Activation Help after hard drive replacement

[maurella]

I reinstalled XP Pro on a computer after the hard drive died. I replaced the 20GB hard drive with 2 3GB hard drives. It originially had Windows 98, and I upgraded rather than wipe & install, and I thought I had used the key from a full install. This is for a school and we received several keys at various times, but I had always affixed the key to the PC to make sure it wasn't duplicated (honest). The key was accepted during the installation, however, when I tried activating it, the activation wizard replied that this key was already in use. The activation wizard provided a telephone number and a series of 50 numbers to use to activate XP. So....., I called the number at Microsoft; the phone wizard had me enter the 50 numbers by voice, then told me it could not validate it and forwarded me to live assistance which ended up being a busy signal. I am concerned that this is the standard protocol, so I am worried that I will go through this loop numerous times to no avail. Is it normal to get a busy signal instead of a call queue? Does anyone know of an alternative route I can use to get to Microsoft to resolve this?

Also, could it be that the key I used was for the XP Upgrade instead of full install? I would have thought I would not have been able to proceed if that was the case without providing some sort of information that demonstrated I was upgrading from a previous operating system.

Thanks

 

[Marcs41]

An Upgrade key is NOT a Full version key, but you can use the full version to upgrade.
So, IF you had an upgrade key, you need to install 98 first, and then upgrade, or boor Xp, select upgrade and it should prompt you the 98 CD.
If it is a full version key and you have still issues, call MS again, they should pick up and re-activate you.

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC!
How Do You Get Great Answers To my Tek-Tips Questions? [/sub]See faq222-2244

 

[maurella]

Ok. I can put this one to bed. The next time I called, way different outcome. I got transferred again to the phone, but this time no busy signal; someone answered immediately and I was able to get an activation key very quickly.

 

[Marcs41]

There you go!

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC!
How Do You Get Great Answers To my Tek-Tips Questions? [/sub]See faq222-2244