OEM Upgrades

[Mike]

I have a computer which has a generic OEM windows xp home (with service pack
2). I would like to upgrade my motherboard and processor, while leaving hard
drives, video cards, ram, and optical drivers intact. It is possible to make
this upgrade without needing to purchase a new copy of XP. If so, is there
any special procedure I should need to follow to activate it a second time?

 

[David B.]

You will likely get a BSOD if you try to boot your existing XP load after
the hardware upgrade. You'll have to perform a repair install to get it
working again. It is likely that it will reactive via the internet just
fine, if not just call the phone number and explain your situation.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Mike,
I have heard that if the new motherboard causes your XP install to
start asking for itself to be 'activated' - which a new motherboard is going
to do, that by phoning Microsoft, that they are pretty understanding about
such things and will allow you to activate your XP installation on your
upgraded system.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

You will likely get a BSOD if you try to boot your existing XP load after
the hardware upgrade. You'll have to perform a repair install to get it
working again.

Note that although a repair installation *usually* works in this
situation, there is no guarantee that it always works. Occasionally,
if the new motherboard is different enough, a clean reinstallation is
required.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Mike,
I have heard that if the new motherboard causes your XP install to
start asking for itself to be 'activated' - which a new motherboard is going
to do, that by phoning Microsoft, that they are pretty understanding about
such things and will allow you to activate your XP installation on your
upgraded system.

There is really no issue of their being "pretty understanding about
such things." You can do that as necessary. An OEM copy of Windows can
not legally be moved to a new computer, but, despite what many people
think, Microsoft does not consider that changing the motherboard makes
it a new computer.

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/activationfaq.mspx
or http://tinyurl.com/384gx5

which states

"If you acquired Windows Vista pre-installed on a computer from a
major manufacturer (sometimes referred to as an Original Equipment
Manufacturer or OEM), Windows Vista will require re-activation if you
replace the motherboard with a motherboard not provided by the OEM."

So clearly, if you can reactivate it, it's legal to use it.

Although that page is specifically about Vista, it's reasonable to
assume that the same thing applies to XP.

 

[Mark Adams]

I have a computer which has a generic OEM windows xp home (with service pack
2). I would like to upgrade my motherboard and processor, while leaving hard
drives, video cards, ram, and optical drivers intact. It is possible to make
this upgrade without needing to purchase a new copy of XP. If so, is there
any special procedure I should need to follow to activate it a second time?

Mike, check out the following article.
http://www.motherboard.windowsreinstall.com/problems.htm
Solution 2 worked for me to move a laptop install of Windows 2000 to a
desktop environment. Should work for XP also, XP has the same entries in
Device Manager. I didn't even have to do a repair install, I just installed
the drivers for the new mainboard and all was well including all the
installed applications. Be a real good idea to make an image to recover from,
just in case. I used Acronis before I made any changes, but the move went
fine.

 

[Tim Meddick]

In which case they 'understand' that you have the same computer with an
upgrade - do they or do they not understand - so, they are understanding -
or are they not going to understand? There does come a point at which, if
you were to replace ALL the components, that it would HAVE to be classed as
a NEW system. What is Microsoft's policy on that right now? Please state
exactly at what point it becomes a new system citing the appropriate
quotations by MS.

 

[Tim Meddick]

In which case they 'understand' that you have the same computer with an
upgrade - do they or do they not understand - so, they are understanding -
or are they not going to understand? There does come a point at which, if
you were to replace ALL the components, that it would HAVE to be classed as
a NEW system. What is Microsoft's policy on that right now? Please state
exactly at what point it becomes a new system citing the appropriate
quotations by MS.

 

[Mark Adams]

In which case they 'understand' that you have the same computer with an
upgrade - do they or do they not understand - so, they are understanding -
or are they not going to understand? There does come a point at which, if
you were to replace ALL the components, that it would HAVE to be classed as
a NEW system. What is Microsoft's policy on that right now? Please state
exactly at what point it becomes a new system citing the appropriate
quotations by MS.

It becomes a new system when the maker of the system says it is a new
system. Since Microsoft doesn't build computers, they defer that decision to
"the maker". If you built the system, then you are the maker and you get to
decide when it is new. Most OEM's consider it "new" or "different" if their
mainboard is replaced with a different maker's.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In which case they 'understand' that you have the same computer with an
upgrade - do they or do they not understand - so, they are understanding -
or are they not going to understand? There does come a point at which, if
you were to replace ALL the components, that it would HAVE to be classed as
a NEW system. What is Microsoft's policy on that right now? Please state
exactly at what point it becomes a new system citing the appropriate
quotations by MS.

I wish I knew the answer to that question, but I don't. Nor does
anyone else know either, as far as I can tell.

My guess is that Microsoft does not have an official posture on that
subject and has avoided publishing anything.

My point here is not that I can tell you what constitutes a new
computer, but I can tell you one of the things (based on the Microsoft
page I cited) that Microsoft does *not* consider a new computer.

 

[Anteaus]

Changing the iDE driver to 'standard PCI IDE controller' may make it easier
to transition, though not always, and of course not for SATA disks.

On the licensing issue we had to change the cases on a number of computers a
while back because the pretty-but-fragile front doors kept breaking. Does
this make them new computers, I wonder?

Frankly, this whole OEM license business is silly.

 

[Lil' Dave]

I have a computer which has a generic OEM windows xp home (with service
pack
2). I would like to upgrade my motherboard and processor, while leaving
hard
drives, video cards, ram, and optical drivers intact. It is possible to
make
this upgrade without needing to purchase a new copy of XP. If so, is there
any special procedure I should need to follow to activate it a second
time?

You will probably have to activate again, the phone in some cases.

I've done this on the same PC case with many components still existing on
the 3rd different motherboard and cpu now using XP OEM generic installation.
If you're using a phone modem, and XP finds it during installation, you may
be cued to activate then. In the latter 2 cases, it failed. But, activated
fine when I setup XP with my ISP.

I suggest that:
Use a generated XP w/SP3 CD install instead, clean install.
Get all the needed 3rd party drivers first on removable media.
Have all installation media for 3rd party software available.
Save all your personal files to removable media.
Wipe the hard drive with zero write software.
Remove all external devices before installation, connect and install one at
time.
Reboot often during the above process after each install.
Install you video card drivers, if needed first. Implement the screen size
you want after you install all 3rd party software. Install the monitor
software if needed afterwards.

After you've completed installation of XP, image that to removable media.
Then commence the remainder of drivers, 3rd party software, ISP
connection(s) and networking, and personal settings. If happy, image that
to removable media. Keep both images.

 

[David B.]

It's not silly at all, you just don't understand it.