Restore OEM license to original machine?

[Mark Nelson]

Problem -

On the day before thanksgiving my computer would not POST. I needed to pay
some bills online before leaving for vacation so in a panic I threw the HDD
into an old Socket A computer I had in the garage. I had to do a telephone
validation to reinstall XP on the drive with the new mobo and get the
computer to a point where I could get online to pay the bills. Now my good
computer (only a socket 462 but good in my eyes), the one I bought this XP
Pro OEM copy for, is POSTing fine and ready for action. All I had to do was
take out the memory sticks and blow the dust out of the DDR sockets. Wish I
knew then what I know now, oh well.

Here's the Question--- If I put the HDD and OEM license that was originally
registered to my good mobo/CPU/HDD back in that machine, will it work? Does
this comply with the EULA? Will another phone validation work? Or do I need
to buy a new OEM copy?

Below is some more background or just rambling...

I'm just confused because everyone says the OEM EULA doesn't allow use of
the license in a different computer but I did it. Now all I want is to go
back to how I was. Haven't tried yet. I was going to get another OEM copy and
HDD for the good computer and keep this tbird900 going for the kids, but wife
says no, I spend too much $ on computers and she is worried about kids
becoming "computer addicts", never saw the reason to build this one in 2003,
on and on... bartender... come down here...

My preferred option would be to go back to where I was 2 days before
thanksgiving - can I just reinstall this HDD and XP license back into the
good computer? Do the "windows licensing authorities" remember the HDD and
motherboard and CPU that are registered with this license, so I could do a
system restore from my external 500GB USB drive? I'm worried about messing
things up when I telephone validated my XP license to this old machine.

I could put the good PC in the boneyard and stay with this dinosaur, but the
trouble is it's running dog slow even for a tbird900 plus I am now having
problems which I suspect relate to me moving this OEM copy of XP to the old
computer. I've been doing updates all week, but now I can't get past the
Windows Installer 3.1 update. I tried all the applicable steps at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555175, but I get an Access Denied error
during this update, or it fails silently during the shutdown update. Plus I
can't get a couple security updates because the Genuine Advantage webpage
says my copy of XP cannot be validated due to "unknown error". Are these
enforcements against my moving the harddisk to an old computer in a jam?

 

[DL]

An OEM licence is valid for the first PC its installed on, if that PC dies
so does the licence.
Changing a motherboard would require reactivation, unless maybe its
identical to the old
Puting your installation HD into a different PC should have required a
repair installation of winxp, you were lucky it worked, and lucky that MS
supplied activation key.
So if you put your HD back in its origonal PC your OEM Licence should be
still valid but will probably require reactivation.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Problem -

On the day before thanksgiving my computer would not POST. I needed to pay
some bills online before leaving for vacation so in a panic I threw the HDD
into an old Socket A computer I had in the garage. I had to do a telephone
validation to reinstall XP on the drive with the new mobo and get the
computer to a point where I could get online to pay the bills. Now my good
computer (only a socket 462 but good in my eyes), the one I bought this XP
Pro OEM copy for, is POSTing fine and ready for action. All I had to do was
take out the memory sticks and blow the dust out of the DDR sockets. Wish I
knew then what I know now, oh well.

Here's the Question--- If I put the HDD and OEM license that was originally
registered to my good mobo/CPU/HDD back in that machine, will it work? Does
this comply with the EULA?

Sorry, I'm lost here, and don't understand the question. Do you want
to use an OEM copy of Windows on a different machine from the one it
was originally installed on? If so, no, it does not comply with the
EULA.

I'm just confused because everyone says the OEM EULA doesn't allow use of
the license in a different computer

That's correct.

but I did it.

What the EULA requires and what you can get away with are two
different things. Just because some people rob banks successfully
doesn't mean that it's therefore legal.

 

[Mark Nelson]

Thanks Ken. I assure you I am not trying to rob a bank or Microsoft! I would
like to restore this OEM license in its rightful machine ASAP if possible.

I bought this copy for the socket 462 computer now sitting in the corner.
It's been running on there from the time I built it when SP2 came out until
the day before thanksgiving. What I am trying to do is switch back to it, but
I'm looking for some assurance that the license will still work.

If it won't I get the feeling the license will die totally while the
motherboard it's married to becomes a widow, and the telephone validation
will make sure the license won't work on this old socket A PC (not an upgrade
from a socket 462) once I try to recover, just for good measure. I don't know
when I'd be able to recover from losing the OEM license on the machine I
bought it for. It sounds lame but money is tight and getting warm clothes and
shoes for my 4 kids is actually a higher priority right now.

Using that marriage metaphor - does MSC keep a copy of the marriage
certificate, in case these lovers decide to become a couple again? Or did an
annulment occur when I fooled around with the socket A machine? It sounds to
me like the EULA says there's no such thing as an annulment and the license
is good as long as the original motherboard is alive. Shouldn't I be able to
get back up on the socket 462 like DL says?

Can you help?

Thanks!