Activation Loop For XP But Already Activated

[fullbug]

I'm on a Windows XP pro desktop, and have had  some problems the last few months I thought were resolved but now I have this problem, my previous problem was discussed here- http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,119706.0.html
So I had a friend (who is out of town now of course) fix that problem, did a reformat, added 1 gig of ram, and things have been working great until today...

Now after its rebooted, it says i must activate windows before I log on. if i click YES, it says windows already activated, click OK but it then brings me back to the first message saying I need to activate.

Safe mode seems OK, but what can you do in safe mode?

Basically I'm stuck in a loop, and i can't get into windows normally.

I should point out that I have my Windows XP CD, tried rebooting with that in but it doesnt do anything....

I googled this problem a little but anything a saw seems to point me toward doing something with the registry, and I ain't doing that unless someone here points me that way....

Can someone help me out please? 

[Geek-9pm]

Can you do safe mode with network?
In that mode you can download tools that may help resolve the issue.

[fullbug]

No, when I do that I get the message windows must be activated to continue....Isn't there a way to use the Windows CD somehow to fix this?
I also tried following Microsoft's instructions I found here- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312295
But when I get to this part-

"Step 3: Remove the RESETS registry subkey
1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SOFTWARE, and then expand Microsoft.
3. Expand Windows NT, and then expand CurrentVersion.
4. Expand Winlogon, and then expand Notify.
5. Under Notify, right-click RESETS, and then click Delete.
6. Click Yes to confirm the removal of the RESETS subkey. "

Under Notify there is NOT a RESETS to delete. I cannot do steps 5-6....

[jason2074]

Try here and see if it helps -> http://ask-leo.com/why_cant_i_activate_windows_xp.html

[Geek-9pm]

jason2074
Thanks for the link. That explains some of the things that happens. Because the author has experience and understanding of this topic, what he says has more value that a newcomer crying about how hard it is. He is not a newcomer, and if was hard for him. Hi has a theory about what happened, but it is unproven.

Moral: If you want to install  Windows XP on a computer, it may be  harder than anybody can imagine.

[BC_Programmer]

Because the author has experience and understanding of this topic

Clearly not. If that was true He ought to have known that without a installed network card Windows cannot generate the identification code or System Installation ID, which is used by wuaclt when attempting to determine if the machine is activated. <NOW> he has experience and understanding on this topic, but clearly he didn't before.

[Geek-9pm]

Clearly not. If that was true He ought to have known that without a installed network card Windows cannot generate the identification code or System Installation ID, which is used by wuaclt when attempting to determine if the machine is activated. <NOW> he has experience and understanding on this topic, but clearly he didn't before.

Is that documented? Does it say that somewhere in the instructions? 

[BC_Programmer]

Is that documented?

http://www.microsoft.com/norge/piracy/activation_faq.mspx

Product key information, in the form of the product ID, is sent along with a "hardware hash" (a non-unique number generated from the PC's hardware configuration) to Microsoft's activation system during activation.

Does it say that somewhere in the instructions?

It shouldn't have to be. People who are reformatting Windows machines should know what they are doing. There are no instructions for "what to do when you reformat a OEM install of Windows and have problems activating because you clearly had no idea how the differences between an OEM and retail install will affect things  and didn't do the research to find out and want to blame MS for your own incompetence".

[Geek-9pm]

The link to Leo indicates that even the MS experts don't understand it.

It appears to be a logic flaw. When you install XP you have 30 days to activate the product. The OP says he never got to that point. Without the system running, he could not do anything. The they offered is not confirmed. It seems that if the NIC does not function, there is not way to activate Windows. And if is not activated, you can not update the driver. And if you call MS, they can not help you either.

The solution was intuitive, not logical. It is not logical to refuse a new install to function because it was not activated. That logically happens after 30 days is up. Normally Windows does not force you to active until the 30 days are up.

From my  personal experience, the 30 rule works on OEM XP, even when it is put on a non-OEM PC. But what we a talking about here in this thread is a aberrant behavior that is apparently rare. The issue was never resolved my MS tech support, according to Leo. Myself, I find this whole thing hard to believe.

[Mangraviti]

I have the exact same problem.

A client dropped his netbook on the floor and had a cracked screen and a bad HDD. Replaced them both.

As he didn't have an installation disc, I used a Win XP Home OEM disc and used his product key during the setup. Everything went fine, as usual. I always do the exact same process with XP, Vista and 7. If the person has an OEM key it will activate from a OEM disc - even though it's not the one given by the manufacturer (in this case, Toshiba). The only difference is that if doing this with Win7, you can't activate online and must call that phone number they give you at that wizard screen.

Anyways. My install was perfect. Everything went smooth and etc.

When it rebooted for the last time and asked to confim if I could "see that box on the screen", the problem began:

I got a window saying that "you must activate Windows before log on - Do you want to do this now"? I select Yes and it offered me three options:
1) Yes, I want to activate online (impossible as I didn't have the network drivers installed)
2) Yes, I want to telephone
3) Log off

I selected the option "I want to telephone" but the installation ID number was not there. I had a blank gap, with nothing on it. I called anyway and got the automated service. After pressing a million buttons on my phone, I got through a person who said he couldn't help because there is no installation ID. I had to call on Monday (today is Saturday) some other department in order to get help. That was not an option as I needed to return this laptop to my client tomorrow (Sunday).

Whatever option I picked, would lead me to the same "You must activate windows" screen.

Somehow, after several reboots, it loged on. Don't ask me how, but it did.

Then, I installed all the drivers, without rebooting. When I rebooted, I got back to the same "You must activate windows".

The solution:

1) Formatted the hard drive
2) Installed Windows XP Professional
3) Cracked and made a few changes to the registry
4) I'm just installing the lastest updates now.

I am so happy that I use Linux. So bloody happy. And I am even happier because Windows exists. Otherwise, computers wouldn't stop working and I'd have no job at all.

Thank you Microsoft for being so incompetent. Without you, I'd be starving without a penny in my pocket.

Honestly. If a guy from Microsoft offered me a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for free, I wouldn't accept it. Windows has always been a piece of you-know-what. I'm on Windows at this very moment, but it's only a virtual machine. Microsoft websites don't like Firefox very much and make everything difficult. They trully believe that IE is a good product.

Sorry for the rant, guys. I'm not even from this forum but I get so stressed with this Microsoft stupidity that I had to shout at someone.

[BC_Programmer]

Sorry for the rant, guys. I'm not even from this forum but I get so stressed with this Microsoft stupidity that I had to shout at someone.

And my posts usually aren't this blunt. There is certainly somebody stupid in this situation, and it wasn't microsoft. Normally, you see, I'd try to rebut each point. But that would imply that your post contained reasonable thought. It didn't. Just another Lintard sucking on the RMS dickcheese.

[patio]

3) Cracked and made a few changes to the registry

This pretty much says it all...yet blame MS.