I believe my validation problems is that this machine's copy of XP was never activated. I tried to follow your steps to activate it but I do not see an icon in accessories, system tools to activate the copy and I do not find a phone number to call to do the activation by phone. I have pasted the diagnostics in this post for someone to verify that the problem is the copy not being activated.
Update: I reached Microsoft and found that my copy of XP has been activated so that is not the problem. Can someone else tell from the dianostic report what the problem with validation is?
Diagnostic Report (1.7.0012.0):
-----------------------------------------
WGA Data-->
Validation Status: Invalid Product Key
Detailed Status: N/A
Windows Product Key: *****-*****-P4YQJ-DBG36-2RYGT
Windows Product Key Hash: nodI+WeYFU+qAfFDJyn7JC7kCJY=
Windows Product ID: 55274-640-6316066-23753
Windows Product ID Type: 1
Windows License Type: Volume
Windows OS version: 5.1.2600.2.00010100.2.0.pro
ID: {C78E4EBE-49B1-40EE-BF50-B2939A03B37A}
Is Admin: Yes
AutoDial: No
Registry: 0x0
WGA Version: Registered, 1.7.36.0
Signed By: Microsoft
Product Name: N/A
Architecture: N/A
Build lab: N/A
TTS Error: N/A
Validation Diagnostic:
Resolution Status: N/A
Notifications Data-->
Cached Result: N/A
File Exists: No
Version: N/A
WgaTray.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
WgaLogon.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
OGA Data-->
Office Status: 109 N/A
OGA Version: Registered, 1.6.21.0
Signed By: Microsoft
Office Diagnostics:
Browser Data-->
Proxy settings: N/A
User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Win32)
Default Browser: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt
Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disabled
Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Allowed
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disabled
Allow scripting of Internet Explorer Webbrowser control: Disabled
Active scripting: Allowed
Script ActiveX controls marked as safe for scripting: Allowed
File Scan Data-->
Other data-->
Office Details: <GenuineResults><MachineData><UGUID>{C78E4EBE-49B1-40EE-BF50-B2939A03B37A}</UGUID><Version>1.7.0012.0</Version><OS>5.1.2600.2.00010100.2.0.pro</OS><PKey>*****-*****-*****-*****-2RYGT</PKey><PID>55274-640-6316066-23753</PID><PIDType>1</PIDType><SID>S-1-5-21-606747145-1677128483-1343024091</SID><SYSTEM><Manufacturer>NEC</Manufacturer><Model>VL4G0A20-0000A0 </Model></SYSTEM><BIOS><Manufacturer>NEC </Manufacturer><Version>BIOS Revision /084A1600 </Version><SMBIOSVersion major="2" minor="1"/><Date>19990319000000.000000+000</Date></BIOS><HWID>A0F23A07018400BA</HWID><UserLCID>0409</UserLCID><SystemLCID>0409</SystemLCID><TimeZone>Central America Standard Time(GMT-06:00)</TimeZone><iJoin>0</iJoin><SBID><stat>3</stat><msppid></msppid><name></name><model></model></SBID><OEM/></MachineData> <Software><Office><Result>109</Result><Products/></Office></Software></GenuineResults>