Windows XP Home activation problem after hardware upgrade

[Steve]

I recently upgraded the motherboard in an HP with an MSI board and now
when Windows XP Home Edition SP1 comes up it says that this copy of
Windows needs to be activated. I figured this might happen based on
the hardware changes. When I click "yes" to activate it, it says,
"Windows is already activated".

I've booted to safe mode and deleted the wpa.dbl. There was no
wpa.bak file. After a reboot, it does the same thing.

I tried another approach to change one of the values in the registry
as suggested here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328874

with no luck. The problem is I can only boot to safe mode since it
says it needs to be registered, it won't let me logon normally. I
can't run MSOOBE.EXE /a in safe mode. It gives me a message saying
Activation can't be run in safe mode.

Everything I've run across on the web says to do one of these two
things. Anyone know how to deactivate windows so I get the activation
screen to come up so I can reactivate it? It's a legit copy of
Windows XP as it has the authentication sticker on the side of the
case.

Anyone got any other ideas? A reinstall is a last resort.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

If you are not using a HP motherboard, activation will fail
since it is checking for a HP BIOS. This method of protection
is known as "System Locked Pre-installation," or SLP.

SLP uses information stored in an OEM PC's BIOS to protect
the installation from casual piracy. When installing a HP OEM
version of Windows XP, the HP CD compares the PC's BIOS to the
SLP information. If it matches, Product Activation will succeed.
If it does not match, Product Activation will fail.

Since you have a HP OEM version of Windows XP
installed, and you installed a non-HP motherboard,
your HP OEM license is no longer valid. All you
can do is purchase a conventional "Full Version" of
Windows XP and proceed with a "Repair Install".

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with XP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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

:

| I recently upgraded the motherboard in an HP with an MSI board and now
| when Windows XP Home Edition SP1 comes up it says that this copy of
| Windows needs to be activated. I figured this might happen based on
| the hardware changes. When I click "yes" to activate it, it says,
| "Windows is already activated".
|
| I've booted to safe mode and deleted the wpa.dbl. There was no
| wpa.bak file. After a reboot, it does the same thing.
|
| I tried another approach to change one of the values in the registry
| as suggested here:
|
| http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328874
|
| with no luck. The problem is I can only boot to safe mode since it
| says it needs to be registered, it won't let me logon normally. I
| can't run MSOOBE.EXE /a in safe mode. It gives me a message saying
| Activation can't be run in safe mode.
|
| Everything I've run across on the web says to do one of these two
| things. Anyone know how to deactivate windows so I get the activation
| screen to come up so I can reactivate it? It's a legit copy of
| Windows XP as it has the authentication sticker on the side of the
| case.
|
| Anyone got any other ideas? A reinstall is a last resort.
|
| Thanks,
|
| Steve

 

[kurttrail]

I recently upgraded the motherboard in an HP with an MSI board and now
when Windows XP Home Edition SP1 comes up it says that this copy of
Windows needs to be activated. I figured this might happen based on
the hardware changes. When I click "yes" to activate it, it says,
"Windows is already activated".

I've booted to safe mode and deleted the wpa.dbl. There was no
wpa.bak file. After a reboot, it does the same thing.

I tried another approach to change one of the values in the registry
as suggested here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328874

with no luck. The problem is I can only boot to safe mode since it
says it needs to be registered, it won't let me logon normally. I
can't run MSOOBE.EXE /a in safe mode. It gives me a message saying
Activation can't be run in safe mode.

Everything I've run across on the web says to do one of these two
things. Anyone know how to deactivate windows so I get the activation
screen to come up so I can reactivate it? It's a legit copy of
Windows XP as it has the authentication sticker on the side of the
case.

Anyone got any other ideas? A reinstall is a last resort.

Thanks,

Steve

Your problem is that you bought a computer that didn't come with a real
reinstall disk.

Borrow a friend's generic OEM install CD and do a repair install using
your Product Key. After that you'll need to do phone activation.


--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."