XP Activation

[Guest]

I have a PC running XP Home SP2. I have just changed the Motherboard and
since then the product activation box keeps popping up. I keep registering
and activating with Microsoft which is successful, however when I reboot the
computer looses this activation and asks me to re activate again.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Simon

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Simon,

See if this helps:
http://www.rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Activation

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have a PC running XP Home SP2. I have just changed the Motherboard and
since then the product activation box keeps popping up. I keep registering
and activating with Microsoft which is successful, however when I reboot the
computer looses this activation and asks me to re activate again.

After changing motherboard you should start by doing a repair reinstall
of the system. See
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Also it may be that you had a set of files reset5 installed before - to
evade the need to activate. SP2 kills this method, with a result like
you see. The following courtesy Harry Ohrn, MVP.

This installs a number of files and runs an executable, as a service,
that by passes the grace time limit for XP/2003. The hack will run fine
on XP or SP1 but when SP2 is installed it renders the hacked system
unable to boot to the Desktop and unable to boot into Safe Mode to
remove the hack. The hack is removed by locating and deleting the
installed files or by running an uninstaller. One way to determine if
the hack was installed on a system is to use the Recovery Console or
NTFS Reader for DOS then look for and try deleting the
following:

Windows\reset5.dt1
Windows\reset5.dt3
Windows\Prefetch\RESET5.EXE-23A0DD0C.pf
Windows\system32\reset5.dat
Windows\system32\reset5.dll
Windows\system32\reset5.exe
Windows\system32\REGOBJ.DLL
Windows\system32\resetservice.exe
Windows\system32\srvany.exe
Windows\system32\resetwpa.reg
Windows\system32\resetwpa.LOG

However because the hack was used to by pass activation, once these
files
are removed one will not be able to boot to the Desktop if the Grace
period
has expired. In which case telephone activation is required.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have a PC running XP Home SP2. I have just changed the Motherboard and
since then the product activation box keeps popping up. I keep registering
and activating with Microsoft which is successful, however when I reboot the
computer looses this activation and asks me to re activate again.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Simon

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM installations and
licenses, especially those of the branded, BIOS-locked variety, 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

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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