LancerZero
Baseband Member
- Messages
- 37
I again have come to hate the corporate giant that is Microsoft. Here's what the problem is:
I had an old Compaq Presario, circa 2000, with Windows ME on it. I purchased the upgrade edition of XP from CompUSA and used it, activated it, ran it, no problems. A little while later, lack of power toasted my motherboard when I installed a new graphics card to replace the old one that had gone faulty.
So I bought a new motherboard, processor, and RAM and scavenged everything else from the Compaq. Ran XP like that for a couple of weeks, but when I booted my computer up this morning it suddenly says that my hardware configuration has changed so much that I need to reactivate. Annoying, but I didn't think it'd be a problem. Typed in the product key, and when it connects to Microsoft it says that key is already in use and I can't use it.
What can I do?
(besides switch to Linux, which I'll do in spite of the Office course I'm taking if I can't fix Windows - I can't afford $300 for a brand-new copy)
I had an old Compaq Presario, circa 2000, with Windows ME on it. I purchased the upgrade edition of XP from CompUSA and used it, activated it, ran it, no problems. A little while later, lack of power toasted my motherboard when I installed a new graphics card to replace the old one that had gone faulty.
So I bought a new motherboard, processor, and RAM and scavenged everything else from the Compaq. Ran XP like that for a couple of weeks, but when I booted my computer up this morning it suddenly says that my hardware configuration has changed so much that I need to reactivate. Annoying, but I didn't think it'd be a problem. Typed in the product key, and when it connects to Microsoft it says that key is already in use and I can't use it.
What can I do?
(besides switch to Linux, which I'll do in spite of the Office course I'm taking if I can't fix Windows - I can't afford $300 for a brand-new copy)
