Last night in our area Verizon DSL had outages and the service wasn't restored until this afternoon. Sometimes during the outages my dependable Westell WireSpeed modem gave out after 3 years of dependable service. Anyway, I then turned on my old PC and was stunned to face the dreaded screen WINDOWS PRODUCT ACTIVATION. I thought of sharing with you what I haven't encountered before. Screen 1: Since Windows was first installed on the computer, the hardware has changed significantly. Due to theses changes, Windows must be reactivated within 3 days. Do You want to reactivate Windows now? I selected YES. Screen 2: Let's activate Windows. To help reduce software piracy, please activate your copy of Windows now. Activate over the Internet is quick & easy. You don't have to give your name and other personal information when you activate Windows. Do you want to activate Windows now? - Yes. Lets activate Windows over the Internet now. - Yes. I want to telephone a Customer Service Representative to activate Windows. - No, remind me to activate Windows every few days. If you wait to activate, you can still use Windows, but you will receive periodic reminders. After 3 day(s), you must activate Windows before you can continue it. To continue, click next. I selected Telephone. Screen 3: Activate Windows by phone. Just 4 steps, and you're done. Step 1 - Select your location (United States) Step 2 - Call a number below to speak with a Customer Service Representative: Tollfree 888-571-2048 Toll: 716-871-2829 Step 3 - Provide the Customer Service Representative with the following Installation ID Groups. (Each group consists of 6 unique numbers). Type in the Confirmation ID (9 Confirmation ID Group each with 6 unique numbers)) that the Customer Service Representative will give you. I then proceed to call the 888 number only to be told by the record machine that the Product Activation Center is shut down for two. I called back again 2 hours later and was told the same thing. Finally after 4 hours I got the new Product key and it works. The strange thing here is that I haven't done any hardware change on this old 400Mhz after I installed XP Pro. My thinking is that because the Westell Wirespeed modem went out, the broadband adapter card must have detected it when XP loads. If not for the adapter card, what else is there that could cause this problem? i_XpUser

Oh by the way while I was on the phone with M$, they did not even ask me questions. All I had to do was voice input each numbers, group by group. i_XpUser

How is your computer hooked up to the modem, is it ethernet or ?. I don't see how an external modem going bad could make you reactivate. That seems really weird.

Hi domass, its ethernet CAT5e. Yes its very weird - I'm still scratching my head figuring it out. I guess I should say That's Windows and go on with life :-) i_XpUser

Now come on User Tell us the real deal her !!! LOL You changed rigs didnt you !!!! I maen how can a MS product do such athing !!!!! ROFLMIO IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT A8N-SLI Deluxe AMD X64 3500+ Wnchst Corsair 2x512 DDR400 Dual Channel GV-NX6600128D PCIX Graphics Card Ggbyte GT Pro CPU Cooler Zalman VF700-CU VGA Cool

Hey XpUser! The 3 day warning was originally inserted in the SP1 files so that to give warning to any major hardware changes. Now for some reason the warning has been popping up when nic cards have been removed and replaced and or if your modem has gone down on you due to power failer :P This was I think an M$ f...up as the networking hardware was originally tied to the hardware changes that affect activation. this was later changed ie,.removed from the hardware check that is performed on boot. But I believe it to still be lurking(:~) around and is somehow reactivated either through a tweak program or through a repair from using SFC /scannow. What I do know for certain is that M$ is aware of the issue and for some reason keeping quiet about (explains why NO ? when you called them) or that they have some other issue going on with it. Because After 3 days it just disappears as if it was never there...without having to reactivate. I have seen it twice do this before I had a chance to get into it. I think that this is going to become an issue with earlier installations that used M$ OEM disc with SP1. I know that the corporate install discs did not have this included within their installations only OEM discs with SP1 has it. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Howdy lurkswithin :-) Yeah I'm aware of the SP1 implementations, one of which is known as the three days grace period. I think its the modem that has gone down that triggered the reactivation. I do not use XP OEM on this vantage PC. I used XP Pro Upgrade for a full installation using Windows 98 as my qualifying CD. Another thought. Since this IBM-clone PC was made before the days of NIC, I am using one of M$ first generation line of broadband networking - Wired PCI Adapter MN-130. Is it possible that this adapter may have triggered it. -------------------- Some correction to my original post above, under "SCreen 3," as follows: Step 3 - Provide the Customer Service Representative with the following Installation ID Groups. should read Step 3 - Provide the Customer Service Representative with the following 9Installation ID Groups. i_XpUser