XP Home OEM installed but not activated it yet. Is it locked to my

[Guest]

I have recently installed an OEM copy of XP home to my machine and downloaded
the updates. I'd had a few compatiblity issues with Windows 98 and it's no
longer supported so thought I'd give in and upgrade. Thing is I'm still
getting some problems and an an IT guy at work reckons I may have a fault on
the motherboard. I understand that when you install OEM copy of XP it is
effectively locked to the machine 'till death. I'm now thinking I should have
just bitten the bullet and got a whole new machine like I'd first thought of
doing. If I get a new one though, can I use this copy of XP I have as it's
not activated yet? Also it's currently at "19 days left for activation" will
it be at that on another machine if it can be transferred?

Any tips will much appreciated,

Jim.

 

[Jeremy]

The OEM copy of Windows XP "belongs" to the piece of hardware it was sold
with. So if you acquired this OEM copy without buying a substantive piece
of hardware then it is illegal to use. If you bought it with the faulty
motherboard, then when you ditch the motherboard, legally you should also
ditch the copy of XP. If you buy a whole new machine it is highly likely
that it will come with an OEM copy of Vista (or XP if you request it), but
as I stated above, it wouldn't be legal to use that OEM copy of XP since you
have retired the hardware it was bought with.

 

[Tim]

I agree that the OEM license "dies" with the motherboard it was
sold/installed with. However, these are different circumstances.

He did not purchase the OEM license with that motherboard (it used to run
Win98). And the OEM WinXP license has not yet been activated so it doesn't
belong to a motherboard yet. I believe that would mean he could build
another PC (i.e. not a Dell or Gateway) and use the OEM WinXP license with
it.

As for the last question...I would guess that the activation counter would
reset and not be at 19 days.

Tim

 

[Guest]

An OEM copy of xp is usually w/o the box & plastic covering.This is like any
other xp cd (except the packaging),it gets registered to 1 pc only but
can/could
be used with any pc.An OEM pc with recovery cds only gets used with that
specific
pc,it cannot be used in any other pc...If you have the 1st,simply perform a
clean
installation,boot to xp cd,select install xp,delete the partition(s),create
one,then
xp formats and installs clean...Youre 98 install is probably the
problem(s)...

 

[Jeremy]

Its still not legal. Regardless of actication, the EULA says that the
license dies with the piece of equipment it was sold with. So I ask which
piece of equipment the OEM version was bought with. If it is something in
this PC then that something needs to be in the new PC to use the OEM
license.

 

[DL]

Ditch the PC and buy/build an uptodate PC and install/activate the OEM
Forget the dubious legalities

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info guys. The OEM copy was bought with some memory I upgraded
the machine with. It has not been particularly stable (not bad though) but I
cannot get it's CPU to run at full speed, its a Athlon Xp 3000 (333MHz FSB,
the fastest the board, a Gigabyte GA7 VAX, will take) but it will only run at
the speed of a 2800+ or it becomes unstable, though not as bad as it was
under '98. This chip was a recent upgrade too. I'm not sure about all the
legal stuff but as I undersatnd it you just have to buy a component to get a
OEM xp which I have done. The question still remains, as it is un-acitvated,
will it allow me to put it on a differently built PC, particularly a new
motherboard?

 

[John John]

As long as you haven't activated it you can install it and activate it
on another machine.

John

 

[Jeremy]

I agree that a clean build will probably speed your machine up a lot. I
regularly rebuild my machine(s), around every 12 months.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, that's what i'm thinking. I can't be bothered messing around with this
old piece of junk any longer, life's too short! As long as I haven't wasted
the cost of the XP disk then great. Thanks to all you guys that posted for
your advice, much appreciated!

Jim.