No OEM XP Reactivation After Death of Motherboard

[EdwardATeller]

One of my customer's PC's was knocked out by a power surge through the
modem connection. It has an OEM copy of XP home. It is my
understanding that if I replace the motherboard, then she will have to
buy a new OS if she wants one from Microsoft. This basically means
her computer is a pile of junk.

 

[RJK]

I've replaced motherboards, sometimes up to three times in lots of PC's
with OEM XP and never had to 'phone a MS regional office once !!!

regards, Richard

 

[M.I.5¾]

One of my customer's PC's was knocked out by a power surge through the
modem connection. It has an OEM copy of XP home. It is my
understanding that if I replace the motherboard, then she will have to
buy a new OS if she wants one from Microsoft. This basically means
her computer is a pile of junk.

It depends on the exact version of XP. If the replacement motherboard is
exactly the same, chances are that there should be no problem.

 

[p]

One of my customer's PC's was knocked out by a power surge through the
modem connection. It has an OEM copy of XP home. It is my
understanding that if I replace the motherboard, then she will have to
buy a new OS if she wants one from Microsoft. This basically means
her computer is a pile of junk.

She may update/replace computer parts to her heart's content and if it's
been over 120 days since the last activation, it will activate on line.
If not, use phone activation and tell them what happened and they will
activate it for her.

That said, you can try a repair install after replacing the motherboard
but more than likely, you will need to do a clean install.

P

 

[Twayne]

One of my customer's PC's was knocked out by a power surge through the

modem connection. It has an OEM copy of XP home. It is my
understanding that if I replace the motherboard, then she will have to
buy a new OS if she wants one from Microsoft. This basically means
her computer is a pile of junk.

Your understanding is wrong. Go to MS; get the straight info.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

One of my customer's PC's was knocked out by a power surge through the
modem connection. It has an OEM copy of XP home. It is my
understanding that if I replace the motherboard, then she will have to
buy a new OS if she wants one from Microsoft. This basically means
her computer is a pile of junk.

Your understanding is wrong. Advise your "customer" to take the
computer to someone who's actually in the business of repairing them
professionally. (And where such a question wouldn't even arise.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Kelly]

Yikes, that was a bit harsh Bruce...but true!
--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

One of my customer's PC's was knocked out by a power surge through the
modem connection. It has an OEM copy of XP home. It is my
understanding that if I replace the motherboard, then she will have to
buy a new OS if she wants one from Microsoft. This basically means
her computer is a pile of junk.

That's not correct. There are two potential issues here, a physical
one and a licensing one:

1. The physical issue. If this OEM copy is one installed by a major
OEM, such as Dell, it is probably BIOS-locked to the motherboard. If
so, it would be necessary to replace the motherboard with an identical
one, otherwise that copy of Windows would not install.

But if it's a generic OEM copy of Windows, not one specifically from a
particular OEM's computers, that's not an issue at all.

2. The licensing issue. An OEM copy is licensed for only use on the
original computer it was installed on, and may not be moved to another
one. For a long time, it wasn't clear exactly what constituted the
original computer, and many people felt that replacing the motherboard
made it a different computer.

However, Microsoft has clarified the situation. See
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/a...
or http://tinyurl.com/384gx5

which says,

"You might have to activate Windows again in a number of instances,
such as:

....

You make a significant hardware change to your computer, such as
upgrading the hard disk drive and memory at the same time or replacing
the motherboard in your OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
computer."

Although this page is about Vista, the same is presumably true of XP,
and this clarifies that replacing the motherboard is specifically
permitted.