Upgrading hardware

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Guest

Have ordered a new motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM , and a new sound card,
Will I have to get a new copy of windows
 
Depends on what the status of the old copy of Windows is. OEM? Quite
possibly. Using it elsewhere. Definitely. Retail full copy and only one
PC. You certainly can use the old one.
 
kenhwcan said:
Have ordered a new motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM , and a new sound card,
Will I have to get a new copy of windows

Possibly. At the very minimum you will need to do a Repair Install of
your Windows XP as per the instructions at
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.html

However if your installed Windows XP is an OEM version and what you
have is a "System Recovery" disk or hidden partition on the hard drive
instead of an actual Windows XP installation CD then you may not be
able to perform a Repair Install.

Furthermore if your OEM Windows XP uses the SLP or "bios locked"
procedure then it cannot be used on any motherboard that does not have
a BIOS version from the same manufacturer/assembler that produced the
original computer.

To determine if your installed Windows XP is an OEM version open
Control Panel - System - General and look at the 20 character Product
I.D. code that is reported on the last line of the "Licensed to:"
section. If the second segment of that code reads OEM then your
installed Windows XP is an OEM version. If the second segment is a 3
digit number then your installed Windows XP is a retail or volume
licensed version. Note that the 20 character product i.d. code is not
the same as the 25 character Product Key used to install Windows XP.

To determine if your installed OEM Windows XP is a "BIOS locked"
version look on the Start Menu under All Programs - Accessories -
System Tools for an "Activate Windows" menu item. If there is no
"Activate Windows" item in the System Tools section then your
installed OEM Windows XP is BIOS Locked. Note that some non-OEM
versions of Windows XP, such as volume licenses, will also not have an
"Activate Windows" item.

Good luck

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

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
Looks like iis BIOS locked, no problem will get new copy, but my question is
should I get a copy of media with vista upgrade or will rebuilt computer
which is used for games(Intel 2 due e6600, Asus p5n32 sli se deluxe, new Ram
, video card and sound card) or go to 64 bit windows.
Thank you for the very helpful and detailed ansewer.
 
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