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12163
December 29th, 2005 22:00
Windows XP installation ID product key
My three-year old Dimesion 4500 with Windows XP (Home) suddently will not start up Windows. It says the product has to be registered and when I follow the steps to activate the product, the following occurs 1) it cannot connect to the internet for registratioin (reason unknown) and 2) when I ask for telephone support, the system shows an installation ID and asks that I provide this to the Microsoft representative. The 800 number for Microsoft is a voice recognition system and when I read the ID, it says the product is not found. I am in a quandry. How do I get the system working and who do I contact to get the product registered (?) and have a new ID or product key generated. I do not have an XP CD; only the recovery disks that Dell provided at purchase. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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tgsmith
2.9K Posts
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December 29th, 2005 23:00
tmjm03,
Had a similar experience June 25, 2005 with my Dell 4100 that had been upgraded in 2003 via clean install of Windows XP SP1. Telephone activation worked. However, Microsoft said something to the effect it could not verify the manufacturer of my computer but was allowing the activation.
If you can get into the Recovery Console, go to C:\Windows\system32\ subdirectory. Look for files named wpa.dbl and wpa.bak. Note the date of the file(s). If you have no wpa.dbl but you do have a wpa.bak, copy the wpa.bak to wpa.dbl. If you have a wpa.dbl and a wpa.bak, then rename the wpa.dbl to wpa.new and copy the wpa.bak to wpa.dbl. Do not rename the wpa.bak file. Restart your computer. Unless you have made more than three major hardware changes within the last 120 days, your system should start normally.
Tony
Message Edited by tgsmith on 12-29-2005 08:07 PM
tmjm03
2 Posts
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December 31st, 2005 02:00
Tony,
Thanks for the response. I took a cue from your first comment and tried MS Tel support one more time. After a long wait and some convincing, the rep was able to give me a new install ID. I did not have to try your other suggestion; thanks anyway for the prompt reply. I appreciate it.
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
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December 31st, 2005 13:00