"David B." top-posted:
The product key had to have been entered in order to activate,
use a utility like magic jellybean to verify your product key.
Don't be a top-poster. This is not an e-mail conversation. This is
usenet.
Verifying the product key is not the answer in this case.
Your system is in an undefined state. I've seen this before with the
System Builder versions of XP.
Your system thinks it needs to validate the key it's been given. It may
tell you this immediately after it starts up, and it won't allow you to
do anything else. So you follow the steps to perform an on-line
validation. But during that process it says your installation has
already been activated, and it dumps you back into the startup screen,
where you are told you need to activate your installation.
This can happen when you try to use the product-key change tool on a
system that has been validated and running fine or when too many
hardware changes cause the system to re-validate itself, and someone
tries to change the product key during this cycle.
It might have happened because your system failed the WGA test and
someone tried to give it another product key.
Many have asked why the product key change tool does not work properly
in these situations, with no satisfactory explanation from Microsoft.
I've tried to use magic jellybeans or keyfinder to change the product
key, but they don't work on the System Builder versions of XP (maybe
they do with other OEM or VLK versions, but not System Builder).
You might try the following:
1) When you tell the system you want to validate the installation,
select the telephone method. In that method, there will be an option to
change the product key. Use that option and enter a product key. Try a
product key that you have on hand. Try a friends's product key. Try
any product key you can find for your EXACT version of XP. When you
enter a new product key, abort the phone validation and try the online
method. If that doesn't work, try the phone method but this time follow
it all the way through (make the call, enter the numbers, etc).
2) change your hardware to the point where you force the system to
re-validate itself. Disconnect your CD-rom drive, remove your network
card (or disable it in your motherboard bios settings), add or remove
some memory. Do all of that and then try starting XP. That might be
enough for XP to finally realize that it must perform a complete
revalidation. You should get a message that your installation of XP has
changed significantly. If you get that message, DO NOT CONTINUE. Shut
it down and re-connect everything back the way it should be and then
re-start XP and then follow the revalidation menus.
This situation can be a real bitch, which is why I always work with
cloned hard drives when-ever I perform drive transplants or want to
refurbish systems.
