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    I just went out and purchased myself a very nice DVD burner for $70. I put it in my computer and plugged it all in and then booted up. When the login screen came on i logged in as usual. I then recieved a notice that because of significant hardware changes, i need to re-activate windows. I put in the CD key that came wth my machine which had Genuine Windows XP Home Edition SP2 and it said that this key had already been used. Before this i have even installed new memory, another hardrive, a video card, 3 LAN cards, a CD R/RW, and a regular DVD drive. At any of these times i was not asked to re activate windows xp and now i have to go and buy a $200 copy of windows because of it. I even tried removing the drive and i still had to re-validate because of "Significant Hardware Changes to The System". This was really stupid and i am thinking about switching to Linux but would rather stay with XP.
    Wednesday, July 26, 2006 2:45 AM

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    Dpsweeney29,

    As you noted, XP's activation has a certain amount of tolerance, but with that last change you exceeded the tolerance.

    Start the Activation Wizard and choose phone activation.  You will go thru an automated process that might also refuse activation.  If so, choose to speak with a rep and answer the rep's questions, calmly explaining the changes you have made over the course of time.

    As long as the rep determines that you have not installed this copy of XP in contravention of the End User Licensing Agreement, they will issue you a new activation code.

    Wednesday, July 26, 2006 4:07 AM