OEM xp pro activation

Does changing the BIOS on the motherboard or video card affect re-activation?
what about deleting the C partition, quickformatting and reinstalling? Thats
what I did last night for a fresh reinstall and now its saying I have the
wrong product key. I've tried activation over the phone 3 times now,
"updating" the product key twice and still no luck. I can't be typing the
prod. key in wrong, I have the CoA in front of me. Software was purchased
from Newegg.com and installed on a new computer around august of last year.

Should I reinstall using the product key posted on microsofts OEM
pre-installation help page? or maybe just insert that product key when I hit
the "update" during activation?

What exactly do you mean by "changing the BIOS on the motherboard
or video card"? If you installed a different motherboard, your OEM version
is no longer valid.

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

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

"brad" wrote:

| Does changing the BIOS on the motherboard or video card affect re-activation?
| what about deleting the C partition, quickformatting and reinstalling? Thats
| what I did last night for a fresh reinstall and now its saying I have the
| wrong product key. I've tried activation over the phone 3 times now,
| "updating" the product key twice and still no luck. I can't be typing the
| prod. key in wrong, I have the CoA in front of me. Software was purchased
| from Newegg.com and installed on a new computer around august of last year.
|
| Should I reinstall using the product key posted on microsofts OEM
| pre-installation help page? or maybe just insert that product key when I hit
| the "update" during activation?

All of the hardware is the same, I just flashed the firmware to a newer
version. If you're not familiar with that, its just like upgrading a
software program, but instead of writing to the hard drive it writes to a
chip on the motherboard. Thanks for your help.

"brad" <brad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>All of the hardware is the same, I just flashed the firmware to a newer
>version. If you're not familiar with that, its just like upgrading a
>software program, but instead of writing to the hard drive it writes to a
>chip on the motherboard. Thanks for your help.

If your BIOS flash was from the actual BIOS manufacturer and not from
the OEM that produced the computer then this is the source of your
problem.

Many OEM versions of Windows XP are "BIOS Locked" to the BIOS versions
used by that specific OEM.

Try undoing the BIOS flash and see if that resolves the issue. BIOS
flash routines usually back up the old BIOS data or at least give you
the opportunity to do so.

Hope this explains the situation.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

Thanks Ron. I built the computer myself using parts I purchased along with
the OEM disc. My understanding was that the OEM software was not
transferrable to another machine but could still be reinstalled provided the
hardware did not significantly change. The last computer I built had XP home
on it and I don't recall having issues reinstalling on it (it also had a bios
flash). Sounds like flashing to the old bios, activating, and flashing back
would be my last option before buying another copy.

"Ron Martell" wrote:

> "brad" <brad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >All of the hardware is the same, I just flashed the firmware to a newer
> >version. If you're not familiar with that, its just like upgrading a
> >software program, but instead of writing to the hard drive it writes to a
> >chip on the motherboard. Thanks for your help.
>
> If your BIOS flash was from the actual BIOS manufacturer and not from
> the OEM that produced the computer then this is the source of your
> problem.
>
> Many OEM versions of Windows XP are "BIOS Locked" to the BIOS versions
> used by that specific OEM.
>
> Try undoing the BIOS flash and see if that resolves the issue. BIOS
> flash routines usually back up the old BIOS data or at least give you
> the opportunity to do so.
>
> Hope this explains the situation.
>
> Good luck
>
> Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
> --
> Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
> On-Line Help Computer Service
> http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
>

Brad

Some computer BIOS flashes require that XP is re-installed, and some don't..
it would seem to depend upon the type of changes that the new version BIOS
makes..

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com for info on how to re-install XP..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"brad" <brad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A76C26F1-F91E-4DB5-BEE1-6060EAAC672D@microsoft.com...
> Thanks Ron. I built the computer myself using parts I purchased along
> with
> the OEM disc. My understanding was that the OEM software was not
> transferrable to another machine but could still be reinstalled provided
> the
> hardware did not significantly change. The last computer I built had XP
> home
> on it and I don't recall having issues reinstalling on it (it also had a
> bios
> flash). Sounds like flashing to the old bios, activating, and flashing
> back
> would be my last option before buying another copy.
>
> "Ron Martell" wrote:
>
>> "brad" <brad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>> >All of the hardware is the same, I just flashed the firmware to a newer
>> >version. If you're not familiar with that, its just like upgrading a
>> >software program, but instead of writing to the hard drive it writes to
>> >a
>> >chip on the motherboard. Thanks for your help.
>>
>> If your BIOS flash was from the actual BIOS manufacturer and not from
>> the OEM that produced the computer then this is the source of your
>> problem.
>>
>> Many OEM versions of Windows XP are "BIOS Locked" to the BIOS versions
>> used by that specific OEM.
>>
>> Try undoing the BIOS flash and see if that resolves the issue. BIOS
>> flash routines usually back up the old BIOS data or at least give you
>> the opportunity to do so.
>>
>> Hope this explains the situation.
>>
>> Good luck
>>
>> Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
>> --
>> Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
>> On-Line Help Computer Service
>> http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
>>