it's better to just start over from square one but that is just me and
others may have a better way to make it work.

Q2. All you ever wanted to know about activation of XP.
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

Q3. I don't think it's the OS that has the biggest problems but the
motherboards and the motherboard chipsets.

Others here will have more and better input but that was my 2 cents.

Randy

 

[Bob Harris]

Do not attempt to boot XP (any version) with a new motherboard, unless you
first do a "repair" installation. There are some very fundamental things
that need to be correct for XP to work with specifc hardware, and a new
motherboard is a lot of new hardware (CPU, RAM, USB, NIC, maybe audio, maybe
video, disk controllers, etc). This is different than Windows 98, in which
you could easily replace almost any hardware and boot into safe mode and
load new drivers.

Note that a "repair" will effectively remove all service packs issued after
the date of the CD. Thus, plan on re-doing a lot of windows updates, unless
you have a recent XP CD. Also, if the CD is pre-SP1, then you may
temporarily lose support for hard drives greater than 127 Gig. An
alternative is to "slipstream" SP-1 or better SP-2 into the retail CD and
make a new CD. Here is a link on how to do that:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

I have also found that small free program can do slipstreaming for you:

http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

Instead of using it to remove components of XP, just use it to combine the
original CD with SP-2.

Slipstreaming can reduce the amount of post-repair XP updating, but it will
not eliminate all of it.

You can do a repair of XP, if you have a retail CD. If you have an OEM CD,
then you are out of luck, since such CDs are intended to be installed only
once on one set of hardware. If the PC is a major brand and came with XP
pre-installed, then you may not even have a CD, but if you did it would not
work on new hardware, since those tend to be BIOS-locked to one motherboard.
If this is a major-brand PC, you might do best to contact their support
group about replacing the motherboard. If they agree to do the work, using
their own motherboard, then they can also make XP function properly and
handle re-activation for you. But, that may not be any cheaper than buying
a new PC, even if they agree to take the job.

Note: If do not already have a retail CD, you can always buy one from any
PC store, but that also is not cheap.

Here are some links about the "repair" process:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341



http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm



http://www.extremetech.com/print_article/0,3998,a=23979,00.asp



http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Repair-Windows-XP-t138.html



After a successful repair, XP should boot normally, but it will certainly
demand that you activate, since changing a motherboard changes a lot of
components that count in the activation scheme. As I recall you will be
given 3 days to do so. First, try activating automatically. With luck, XP
will "phone home", trade some codes with a Microsoft computer and in under
30 seconds your PC will be re-activated. Note that this will only work with
a retail licence and then only if you have not re-activated in the last 120
days (and only if you are lucky). [My own experiences with re-activation
are that the automatic system does not work, because it can not establish a
connection, or similar message.] The manual system requires you talking to
either a human or a computer to trade codes. You need to be able to seee
the PC screen and type, while you are talking. If a computer, speak very
slowly and clearly. You will probably get a human, only if there is some
question about whether you should be allowed to re-activate. If a person
asks what you did recently, just say "replaced motherboard". They already
know what that means in terms of changing many things that contribute to
activation validation. If the human says that you have an OEM version of
XP, see comments above about OEM licenses, and be preapred to by a full copy
of XP.



With respect to activation, XP Pro has the same limitations as XP home.
However, it is also offerred in volume licenses to bussinesses, and their
activation scheme is different than that for the retail version. If you are
talking about a home PC, forget volume licensing, as that is not for you.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I remember seeing a table that showed how XP allows points for what
parts you change to see how many before a reactivation ?

main question is - normal working setup (a friend) guessing its XP
Home - mboard gone

Q1) wondering if he changes will it still boot up ?

If the motherboard is identical to the old one, everything should work
exactly as it did before.

If the motherboard is different, you will probably have to do *at least* a
repair installation after replacing it. See "How to Perform a Windows XP
Repair Install" http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

That often works, but in some situations it isn't enough, and you may find
that you have to do a clean installation.

Q2) Is it likely he will need to reactivate ?

Yes.


Q3) Does XP Pro have any of these issues ?

XP Professional and XP Home are exactly alike regarding all of this.

 

[Courtney]

Actually Randy, you did a very good job in answering. Whether or not you
have to reinstall depends on the mboard's chipset. I went from a VIA chipset
to an nForce4 board. I had to reinstall.

Also, product activation is the same no matter what version of XP you have.
Change the mboard and you will have to reactivate. If you have a valid copy
of XP, that's not a problem, even if you do activate more than 3 times in
120 days. You'd just have to activate differently.

Hint, hint: Vista is slightly worse...especially if you change the video
card.

Courtney sends....

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I remember seeing a table that showed how XP allows points for what parts
you change to see how many before a reactivation ?

main question is - normal working setup (a friend) guessing its XP Home -
mboard gone

Q1) wondering if he changes will it still boot up ?

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore are
*not* transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting),
unless the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same
IDE controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the WinXP
installation was originally performed, you'll need to perform a repair
(a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with WinXP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point.
You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If
you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a
Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style
foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it,
is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any
old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it
"tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the
reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable
than the Win9x group.

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

Q2) Is it likely he will need to reactivate ?

This will also probably require re-activation, unless you have a
Volume Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. If it's been more than
120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key, you'll most
likely be able to activate via the Internet without problem. If it's
been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone call.

Q3) Does XP Pro have any of these issues ?

Both WinXP Home and WinXP Pro are identical, in this regard. (Not that
I'd called them "issues." This behavior is, after all, by design.)


--

Bruce Chambers

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