Should have been smarter! Help!

[holyjunk]

I thought my old compaq (in sig) needed a format. So here I go and go get my oem xp cd and install and everything and use my compaq product key. After some google I find out that I can't do this? I must use retail cd? with retail compaq? I get it to work but product key doesn't work (the one on the compaq) and it says I have 30 days to activate. Please Help me! Thank you.

 

[kof2000]

it should work if you didnt make any hardware changes. but you can always give ms a call and tell them you are reinstalling.

 

[Lord Of The Ming]

Ya, i've reinstalled windows 3-4 times on the same CD... just select activate by phone.

 

[Bobo]

No, the problem is that you can't use your Compaq product key to reinstall.

 

[OvenMaster]

Bobo's right. You gotta use the product key from the OEM XP CD, not the one from the original restore CD that came with the PC.

That'd be like when I installed XP from an OEM disc back in August on my eMachines. I can't use the eMachines product key, I have to use the product key from the new OEM disc. And so do you.

Tom