My first MB went bad, so I bought a new one AND a WIN Xp oem, installed it on the old HD over the old install (bios locked) and all were running Ok. Now I have yo change the MB so what to do if I can't get a new XP, is there anyway to transfer the OEM into a "normal" one

It should be a problem, if that is the only harddrive that you have xp installed on. Just install it as natural and try to activate it, if you cant you might have to call microsoft and talk to their automated machine. Jim R

The problem with OEM disks is they sometimes are matches to very unique devices on the OEM motherboard. I'd try to fix the hal after you put the new hd in the new box. There are ways to add in drivers if you know beforehand. Consider G4U clone or other type of clone to preserve what you have. Some OEM disks are in fact norton ghost images. Dunno what you have exactly. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

Tks for quick reply, what I fear is, that the XP woun't let me run as I have changed the hardware, all the time that I have activated it one time. My first MB was from FSC an BIOS-locked, that is why I had to by a new XP, I installed it myself as kind of update on the old one. The CD that came with my FSC-comp. was used for an older one where I have lost the CD, after installing the comp. would not start, so I put UBUNTU in it, and stange: now I have a dual-boot with WIN XP and Linux without doing anything than installing UBUNTU cost: $ 1,50

Ubuntu's grub corrected the location.??? "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

To Jefro Yes it is strange, the OEM-xp (BIOS-locked) refused to acknowledge the CD belonging to my other comp. UBUNTU made by itself a double-boot with linux AND xp (and an old win98 found somewhere on the other HD)so in fact it made a triple-boot.