The Conservative Cave
The Help Desk => Computer Related Discussions & Questions => Topic started by: ardentconservative on March 23, 2010, 08:33:38 AM
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Problem! I have a 160 gigabyte harddrive out of a Dell computer that the motherboard was fried during an electrical storm. The Dell Optiplex 170l that you guys just helped me get going had a 40 gigabyte harddrive. I installed the 160 gigabyte hard drive into the computer before I got the 40 gigabyte drive fixed and it booted up a couple of times but the third time I tried to boot the computer I received a message that windows needed to be activated. Now I activated windows in the last computer. Now it says it needs to be activated again and Microsoft won't allow me to reactivated Windows on the 160 GB drive.
Does anyone know how to get Windows on the 160 GB drive activated. I would like to run the 160 GB drive as primary, and the 40 GB drive as secondary.
I'm not trying to steal anything from Microsoft as I paid for the 160GB drive when I bought the computer it was in. I simply want to be able to use what I have already purchased.
I know how to go into setup and configure for the two drives to work together, I just can't figure out how to activate Windows XP on the 160 GB drive.
One last question. The 40 GB drive is running XP SP3, the 160 GB drive has XP SP2. Would there be a conflict between the two.
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Let me get this straight. You have XP SP3 on the 40gig drive and it's activated, but you want to use the XP OS on the 160gig drive? You might have to call Microsoft to do this, or you could just go ahead and use the 40gig drive for the primary and the 160 for storage.
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Let me get this straight. You have XP SP3 on the 40gig drive and it's activated, but you want to use the XP OS on the 160gig drive? You might have to call Microsoft to do this, or you could just go ahead and use the 40gig drive for the primary and the 160 for storage.
Thanks thundley, I tried to activate the 160 GB drive through Microsoft and they would not allow it as it was not in the original computer. The reason that I would like to find a way to activate the 160 GB drive is that it has programs that I would like to use that are not on the 40 GB drive.
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Call them again and tell them that you had to change the motherboard. They don't need to know any different. If that doesn't work, I have a "fix" for you.
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Call them again and tell them that you had to change the motherboard. They don't need to know any different. If that doesn't work, I have a "fix" for you.
Thanks.
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Call them again and tell them that you had to change the motherboard. They don't need to know any different. If that doesn't work, I have a "fix" for you.
Okay, Thor, here is the answer I got from Microsoft. Essentially they said that the activation key that I used to activate the computer when I bought it was an incorrect activation key and that I would have to talk to whomever I bought the computer from. My question is if it was an incorrect activation key, why did it activate Windows when I activated it when I first set up the computer.
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Okay, Thor, here is the answer I got from Microsoft. Essentially they said that the activation key that I used to activate the computer when I bought it was an incorrect activation key and that I would have to talk to whomever I bought the computer from. My question is if it was an incorrect activation key, why did it activate Windows when I activated it when I first set up the computer.
Screwed again by Bill "Just for You" Gates......
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Well........... if only I could tell you what I'd do in that instance. ;)
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Well, if the 160 GB drive can't be activated, can anyone tell me if it is possible to move programs from the 160 GB drive to the 40 GB drive. I especially would like to get Microsoft Works to where I could use the word processor, along with a couple of other programs.
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I don't think that can be done. Have you considered some some of the alternative free programs that are available?
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I don't think that can be done. Have you considered some some of the alternative free programs that are available?
Like what? :-) :-)
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Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/) for word processing.
GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) for photo manipulation.
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Not that I would condone such a thing, but many people I know would just go download bittorrent and then hop on thepiratebay.org and find exactly what they're looking for....... It's simply amazing at what might be found on that site........
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Not that I would condone such a thing, but many people I know would just go download bittorrent and then hop on thepiratebay.org and find exactly what they're looking for....... It's simply amazing at what might be found on that site........
Not sure that I'd trust TPB much since they lost their court battles. However, there are other torrent sites, or so I've heard.
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Not sure that I'd trust TPB much since they lost their court battles. However, there are other torrent sites, or so I've heard.
I dunno, they're still up and running. Upon inspection, they seem to be the same as they have been through the years. ;)
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Thanks thundley, I tried to activate the 160 GB drive through Microsoft and they would not allow it as it was not in the original computer. The reason that I would like to find a way to activate the 160 GB drive is that it has programs that I would like to use that are not on the 40 GB drive.
How about use the 40 to boot and set the 160 as slave . XP should be smart enough to access it and most BIOS are will support cable select. A lot of times if you use a smaller drive as the boot drive it will boot faster.
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How about use the 40 to boot and set the 160 as slave . XP should be smart enough to access it and most BIOS are will support cable select. A lot of times if you use a smaller drive as the boot drive it will boot faster.
Thanks, I tried that. The computer recognizes the 160 GB drive as slave, I can load files on the 160 GB drive, but I can't access the files and programs already on the 160 GB drive.
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Oh well, I guess the 160 GB drive is off the table now. I was told on one of the computer forums that the liscense dies when the computer dies. I purchased this, and one day I will find a way to activate the Windows. I paid for it, if at all possible I am going to find a way to use it.
I have a feeling that some of the guys on the three computer forums that I asked this question on knew what to do but was afraid of getting into trouble. Either thinking I was trying to steal something from Microsoft, or that I might be someone trying to get someone to do something illegal. But, as I said, I paid for this drive, and paid dearly for the computer that it came in.
Maybe I can find someone around me that knows me that knows how to activate this drive.
The story isn't over yet, maybe someday, but not yet.
Thanks guys, I appreciate your help.