Reactivating Windows

[teach101]

My problem is this: my motherboard (socket 754) recently failed. Therefore,
I purchased a new motherboard, (amd) processor, and 2GB of memory. The
person that sold me the new items stated I would have to format my hard
drive. I took the hard drive out and placed it in mine to see if it would
still work. The desktop came up okay - it just said I needed to activate
windows before I logged on. Will putting the hard drive in this new system
work or will it cause a blue screen of death? Can I reactivate Windows by
phone?

 

[DL]

Installing a new motherboard will likely require a repair installation of
winxp in order to install the correct mobo drivers (eg chipset/lan/vid etc)
But its also the case that if you have an OEM version of win, supplied by
your origonal system manufacturer, it may be bios locked to the origonal
hardware, and therefore not work at all.
Yes you can activate by phone.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My problem is this: my motherboard (socket 754) recently failed. Therefore,
I purchased a new motherboard, (amd) processor, and 2GB of memory. The
person that sold me the new items stated I would have to format my hard
drive.

The person who sold you the new items was wrong. There are three
possibilities:

1. If the new motherboard is identical to the old one, you should have
to do nothing.

2. If the motherboard is different, you should be able to just do a
repair installation. This is the situation about 99% of the time.

3. Very rarely, but occasionally, the new motherboard is different
enough that a repair installation isn't sufficient, and you have to do
a format and reinstall.

I took the hard drive out and placed it in mine to see if it would
still work. The desktop came up okay - it just said I needed to activate
windows before I logged on. Will putting the hard drive in this new system
work or will it cause a blue screen of death?

It will probably work, but you probably will need a to do a repair
installation, as I said above.

Can I reactivate Windows by
phone?

Yes, but whether you need to depends. In many cases, you can
reactivate over the internet, just like the first time. If enough time
since the last activation hasn't passed, you will be given an 800
number and be prompted to activate by calling it. If that happens,
it's normally quick (under five minutes) and easy.

 

[JS]

Went thought the same process about a week ago.
Moved the drive from the old PC to the new PC.
Booted OK, but required activation in 3 days.
A large numbers of device drivers needed to be
installed first, the I activated over the Internet
without any problems.

Note: I'm using Windows XP Pro retail edition.

 

[Ian D]

My problem is this: my motherboard (socket 754) recently failed.
Therefore,
I purchased a new motherboard, (amd) processor, and 2GB of memory. The
person that sold me the new items stated I would have to format my hard
drive. I took the hard drive out and placed it in mine to see if it would
still work. The desktop came up okay - it just said I needed to activate
windows before I logged on. Will putting the hard drive in this new
system
work or will it cause a blue screen of death? Can I reactivate Windows by
phone?

If it's over 120 days since you last activated XP, it should reactivate
on-line.

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

when windows is installed
it audits the hardware on
the computer and creates
a listing/hash of ten components.

after windows is installed,
the hash is double checked
to ensure that 6 of the 10
checks match at each boot up.

the above is done to ensure
that the o.s. has not been
pirated onto a different system.

that is why when you moved
your disk to a different computer,
the hash on the disk didn't match
the hardware of that computer and
alerted you with the activation
message.

---------------------

I don't readily recall the exact
ten checks that the hash audits.

but it would seem that because
the new mobo and a new cpu
seems to be only 2 changes.

therefore, the above new hardware
would not affect the current hash
on the disk.

nor will the new components
will not be added into the current
hash.

----------------

on the other hand, if you
reformatted the disk and
reinstalled windows, it would
create a new hash with the
new components.

therefore, the tech was not
entirely wrong about his
recommendation but it would
require activation.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

"share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Bruce Chambers]

My problem is this: my motherboard (socket 754) recently failed. Therefore,
I purchased a new motherboard, (amd) processor, and 2GB of memory. The
person that sold me the new items stated I would have to format my hard
drive.

Don't ever seek any computer-related advice from that person again.

I took the hard drive out and placed it in mine to see if it would

still work. The desktop came up okay - it just said I needed to activate
windows before I logged on. Will putting the hard drive in this new system
work or will it cause a blue screen of death? Can I reactivate Windows by
phone?

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific motherboard 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.

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.


--

Bruce Chambers

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