Help Re-Activating Windows XP Media Center

I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced. Some
software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that I need
to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so I am
unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit ok, it
will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation number.
Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I called
Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP for
$129. Thanks in advance.

PA
Thu May 01 12:08:58 PDT 2008

WinXP-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

Who did the "restore" work? Was Windows reinstalled? Did the machine come
with WinXP preinstalled when you bought it? What software was "added"?
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002

SBoston wrote:
> I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced. Some
> software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that I
> need
> to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so I
> am
> unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit ok,
> it
> will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation number.
> Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I
> called
> Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP for
> $129. Thanks in advance.

Gary
Thu May 01 12:20:50 PDT 2008

You posted your question to a Windows 98 newsgroup. But I have a question:
Why did you have your hard drive replaced and OS restored and who did it?
Did they use your Restore disc?

Subject to possible problems due to the answers to the above, you would
normally contact HP Support (and/or Microsoft Support) and they would help
you through a new activation. Start with HP Support.
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/contact_us.html

I recommend a Chat session to start with.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"SBoston" <SBoston@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BABD2DE1-409A-4A96-B1B9-4147A2E23C12@microsoft.com...
>I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced. Some
> software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that I
> need
> to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so I
> am
> unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit ok,
> it
> will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation number.
> Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I
> called
> Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP for
> $129. Thanks in advance.

SBoston
Thu May 01 12:22:01 PDT 2008

I had HP send me the restore disks. There was 10 of them. Best Buy did the
restore as well as put in a beafier hard drive. The PC worked fine for about
30 days. The machine was bought with XP preinstalled. Some music software was
added to the PC. Thanks in advance.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:

> WinXP-specific newsgroup:
> news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
>
> Who did the "restore" work? Was Windows reinstalled? Did the machine come
> with WinXP preinstalled when you bought it? What software was "added"?
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
>
> SBoston wrote:
> > I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced. Some
> > software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that I
> > need
> > to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so I
> > am
> > unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit ok,
> > it
> > will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation number.
> > Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I
> > called
> > Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP for
> > $129. Thanks in advance.
>
>

philo
Thu May 01 12:45:45 PDT 2008


"SBoston" <SBoston@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BABD2DE1-409A-4A96-B1B9-4147A2E23C12@microsoft.com...
> I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced. Some
> software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that I
need
> to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so I
am
> unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit ok,
it
> will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation number.
> Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I
called
> Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP for
> $129. Thanks in advance.


First off, this is a Win98 group...not XP
but if you had the machine worked on,,, the first responsibility would be
that of the outfit that repaired your machine.
Since the unit was returned to you with an unactivatable copy of XP...they
in-fact did not perform a proper repair.
Your machine should have come with a recovery CD and if it didn't...you'd
need to contact HP.


I'd contact the repair shop at once and explain the problem to them...
if they have any integrity they'll make things right...at the very least
they should not have charged you any more than the price of the harddrive
and the labor to have it installed.

Gary
Thu May 01 13:04:41 PDT 2008

This is Best Buy's to fix, immediately and for free. But I'm betting you'll
get a quicker and easier and just as free a solution from HP Support.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"SBoston" <SBoston@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:588E7A0F-D1B0-4475-A346-A6D1FC03E3E0@microsoft.com...
>I had HP send me the restore disks. There was 10 of them. Best Buy did the
> restore as well as put in a beafier hard drive. The PC worked fine for
> about
> 30 days. The machine was bought with XP preinstalled. Some music software
> was
> added to the PC. Thanks in advance.
>
> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>
>> WinXP-specific newsgroup:
>> news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
>>
>> Who did the "restore" work? Was Windows reinstalled? Did the machine
>> come
>> with WinXP preinstalled when you bought it? What software was "added"?
>> --
>> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
>> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
>>
>> SBoston wrote:
>> > I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced. Some
>> > software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that I
>> > need
>> > to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so
>> > I
>> > am
>> > unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit
>> > ok,
>> > it
>> > will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation
>> > number.
>> > Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I
>> > called
>> > Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP
>> > for
>> > $129. Thanks in advance.
>>
>>

philo
Thu May 01 13:10:38 PDT 2008


"SBoston" <SBoston@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:588E7A0F-D1B0-4475-A346-A6D1FC03E3E0@microsoft.com...
> I had HP send me the restore disks. There was 10 of them. Best Buy did the
> restore as well as put in a beafier hard drive. The PC worked fine for
about
> 30 days. The machine was bought with XP preinstalled. Some music software
was
> added to the PC. Thanks in advance.
>


This did not appear until after I had already replied to your original
question.
If the machine was not activated when XP was installed initially...you have
30 days to do so.
Best Buy should have made the attempt to activate it and alerted you that
the machine
was not activated. I'd say that it was partially Best Buy's fault ...but
there is also a possibility
that HP did not send you the correct restore CD for you machine.

I'd definately contact HP and have the model and S/N of your equipment at
hand.
If the restore CD and number appear to be correct I'd also ask them if it's
required that the harddrive come from HP.
Re-activation is usually tied to the motherboard and not the harddrive
itself.


> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>
> > WinXP-specific newsgroup:
> > news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
> >
> > Who did the "restore" work? Was Windows reinstalled? Did the machine
come
> > with WinXP preinstalled when you bought it? What software was "added"?
> > --
> > ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> > MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
> >
> > SBoston wrote:
> > > I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced.
Some
> > > software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that
I
> > > need
> > > to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so
I
> > > am
> > > unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit
ok,
> > > it
> > > will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation
number.
> > > Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I
> > > called
> > > Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP
for
> > > $129. Thanks in advance.
> >
> >

PA
Thu May 01 17:02:04 PDT 2008


CrystalBall© is telling me that BestBuy didn't use your HP disks, SBoston.
Hope you paid with a credit card so you can contest the charges.
--
~PA Bear

SBoston wrote:
> I had HP send me the restore disks. There was 10 of them. Best Buy did the
> restore as well as put in a beafier hard drive. The PC worked fine for
> about
> 30 days. The machine was bought with XP preinstalled. Some music software
> was added to the PC. Thanks in advance.
>
> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>
>> WinXP-specific newsgroup:
>> news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
>>
>> Who did the "restore" work? Was Windows reinstalled? Did the machine
>> come
>> with WinXP preinstalled when you bought it? What software was "added"?
>> --
>> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
>> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
>>
>> SBoston wrote:
>>> I recently had my HP computer restored and my hard-drive replaced. Some
>>> software was just added to the PC and now I get a pop up message that I
>>> need
>>> to activate Windows to log into my pc. There is no way around this so I
>>> am
>>> unable to use it. When I try to input the activation numbers and hit ok,
>>> it
>>> will not accept it and says i have entered an incorrect activation
>>> number.
>>> Can someone assist me here or explain what happened to cause this? I
>>> called
>>> Best Buy and they informed me they would need to reinstall Windows XP
>>> for
>>> $129. Thanks in advance.