product activation

[chris]

Hi All,
I was just wondering if anyone knows of a way of
formating and reinstalling XP OEM edition without having
to contact microsoft for a new product key?
I have been having loads of intermittent bugs with my pc
for ages and have decided to either buy a new hard disk
if necessary ,or format and re-install on the old drive
a clean copy.
I have done this twice before and had to call microsoft
for a new number as the existing one was used to activate
XP when I got the pc ages ago.
If Anyone knows of anything that may help I would be
extremely grateful.
Thanks guys
Chris

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Chris,

Nope, but there's no reason you should need a new Product Key. You should be
able to use the same one, and activation should be automatic unless hardware
changes have been both significant and recent. If that is the case, you may
need to phone in activation, but this shouldn't ake but a few minutes.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"chris" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All,
> I was just wondering if anyone knows of a way of
> formating and reinstalling XP OEM edition without having
> to contact microsoft for a new product key?
> I have been having loads of intermittent bugs with my pc
> for ages and have decided to either buy a new hard disk
> if necessary ,or format and re-install on the old drive
> a clean copy.
> I have done this twice before and had to call microsoft
> for a new number as the existing one was used to activate
> XP when I got the pc ages ago.
> If Anyone knows of anything that may help I would be
> extremely grateful.
> Thanks guys
> Chris

[chris]

THanks Rick

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi Chris,
>
>Nope, but there's no reason you should need a new
Product Key. You should be
>able to use the same one, and activation should be
automatic unless hardware
>changes have been both significant and recent. If that
is the case, you may
>need to phone in activation, but this shouldn't ake but
a few minutes.
>
>--
>Best of Luck,
>
>Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
>Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!
>http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
>www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org
>
>"chris" > wrote in message
...
>> Hi All,
>> I was just wondering if anyone knows of a way of
>> formating and reinstalling XP OEM edition without
having
>> to contact microsoft for a new product key?
>> I have been having loads of intermittent bugs with my
pc
>> for ages and have decided to either buy a new hard disk
>> if necessary ,or format and re-install on the old
drive
>> a clean copy.
>> I have done this twice before and had to call microsoft
>> for a new number as the existing one was used to
activate
>> XP when I got the pc ages ago.
>> If Anyone knows of anything that may help I would be
>> extremely grateful.
>> Thanks guys
>> Chris
>
>
>.
>