Upgrading Computer, Will XP Lock me out?

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Porter
  • Start date Start date
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David Porter

I bought Windows XP home addition about a year ago and
installed it over Windows 98 SE. I am getting close to
upgrading my system. I will buy a bare bonze system (new
case, mother board, CPU and memory), and add my existing
drives, video card, sound card and Ethernet card.

I read somewhere that as copy protection, XP would lock up
your system if it detected more than 3 new pieces of
hardware at a time. I figure the motherboard alone, with
the different chip sets, bridges and controllers is
probably worth 5 - 8. Am I in trouble here? I would also
like to reformat the hard drive and start fresh with XP
only, but I would start by adding the current drive to the
new system first, and reformat later, if it made life
easier. Anybody know?

Thanks,

Dave
 
Go for it.

You're referring to Windows XP product activation:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/overviews/activation.asp

In short, you'll have to re-activate XP. (There would be a problem if you
had an OEM edition, but if you installed it as an upgrade over Win98, you
have a regular retail upgrade or full edition, so you'll have no problems.)

If it has been over 120 days since your last activation, you'll be able to
do it like a new installation, over the Net. If it has been less than that,
you'll have to use the telephone option. (There are a lot of digits that
have to be transferred, but I've done it a few times and in the US it seems
to take about 5 minutes.) It's irritating, but not time consuming or
difficult.

If you do a format, fresh install, you ought to get the 30 day grace period
of a new installation. If you do a repair installation
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341, "How to
Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP"), your grace
period may be zero. I mention a repair install because it's an alternate way
of getting XP up on a new system, while preserving most settings and
installed applications. (A format and clean installation is probably less
likely to give trouble, but I've upgraded systems several times successfully
with a repair installation.)

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Spam dodger may be in use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
Bob said:
Go for it.

You're referring to Windows XP product activation:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/overviews/activation.asp

In short, you'll have to re-activate XP. (There would be a problem if you
had an OEM edition, but if you installed it as an upgrade over Win98, you
have a regular retail upgrade or full edition, so you'll have no
problems.)
Click to expand...
< snipped>

I have win xp pro oem installed on a pc I want to upgrade. I need to upgrade
mb, cpu,ram. Why is there a problem as you referred to above?

tia.
steve.
 
I read somewhere that as copy protection, XP would lock up
your system if it detected more than 3 new pieces of
hardware at a time.
Click to expand...


No. See below.


I figure the motherboard alone, with
the different chip sets, bridges and controllers is
probably worth 5 - 8. Am I in trouble here?
Click to expand...


No. See below.

I would also
like to reformat the hard drive and start fresh with XP
only, but I would start by adding the current drive to the
new system first, and reformat later, if it made life
easier. Anybody know?
Click to expand...


You can make as many changes as you want and reformat and
reinstall as often as you want. Worst case, you will have to
reactivate. Reactivation can often be done over the internet just
as easily as the first time, but you might have to do it by voice
call to an 800 number (you'll be given the number if you need to
do this), simply explaining what you've done. It's quick (usually
under five minutes), easy, and hassle-free.
 
< snipped>

I have win xp pro oem installed on a pc I want to upgrade. I need to upgrade
mb, cpu,ram. Why is there a problem as you referred to above?
Click to expand...


There isn't. You can certainly upgrade *anything* you need to.
The only thing you can't do is move XP to an entire new computer.
 
David said:
I bought Windows XP home addition about a year ago and
installed it over Windows 98 SE. I am getting close to
upgrading my system. I will buy a bare bonze system (new
case, mother board, CPU and memory), and add my existing
drives, video card, sound card and Ethernet card.

I read somewhere that as copy protection, XP would lock up
your system if it detected more than 3 new pieces of
hardware at a time. I figure the motherboard alone, with
the different chip sets, bridges and controllers is
probably worth 5 - 8. Am I in trouble here?
Click to expand...

No more than minor hassle, provided you bought a boxed retail copy and
not an 'OEM' one tied to the initial machine.

You can connect up, power up and go straight into BIOS setup to set Date
and Time and check the disks are correctly detected. There Set the
BIOS to boot CD before Hard disk, then boot the XP CD, start Setup (do
not take 'Repair' at this stage), then after the license agreement take
'Repair Installation'. This will retain your existing software
installations and most settings. But Updates will have to be run again,
especially SP1; and if you have drivers that only arrived with that,
like USB 2 ones, you will need to update drivers for the devices
concerned. You may find that things like virtual memory settings and
some aspects of appearance have reverted to defaults

This should retain your activation status, though if you have never
registered you may have the setup suggest it now (don't bother). You
may nevertheless find you have made so many changes that you need to
activate again by phoning in, but it is worth the try. If so, you will
be in Safe Mode: go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System
Tools - Activate Windows and take the Activate by Phone; phone a
toll-free number that will be given, to explain and swap one long number
for another to check back as you type it in
 
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