Hi Tracy,

Yeah, the 888 number is just an automated process to do an activation. The computer has something up on the screen like "Cannot connect to Windows" and I'm trying to find out if a reinstall with a different version of XP will trash everything. Guess it doesn't really matter at this point as there is no choice; pc doesn't work as is. We're just going to go ahead and try it and hope for the best. I'm disappointed that there is no way to talk to a rep from MS directly about this. None that I can find anyway.

Renoir


>Hi Renoir,
>
>Did you get this resolved? USA : (888) 571-2048 is the number to call to activate windows xp. You can activate from the command line using:
>
>C:\windows\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a
>
>
>>We bought a PC from a friend of a friend and found out that the XP Professional that was loaded was not an activated copy. The friend of the friend says he can't find the disks. Right. Unfortunately we didn't know this until a whole bunch of software had been loaded. The PC has locked the system and says something like "Cannot connect to Windows." (I'm at work and don't have the exact message) I just bought a legal copy of XP Professional and wanted to know if I am going to have any problems reinstalling this legal version on top of the obviously not kosher version. There was much work in getting the PC the way it is and I'm hoping that the reinstall will get the OS right and leave the other stuff alone. Customer support at MS was absolutely no help whatsoever as I could NEVER get a person to speak to and NO ONE returned any messages. Any insights/help would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks! Renoir