activating xp

Is there anyway aound the windows xp activation, i recently did and over hall on my pc,

new motherboard
new graphics card
new everything really

kept the same hard drive but stuck in a slave 500gb one, after i did that it wouldnt run rite, so now the actavation has come back and my 30 days are passed, i really dont want to reformat is there a way i can do it without reformnating

 

just use the same cd key that came with the computer, originally. there should be a sticker with the key on the top or on the back of the computer tower.

 

so the same key will work more than once ?

 

only if you are using the same hard drive that came with the system. that key is for that hard drive only because it came with xp preinstalled already. using it on a different system won't work.

 

so as long as i set the 40gb one as my first partition it should work, wanted to use the 500gb one as the main drive. Plus i really didnt want to reformat the pc, there are cgi videos i have been workin on still on the 500gb drive, 15gbs worth

 

i'd use the 500gig as a storage drive, and keep the 40gig as the primary.

reformat of the system is usually needed when you switch motherboards, because windows won't like all of the changes. but only format if you have a xp cd, not a recovery cd.

 

just reformatted, and windows will not activate, it was a windwos disk, and its real, stuck in the serial and its now saying invalid, i tried to phone microsoft and got put on hold before giving up

 

Windows XP includes a product activation feature that will scan all of your hardware and assign a value to it (link if you want to read the details). If enough items are changed to cause a significant change in the value, it will think that you've installed XP on a new computer and prompt you to reactivate it. You can do so by following the steps provided by MS (link here).

With the amount of changes that you made, you're basically trying to install XP on a new computer. If you're using a retail disc, then this is allowed in the EULA, but if it's an OEM disc, then technically you'll have to purchase a new license. Believe it or not, MS is actually pretty good about this, so if you're patient on the phone you should get someone help you out. If it's an OEM license, you can simply tell them that your motherboard and hard drive failed and you had it replace under warranty.