Change in Motherboard - reactivating OEM version?

  • Thread starter Thread starter 5J's
  • Start date Start date
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5J's

I had to change a failed eMachines motherboard. I matched up the replacement
as close as possible - but the mobo is not identical. Now XP Home Edition
that came with the original mobo comes up and complains of not be activated,
and will not let me login to Windows. In safe mode I complains about all the
new hw and not having drivers. I tried to perform an in place repair - did
not work, never asks for lic key. I tried to install new on a new hard drive
and that rejects the lic key as invalid. How do I ge this resolved? I see a
lot of posts on this topic and I believe I tried all of these methods to no
success. I obviously am doing something wrong. Also, there seems to be some
"magic" phone number to get a hold of MS to discuss generating a new key -
but I never see the phone number - what is it? If I can just call MS and
discuss the situation that would be ideal. Appreciate the assist folks!
 
5J's said:
I had to change a failed eMachines motherboard. I matched up the
replacement
as close as possible - but the mobo is not identical. Now XP Home Edition
that came with the original mobo comes up and complains of not be
activated,
and will not let me login to Windows. In safe mode I complains about all
the
new hw and not having drivers. I tried to perform an in place repair -
did
not work, never asks for lic key. I tried to install new on a new hard
drive
and that rejects the lic key as invalid. How do I ge this resolved? I
see a lot of posts on this topic and I believe I tried all of these
methods to no
success. I obviously am doing something wrong. Also, there seems to be
some "magic" phone number to get a hold of MS to discuss generating a new
key -
but I never see the phone number - what is it? If I can just call MS and
discuss the situation that would be ideal. Appreciate the assist folks!
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to tell you this but there is no magic solution. In order to use
the XP Home OEM disk you received from eMachines, you would have needed to
replace the motherboard with the exact same one from eMachines. Since you
didn't, you don't have a legal copy of Windows that will work with the new
motherboard.

You will need to purchase a full retail copy of XP.

I need to change my XP Product KEY #18 on the FAQ list -
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#018

Then you'll need to install the correct drivers that came with the new
motherboard.

Malke
 
5J's said:
I had to change a failed eMachines motherboard. I matched up the
replacement
as close as possible - but the mobo is not identical. Now XP Home Edition
that came with the original mobo comes up and complains of not be
activated,
and will not let me login to Windows. In safe mode I complains about all
the
new hw and not having drivers. I tried to perform an in place repair -
did
not work, never asks for lic key. I tried to install new on a new hard
drive
and that rejects the lic key as invalid. How do I ge this resolved? I
see a
lot of posts on this topic and I believe I tried all of these methods to
no
success. I obviously am doing something wrong. Also, there seems to be
some
"magic" phone number to get a hold of MS to discuss generating a new key -
but I never see the phone number - what is it? If I can just call MS and
discuss the situation that would be ideal. Appreciate the assist folks!
Click to expand...

There is a circumstance that can arise during this kind of replacement,
where the system wants to activate but will not provide the dialogs for
phone activation. It may be wanting to activate online, but can't do
this because the correct network adapter drivers aren't installed.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, you *have* to have that phone dialog to
enter the new key or activation number. I could not find any way around
this aside from a clean install with a correct key. You may need to
contact eMachines for the correct key.

Perhaps you will find a way around this; I could not.

HTH
-pk
 
I appreciate your time and reply. I know I am preaching to the choir here,
but that seems very unfiar to expect to purchase a second license simply
because there was a quality problem (you all know the eMachine bad caps
story) and replacing it with the next closest mobo replacement. For obvious
reasons we did not go with an exact match to only end up with the same
failure in a few months. I can not believe that MS has not thought of this
senerio before establishing the EULA rules. Crazy! But I may have to just
give up and make my $190 retail lic purchase.
 
5J''s said:
I appreciate your time and reply. I know I am preaching to the choir
here, but that seems very unfiar to expect to purchase a second license
simply because there was a quality problem (you all know the eMachine bad
caps
story) and replacing it with the next closest mobo replacement. For
obvious reasons we did not go with an exact match to only end up with the
same
failure in a few months. I can not believe that MS has not thought of
this
senerio before establishing the EULA rules. Crazy! But I may have to
just give up and make my $190 retail lic purchase.
Click to expand...

I understand how you feel about this, but you have a basic misunderstanding
of OEM vs. retail licensing. When you purchase an OEM (Original Equipment
Manufacturer) license, it is tied to the original hardware on which it is
installed. A retail version has no such limitation.

OEMs like eMachines, Dell, Sony etc. have licensing agreements with
Microsoft. When you purchase an OEM machine with a Microsoft operating
system preinstalled, your support and licensing lies with the OEM and not
with Microsoft. The OEM must give the buyer a way to return the computer to
factory condition. This can be with a restore image on a special partition
on the hard drive, a CD/DVD with the restore image(s), a real operating
system disk, or any combination of these. In addition to all of this, when
the OEM provides an operating system restore disk, in many cases it is
BIOS-locked to the OEM-branded motherboard that came with the system.

I am sympathetic, but you should have purchased the identical motherboard
from eMachines. You need to either purchase XP Home or put a different
operating system on the computer that doesn't have a licensing problem such
as one of the many Linux distros. Only you know whether this last option is
viable for you.


Malke
 
5J''s said:
I appreciate your time and reply. I know I am preaching to the choir here,
but that seems very unfiar to expect to purchase a second license simply
because there was a quality problem (you all know the eMachine bad caps
story) and replacing it with the next closest mobo replacement. For obvious
reasons we did not go with an exact match to only end up with the same
failure in a few months. I can not believe that MS has not thought of this
senerio before establishing the EULA rules. Crazy! But I may have to just
give up and make my $190 retail lic purchase.
Click to expand...

There is really nothing unfair about this situation. Overall, the cost
of Windows XP installed by an OEM on its machines is quite minimal. To
buy the same, but unbranded/unlocked, OEM version costs between $150 to
$200, for which the buyer of an OEM system might have nominally paid $15.
For all things being equal, that is for the home-builder who bought an
off-the-shelf motherboard and Windows XP, re-using the OS by repairing
or replacing the motherboard is, therefore, reasonable and justified. The
party to seek, recourse, and to blame, for having a failed computer system
in this case is eMachines. If out of warranty (and, in any event, it has
been voided by removing the original motherboard), then SOL. Microsoft has
nothing to do with your deal with eMachines.
 
(snippage)

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments but I'm not the OP and I don't have
the problem.

Malke
 
5J's said:
I had to change a failed eMachines motherboard. I matched up the replacement
as close as possible - but the mobo is not identical. Now XP Home Edition
that came with the original mobo comes up and complains of not be activated,
and will not let me login to Windows. In safe mode I complains about all the
new hw and not having drivers. I tried to perform an in place repair - did
not work, never asks for lic key. I tried to install new on a new hard drive
and that rejects the lic key as invalid. How do I ge this resolved?
Click to expand...


Obtain an identical replacement motherboard from eMachines - accept no
substitutes. Or buy a new WinXP license.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

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The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
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