winxp OEM home questions

[Pierre]

I have some questions on the OEM version of winxp home edition. After having
winxp activated, I asked the microsoft tech support rep. how many changes
I am allowed to do on my system. He replied only 2 hardware changes. I was
going like, well what happens if the modem for example fails two times (yes
it did happen to me b4) or what happens incase the motherboard needs
replacement. He said that I will simply have to buy a new xp oem!!!. So I
guess if my system fails, even if it's within warranty, I will still have
to buy winxp again!. Added to this, I find it dissapointing, to only be
allowed for 2 hardware changes in your pc. What if for ex. I want to add a
tv-tuner card. I simply can't? What's the whole purpose then to have a pc? I
was also told by a friend that for the first 120 days, I can do any changes
that I like without any limitations. Is this true?

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

I have some questions on the OEM version of winxp home edition. After
having winxp activated, I asked the microsoft tech support rep. how many
changes I am allowed to do on my system. He replied only 2 hardware
changes. I was going like, well what happens if the modem for example fails
two times (yes it did happen to me b4) or what happens incase the
motherboard needs replacement. He said that I will simply have to buy a new
xp oem!!!. So I guess if my system fails, even if it's within warranty, I
will still have to buy winxp again!. Added to this, I find it
dissapointing, to only be allowed for 2 hardware changes in your pc. What
if for ex. I want to add a tv-tuner card. I simply can't? What's the whole
purpose then to have a pc? I was also told by a friend that for the first
120 days, I can do any changes that I like without any limitations. Is this
true?

Your friend is incorrect about making many changes in a certain amount of
time - any number of changes that cause the PC to diverge too significantly
from the installed "fingerprint" will trigger an activation failure.
You may not significantly change your hardware with an OEM product as it is
tied to the PC it is first installed to ad thus even if you PC is dead you
may not transfer it to another machine, also if you replace or change too
many components on that first installed PC to make it appear as a new device
then it too will invalidate your licence for Window XP. This is just one of
the limitations of the OEM versions and one of the reason they are so much
cheaper then the retail products.


--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
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[Bob Harris]

In general, you can change almost anything except the motherboard. But,
remember that a motherboard contains several items that count in the
activation, such as CPU, amount of RAM, IDE disk controller, network adapter
(most important single item for activation), possibly a non-IDE disk
controller (e.g., SATA).

The whole idea of OEM version is that they are installed by profession PC
builders, like Dell, Gateway, etc. If the motherboard on one of those dies
under warantee, they can get you a new one and a copy of XP that works with
it. For the rest of us, using OEM software carries some risks, like whom do
you call for help when you are the OEM?

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

A better more reliable source:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

 

[Pierre]

Well branded pc use co-operate version of winxp that doesn't even need
activisation. Now to my question, suppose I buy
later on a tv-tuner card pci, add another 512mb ram and a dvd-rw, would that
void my licence of oem winxp?

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

Well branded pc use co-operate version of winxp that doesn't even need
activisation. Now to my question, suppose I buy
later on a tv-tuner card pci, add another 512mb ram and a dvd-rw, would
that void my licence of oem winxp?

Actually Branded OEM supplied PCs do not use the Volume Licensed version of
Windows XP - which you refer to as the corporate version.
OEMs use a preinstallation technique that either has the version of Windows
self activate based on a BIOS Locking or they activate it using their OEM
key that you cannot use to reactivate as they supply you with a specific OEM
key.

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
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[Pierre]

Thanx for the clarification. Well is there a web page that fully describes
the oem limitations? http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm is for general winxp
not specifically for the oem version.

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

Thanx for the clarification. Well is there a web page that fully describes
the oem limitations? http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm is for general winxp
not specifically for the oem version.

The OEM limitations are covered in the EULA (End User License Agreement) for
the product.
There is also additional information about OEM requirements etc on the OEM
website
http://www.microsoft.com/oem/default.mspx

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have some questions on the OEM version of winxp home edition. After having
winxp activated, I asked the microsoft tech support rep. how many changes
I am allowed to do on my system. He replied only 2 hardware changes.

He is wrong. See www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm
That tells you how many hardware changes you can make before it is seen
as different and activation by phone is needed. He may be suggesting
that if you go OTT on changes again, you may only be allowed to do this
twice on an OEM, but I doubt that too

And BTW a modem does not come into the matter at all