how do you re-activate XP after mobo swap?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ~Aart
  • Start date Start date
A

~Aart

Hi,

I just finished building a system for a friend whose mobo went south. It's
all his old stuff, along with 3 new things: Gigabyte mobo replacing ASSA
mobo, AMD 2.4 XP replacing AMD 1.2, and DDR 336 memory replacing PC 133.
The problem is I get to a screen that says boot to: and it lists options of
last known good, safe, normal, etc.
But, no matter which one I pick, it starts to load and then reboots the
system.
I heard that you call Microsoft to reactivate if you do a mobo swap, but
what good will that do, if all it does is reboot?
I also read that you can do a "repair install" if you boot from the CD,
but booting from the CD
doesn't offer that option. It offers: install, repair cosole, and exit.

TIA

Aart
 
Hi Aart

Have a look at the following article by MVP Alex Nichol:

"Windows Product Activation (WPA)"
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


| Hi,
|
| I just finished building a system for a friend whose mobo went south.
It's
| all his old stuff, along with 3 new things: Gigabyte mobo replacing ASSA
| mobo, AMD 2.4 XP replacing AMD 1.2, and DDR 336 memory replacing PC 133.
| The problem is I get to a screen that says boot to: and it lists options
of
| last known good, safe, normal, etc.
| But, no matter which one I pick, it starts to load and then reboots the
| system.
| I heard that you call Microsoft to reactivate if you do a mobo swap, but
| what good will that do, if all it does is reboot?
| I also read that you can do a "repair install" if you boot from the CD,
| but booting from the CD
| doesn't offer that option. It offers: install, repair cosole, and exit.
|
| TIA
|
| Aart
|
|
|
 
~Aart said:
Hi,

I just finished building a system for a friend whose mobo went south.
It's all his old stuff, along with 3 new things: Gigabyte mobo
replacing ASSA mobo, AMD 2.4 XP replacing AMD 1.2, and DDR 336 memory
replacing PC 133. The problem is I get to a screen that says boot to:
and it lists options of last known good, safe, normal, etc.
But, no matter which one I pick, it starts to load and then reboots
the system.
I heard that you call Microsoft to reactivate if you do a mobo swap,
but what good will that do, if all it does is reboot?
I also read that you can do a "repair install" if you boot from the
CD, but booting from the CD
doesn't offer that option. It offers: install, repair cosole, and
exit.

TIA

Aart
Click to expand...

You need to do the repair install, then activate.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"
 
Aart

From personal experience I have some really not to fun suggestions. If you read through the article provided for you by Will Denny, you find that your windows activation is based on the hardware that you have in the system. Change over more that 5 components and your looking at a need to reactivate. However there is a glitch here too. When you install XP initially it creates a SID, which is basically an identifier code for the system. If you had ever moved a HDD from one 98 system to another you find yourself reinstalling tons of drivers just to get the system up and running. With XP everything is based in this SID. The easiest way to over come this is PRIOR to updating running microsofts sysprep on the system to remove this ID. However, if you like me and wait until things die, your kinda stuck. You can go in and manually remove the SID through the recovery console, but you still have to deal with the activation code. With your system already activated and your SID intact on your computer your easiest move is to reinstall XP. From experience a recovery doesn't work when you change this much hardware. If your willing to try the SID removal this is what you need to do

The recovery console will remind you a lot of DOS, however it is far pickier. To access this you need to boot from your windows XP CD. DO NOT CHOOSE THE ASR (automatic system recovery) this part only works when you have a backup and boot floppy to initialize the recovery from the system. Work your way through the screens like your doing a normal setup until you find the recovery console option. Once in here we have to do some digging. You want to find this

%systemroot%\system32\microsoft\protect\S-1-5-18 (*%systemroot% is typically C:*

see if there are any more folders under this. You will have to enter each of these folders and delete both the files and folders under them. Then back out to "\protect" and delete the S-1-5-18 folder. Restarting then should cause the computer to regenerate the SID files. BUT NOT THE ACTIVATION KEY. I haven't tried this personally with this problem but it has worked with computers that have locked their SIDS from the system when we have ghosted them.

Again, your best bet is a complete reinstall of the system. Sorry to say.
 
I read the link, Will. Very informative. Thanks for the tips. Having read
all this, I have this to say: "yikes!"

What do you think about the option of letting it install to a new windows
folder? I was offered that as an option before I closed out to do more
research. If I let it reinstall to a new folder, can I then copy the old
registry over to it and have all the aps work?

Aart
 
Hi Aart

If you mean a new Windows folder onto the same hard disk/partition, then
no - please don't go there. You'll have all kinds of problems. I think
that you will have to 'Clean' install XP and then contact Microsoft by
'phone when you come to the activation. That is my suggestion. In Alex's
article the PC has had 3 changes that are checked.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


| I read the link, Will. Very informative. Thanks for the tips. Having
read
| all this, I have this to say: "yikes!"
|
| What do you think about the option of letting it install to a new windows
| folder? I was offered that as an option before I closed out to do more
| research. If I let it reinstall to a new folder, can I then copy the old
| registry over to it and have all the aps work?
|
| Aart
|
|
 
As Kurttrail has suggested in this thread, the simplest and easiest way to
deal with this is a repair install:

NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive and you have an
actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, boot with the XP
CD in the drive and perform a repair install as outlined below. If the
system isn't set to boot from the CD or you are not sure, you need to enter
the system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually has
instructions that if you wish to enter set press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence. Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will reboot.

When the system boots, a few screens into the process you may see a message
instructing you
to hit any key in order to boot from the CD along with a countdown. When
you see this be sure to
hit a key on the keyboard, if you miss this instruction and the system fails
to boot from the CD, it's too
late, you'll need to reboot and try again.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console. ***The selection you want at this screen is
"Setup Windows,"
NOT "Repair Windows Installation.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited. You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.
 
Greetings --

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM licenses are not
transferable to a new motherboard), unless your motherboard is
virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE controllers, same BIOS
version, etc.) to the one on which the other 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

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

This will also 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.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Hi Mike,

Thanks for the detailed list of steps to take. It all worked like you said
except for the very last part.
I never get offered the repair option by hitting the letter R. It says
there's a windows folder there,
and it says I can install there or to a different folder of my choosing. If
I say use it,
I go to a screen that says hit L to install but it will overwrite everything
in the windows folder
and may delete the my docs folder, so I quit there. If I go the other
route, I will install
to a new folder.
The choices I get are 3; install to the same folder, install to a new
folder, or exit.
The only place the word repair occurs is in the beginning when it offers the
option
to use the repair console.
I'm at a loss here. I posted the same question on a different site where
they build
computers and was told the same thing you said, to do a repair on it. I
just never
am given that option. Activation is not a problem, I'll just call them.
Thinking it may be the XP Pro disk, XP pro is on the drive, I tried to
borrow one
from a neighbor, but her's was XP Home, but I tried it anyway to see if the
repair
option would come up figuring if it did I'd switch disks. It didn't.
I got the same 3 options with her's I got with his.

Any ideas about what's going on here?

Thanks again to everybody whose posted here trying to help me.

Aart
 
I never get offered the repair option by hitting the letter R. It says
there's a windows folder there,
and it says I can install there or to a different folder
Click to expand...
of my choosing. If

Aart, I had exactly the same problem as you when I switched
mobos. Eventually I managed to do the in-place installation
but the results were *very* confusing, to say the least. At
one point I had multiple identities, several installed
programs wouldn't work, and I couldn't create restore
points.

Eventually I ended up backing up all my data. (It's under
your identity in "Documents and Settings"), reformatting my
HD, and installing everything clean. The resulting
installation went off flawlessly.

It did take me two days to do all the WinXP upgrades etc but
you have to do those anyhow even if a Repair installation
works. The biggest hassle was reinstalling all my software
but I suppose even that was a blessing because it allowed me
to ditch a lot of crap that I never really use.

YMMV.
 
~Aart said:
Hi Mike,

Thanks for the detailed list of steps to take. It all worked like
you said except for the very last part.
I never get offered the repair option by hitting the letter R. It
says there's a windows folder there,
and it says I can install there or to a different folder of my
choosing. If I say use it,
I go to a screen that says hit L to install but it will overwrite
everything in the windows folder
and may delete the my docs folder, so I quit there. If I go the
other route, I will install
to a new folder.
The choices I get are 3; install to the same folder, install to a new
folder, or exit.
The only place the word repair occurs is in the beginning when it
offers the option
to use the repair console.
I'm at a loss here. I posted the same question on a different site
where they build
computers and was told the same thing you said, to do a repair on it.
I just never
am given that option. Activation is not a problem, I'll just call
them. Thinking it may be the XP Pro disk, XP pro is on the drive, I
tried to borrow one
from a neighbor, but her's was XP Home, but I tried it anyway to see
if the repair
option would come up figuring if it did I'd switch disks. It didn't.
I got the same 3 options with her's I got with his.

Any ideas about what's going on here?

Thanks again to everybody whose posted here trying to help me.

Aart
Click to expand...

Try the suggestion in the warnings link on the web page referenced below.
Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
Repair Install
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
~Aart said:
I just finished building a system for a friend whose mobo went south. It's
all his old stuff, along with 3 new things: Gigabyte mobo replacing ASSA
mobo, AMD 2.4 XP replacing AMD 1.2, and DDR 336 memory replacing PC 133.
The problem is I get to a screen that says boot to: and it lists options of
last known good, safe, normal, etc.
But, no matter which one I pick, it starts to load and then reboots the
system.
I heard that you call Microsoft to reactivate if you do a mobo swap, but
what good will that do, if all it does is reboot?
I also read that you can do a "repair install" if you boot from the CD,
but booting from the CD
doesn't offer that option. It offers: install, repair cosole,
Click to expand...

At that point take Install. After accepting the license agreement, take
Repair Installation. This will retain your existing software
installations and most settings. But Updates will have to be run again,
especially SP1; unless it was included in the CD used.

It is important to activate the basic XP Firewall before you ever
connect to the net to get the patches, so as to be protected against
things like the BLAST worm.

The installation ,if you have changed mobo (and probably CPU and RAM
amount), may have gone over the edge of number of hardware changes, and
then only boot to Safe mode until re-activated. (If the CD included SP1
you will get 3 days of normal boot and may be able to do this on the
net). Otherwise you run
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Activate Windows in
the Safe mode, and use the 'Activate by phone', to call a toll free
number which will be give, briefly explain, and swap one long number for
another
 
Hi,

I'm still fighting with this.
I posted yesterday, but don't see it today, so ???
Anyway, I can't do a repair option because I never get
a chance to choose it.
Will's instructions were letter perfect until he said to hit R to do the
repair. I don't get that option.
All it offers is exit, over write the existing, or create a new windows
folder by hitting L.

Still stimied in Sydney.

Aart
 
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