wrote:


I am wondering what would happen if I ran a reinstall from a CD, over
the top of what is already there....... ?????
(Or is that what you mean by a "repair install"?)

1) Put the old disk drive into the new computer.
2) Boot with the WinXP CD. Then follow some famous recipe.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/pd...airinstall.pdf


By the way, what is SLIC?


ACPI tables are stored in the BIOS, and handed out
like candy during boot. In particular, the OS
"wants to see your identification". Even regular
computers have a SLIC, but it has nothing of interest
or use inside it.

On a Dell, the SLIC table might be multiple KBytes
of stuff, but basically it says "I'm a Dell", and
is configured in such a way to make it hard to spoof.

You will occasionally see veiled discussion threads,
where it appears people are adding imported SLIC
tables into regular computers. But these people
are very discrete, they don't want to get caught,
so they won't give you a "step by step" to do it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwa...cription_table

"Some BIOSes contain a software licensing
description table (SLIC), a digital signature
placed inside the BIOS by the original equipment
manufacturer (OEM), for example Dell.

The SLIC is inserted into the ACPI table and
contains no active code.

Computer manufacturers that distribute OEM versions
of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft application
software can use the SLIC to authenticate licensing
to the OEM Windows Installation disk and system
recovery disc containing Windows software.

Systems with an SLIC can be preactivated with an OEM product
key, and they verify an XML formatted OEM certificate
against the SLIC in the BIOS as a means of self-activating
(see System Locked Preinstallation, SLP). If a user
performs a fresh install of Windows, they will need
to have possession of both the OEM key (either SLP
or COA) and the digital certificate for their SLIC
in order to bypass activation. This can be achieved
if the user performs a restore using a pre-customised
image provided by the OEM. Power users can copy the
necessary certificate files from the OEM image, decode
the SLP product key, then perform SLP activation manually.
Cracks for non-genuine Windows distributions usually
edit the SLIC or emulate it in order to bypass Windows
activation"

HTH,
Paul