hardware changes, activate winxp?

[p3psi]

WTf? I was clearing space from my hard drive for my new dsl line coming soon, and I installed new IDE control software.

and when i restarted xp, it says there were major hardware changes, and i must activate windows in three days??????

i havent yet, and i wonder what if i do? i already activated windows about 2 years ago.

will trying to activate it again make it think its a pirated copy and lock my OS forever?

and not only that, the new ide controls killed my burner and makes it think its a 16x.

This is seriously making me pissed, cuz i got dsl coming in less than a week and this stuff comes up.

[NoSanninWa]

Windows XP is supposed to do this when it detects that the configuration is drastically changed from the time it was first installed. I'm guessing that you've changed a number of things over the last two years. A CD drive here, a graphics card there... finally the IDE control was the straw that broke the camel's back. They did this to keep somone from copying the OS onto a new hard drive in a new machine.

You are going to have to go through the activation process again or else your Windows XP will shut down. I know that this is seriously messed up, so blame Bill Gates for it. I've never actually had this problem, but I understand that if you go through the process you are going to have to make a phone call to Microsoft and swear upon the soul of your firstborn child that you aren't putting your hard drive into a brand new computer or otherwise copying the OS into a new computer. Then they'll tell you an activation code that you have to type in manually to reset its hardware configuration.

Or so I've heard. Has anyone here actually done this thing?

[p3psi]

dammit!, it said connect to the internet and i did, and then on the next screen it said it was going to dial some number. this is seriously messed up. do you think a system restore will fix this?

I dont need this crap from microsoft now, its freaking christmas eve too

[JustAnotherFan]

Originally Posted by p3psi

will trying to activate it again make it think its a pirated copy and lock my OS forever?

As far as I know you get 5 "free" (or easy) activations. After that you will need to justify (read: convince Microsoft you didn't pirate it) any more activations

Each time you change one of the major things that MS considers an important part of your hardware, you need to re-activate (the driver might change some values so XP thinks you got new hardware).

As long as the "old" combo isn't used anymore, there should be no problem.

JAF

[p3psi]

Phew, i made a big deal about nothing, sorry. well i guess you people know what to do if some crap like this happens to them.

anyways, it asked me to register with them again, i didnt. I wonder what going to happen since i didnt. (although i thought i did before) do i get no autoupgrades or something?

[FinFangFoom]

Well back when I was using my friends copy of windows xp (I own my own copy now, but I should have bought 98 instead) I was unable to activate the software because it had been done the maximum amount of times you could do it before you had to call. Nothing happend when the time period to activate passed until I finally had to restart my computer. It wouldn't go to the desktop without a special passcode. Then it was pretty much as NoSanninWa said. I called and the rep grilled me as to why I need to reactivate so often (I said my computer has been giving me problems and I keep having to reinstall) then I made the mistake of telling her that I had it on the upstairs computer also so she said I had to remove it from that computer if I wanted it on my other. So I called the next day and said I removed it from the other computer, then they gave me an activation code. Basically they can't prove anything anyways, so they have to go on your word.