Alan wrote:
Hi all,

I had to do a clean XP Home installation today on an old Compaq
Presario 2500 laptop for a client of mine.

Because he had none of the Recovery or XP Installation CDs that came
with the machine, I called H-P to request a replacement set. However,
because the laptop is so old by their standards they had no
installation media that I could buy.

I told the H-P/Compaq rep that I have a Dell OEM Windows XP Home CD
that came with my own machine. He said that XP should install okay
using that -- which it did.

You should *not* have used a Dell-branded XP installation CD, and the
HP/Compaq rep should not have told you this would work! The Dell-branded
XP installation CD is locked to Dell motherboards.

I'm now trying to register Windows XP using the 25 Character XP Code
on the bottom of the Compaq laptop. While I thought it MIGHT just
work over the Internet, it was flagged as being incorrect.

This can happen when you use a branded OEM installation CD!

I then called the phone number listed and all I can get is an
automated voice response which tells me -- after I read the 54
character message code -- that the code is wrong and "I won't be able
to validate my
installation right now."

Is there a phone number with a real person at Microsoft, who I can
call and activate this installation?

I doubt it. You are not permitted to use the Dell CD on an HP product. I
agree it sucks since your customer obviously has a license to run XP
Home on that PC.

Here are some ideas:

1. Search online for the generic HP product key for XP Home. This might
help:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...AAAKoEBU_QC2B1

Maybe if you use that Product Key, Activation will work (not
Registration, that's something else!).

2. Obtain the correct restoration media from a site like this:

http://www.restoredisks.com/

3. Obtain a *generic* OEM XP Home installation CD. Also, it is possible
to create your own, using the Dell-branded one as a base:

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/cre...etupdisk.shtml

FWIW, I had issues performing a Clean Install of XP Pro onto an HP
laptop once, using a generic OEM XP Pro installation CD. What worked for
me was to enter the generic product key first, during the installation.
Later I needed to enter the Product Key on the COA sticker when it was
time to activate:

http://groups.google.com/group/micro...n&dmode=source

Good luck and let us know how you make out!