New hardware == invalidated genuine windows liscence?

In a few weeks time I am going to almost completely overhaul my computer, ie,
new ram, cpu, gfx and maybe hard disks, having read about how the windows
genuine doohicky works, it sounds like such an upgrade would invalidate my
copy of Windows should I try to update it? Will this be the case?

If you have a genuine license key then a phone call to the microsoft
activation line will get around that problem.

I have had to replace parts that have failed in my employers PC's and when
it gets out of the parameters set for "normal" upgrades, I just contact the
MS helpline and they reactivate my product over the phone.

Regards



"Jonneh" wrote:

> In a few weeks time I am going to almost completely overhaul my computer, ie,
> new ram, cpu, gfx and maybe hard disks, having read about how the windows
> genuine doohicky works, it sounds like such an upgrade would invalidate my
> copy of Windows should I try to update it? Will this be the case?

Many thanks, what counts as a 'harmless' upgrade? At what point is a
phonecall necesary?
I'm fairly sure changing mobo, cpu, gfx and ram would do it, but i'm
guessing if there is a little leaway (and that MS will update your profile
with the new hardware) then it woudl be possible to slowly introduce the new
gear bit by bit.

....but that would be silly!
Thanks for your help.

"DB" wrote:

> If you have a genuine license key then a phone call to the microsoft
> activation line will get around that problem.
>
> I have had to replace parts that have failed in my employers PC's and when
> it gets out of the parameters set for "normal" upgrades, I just contact the
> MS helpline and they reactivate my product over the phone.
>
> Regards

Jonneh wrote:

> Many thanks, what counts as a 'harmless' upgrade? At what point is a
> phonecall necesary?
> I'm fairly sure changing mobo, cpu, gfx and ram would do it, but i'm
> guessing if there is a little leaway (and that MS will update your profile
> with the new hardware) then it woudl be possible to slowly introduce the new
> gear bit by bit.
>
> ...but that would be silly!


Essentially, this is a new computer...changing the CPU,
motherboard, video card, RAM set, etc. But if the version
of Windows XP is an original retail, then there might not
be a problem with both activiation and WGA. OTOH, if the
XP version is "branded" to a particular make of computer,
then there will definitely be issues since the OEM version
has been licensed for only that particular system.

The "points system" is cumulative. I don't know the point at which it says
"enough is enough", but after changing all those parts it will definitely ask
for reactivation.

I don't think that an OEM product will make much difference. I haven't had
that problem so far. Dell and HP use a variety of MOBO's CPU's etc, so it
shouldn't make a difference. The only issue I could foresee with that would
be if you needed a complete reinstall. Some OEM verions of the CD check for
a specific BIOS and won't load on anything different from the one they expect
(Fujitsu-Siemens springs to mind).

I'll be doing a similar thing soon, with clone machines though. I have 3
PC's that all had fan failures leading to CPU burnouts. Can't get the CPU
any more so I am going for a complete overhaul. Let us know how you get on.

"Jonneh" wrote:

> Many thanks, what counts as a 'harmless' upgrade? At what point is a
> phonecall necesary?
> I'm fairly sure changing mobo, cpu, gfx and ram would do it, but i'm
> guessing if there is a little leaway (and that MS will update your profile
> with the new hardware) then it woudl be possible to slowly introduce the new
> gear bit by bit.
>
> ...but that would be silly!
> Thanks for your help.
>
> "DB" wrote:
>
> > If you have a genuine license key then a phone call to the microsoft
> > activation line will get around that problem.
> >
> > I have had to replace parts that have failed in my employers PC's and when
> > it gets out of the parameters set for "normal" upgrades, I just contact the
> > MS helpline and they reactivate my product over the phone.
> >
> > Regards
>