When you reformatted your drive or made hardware changes,
you did "de-activate". OEM versions of Windows XP are
more restrictive that conventional "Retail Versions". That
is why a "Retail Version" is more appropriate if you wish
to make hardware changes.

Windows Product Activation (WPA) on Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

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

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"Nicholas J. Fiorello Jr." wrote:

| I just love being punished for being honest.
|
| I purchased one of the original runs of Windows XP (OEM) along with the
| hardware for a new computer. Over the years there have been a few upgrades,
| faulty hardware's been replaced, and there have been several re-installs of
| XP along the way. But all in all it's been the same computer, in the same
| case that I affixed the OEM CD key to oh those many years ago. Before you
| start suggesting it's not the same computer, I'll say if this were a Car
| there would be no question about it being the same.
|
| Two revent events, however have really turned me against activation.
|
| The first was about 3 months ago... My motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
| and has two different network jacks on the board. A 10/100 based on a
| Nnvida's chip, and a 10/100/1000 based on a Marvell Yukon chip. I was having
| some network problems, so I decided to try the other network jack. In
| NETWORK CONNECTIONS, I disabled the NVIDIA NIC, and enabled the Marvel NIC.
| Everything was working great until I rebooted and immediately Windows
| required me to activate. Not only that, it wouldn't do it online, I had to
| do it by phone. THIS WASN'T EVEN A HARDWARE CHANGE!
|
| The other was yesterday. I've been putting off a complete re-install since
| before the incident above. But haivng a 3 day weekend, and new years
| resolutions and all I figured now it's time.
|
| Normally when I reinstall, I take the opportunity to swap out a larger hard
| drive, then format the old once everything's up and running. (and I'm at the
| point where I'm 99.98% sure I've got everything important...but I always
| forget *something*)
|
| This time, all the hardware is EXACTLY the same as what I was running prior
| to the reinstall!
|
| Yet, when I got to the activation window, NOT ONLY did I have to use the
| telephone... I had to wait until somebody in India got on the line to ask me
| WHY I was reinstalling, and where I got my OS.
|
| So my question is WHY is there no De-activation tool so that the next time
| I'm planning on a re-install, this honest user can avoid the third degree?