Activation Required on Memory Upgrade?

[bevills1]

Should activation be required on memory upgrade? I thought I'd read more than 3 hardware changes were needed before activation was required. However, today I added 512MB RAM to WinXP SP3 system, and upon startup message was given that hardware had changed and that activation was required within 3 days even though no other hardware changes have been made since Windows was installed. I plan to add memory to 2 other WinXP PCs. Will activation be required on them too?

[jagabo]

I forget what the exact rule is, but it's something like 6 changes in the last 6 months. Changing memory counts as 1 change. Changing a NIC counts as 2 for some reason. Microsoft is secretive about exactly what constitutes a change. But I suspect that if your BIOS neglects to enable the NIC during one boot that's two changes. And if the NIC is enabled again in the next boot that's 2 more changes.

[bevills1]

I don't recall BIOS not recognizing any device except that I did have problems with boot order randomly changing requiring it to be reset to CDROM as first boot drive to enable boot from CD. Could that kind of BIOS changes be seen as hardware changes by Windows too? If so, then I may be activating Windows about once a year or so for no good reason because it's only been a little over a year since I installed WinXP. The random boot order changes occur only in that 1 PC and not the other 2 to which I plan to add memory. Maybe they won't require activation upon adding memory. I wish things were simpler like they were with Win2k, and I hate all the activation hassle.

[joy]

I had no activation problem when I added 2 gigs of ram and 1 hdd to a home built vista/win7 machine. I have read someplace that activation has something to do with the existing motherboard during activation.

[CobraPilot]

Here's what some folks have had to say about this question, found via Google search on "hardware change windows activation" (without the quotes):

http://www.technibble.com/windows-xp-activation-explained/ (2006)

http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php (2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Product_Activation (mentions some workarounds) (2011)

[jagabo]

I hate all the activation hassle.

Me too.

[bevills1]

Now I do recall CDROM sometimes is not recognized by BIOS or Windows, and unplugging cables from CDROM and replugging cables gets it recognized for a while after which the problem recurs. Could this random failure to recognize CDROM be seen by Windows as hardware changes? If so, that may be why it's saying activation is required due to CDROM being unrecognized and then recognized again. BTW memory was added to a second PC, and there was no prompt to activate.

[DarrellS]

I put a DVD burner in a friends PC a few years back and had to call MS to get XP activated. They hadn't done anything to their machine since having it built.

Luckily, they could understand what the computer voice on the line was saying cause I couldn't understand a word of it.

[edDV]

The good news is 90% of the time a web reactivation will work. If not the phone tech has always reactivated me after I gave him my sob story. Even once when I changed the motherboard and CPU at the same time.

[DarrellS]

The good news is 90% of the time a web reactivation will work. If not the phone tech has always reactivated me after I gave him my sob story. Even once when I changed the motherboard and CPU at the same time.

They refused to activate my brother's copy of XP Home after he put it in another machine while he was repairing his main machine and then put it back when he was done. He bought a copy of XP Media Center Edition and eventually XP Pro SP3. No wonder that 1/3 of Windows users have non genuine copies of their OS and more and more people are switching to Linux (nothing I'd do since all my software was made to run on Windows, not Linux).

[jagabo]

The good news is 90% of the time a web reactivation will work. If not the phone tech has always reactivated me after I gave him my sob story. Even once when I changed the motherboard and CPU at the same time.

Just make sure your story isn't "I just built a new computer and I want to transfer my OEM license."

[Noahtuck]

Maybe i missed it but i don't recall seeing what exactly the PC is ?
I am assuming it's a prebuilt DELL or the like.

The good news is 90% of the time a web reactivation will work. If not the phone tech has always reactivated me after I gave him my sob story. Even once when I changed the motherboard and CPU at the same time.

The 3 times i replaced someones POS DELL (insert any other prebuilt POS name) mobo & cpu with a different brand because their's blew up, and i could get a better mobo and better/faster cpu than the original for LESS $$ than replacing the original mobo, they never reactivated the oem windows install.

One time they kicked me to M$ who said nope you have to have it reactivated through the company the PC was from and going back to them a 2nd time they just said sorry you have to pay for a new oem lic.

Yeah, BS!!!
They never got a fricken penny!!!

[edDV]

The good news is 90% of the time a web reactivation will work. If not the phone tech has always reactivated me after I gave him my sob story. Even once when I changed the motherboard and CPU at the same time.

Just make sure your story isn't "I just built a new computer and I want to transfer my OEM license."

Yep OEM license is the main issue. Maybe it helps your case if you bought a retail upgrade over an OEM license. This particuar time it was an IBM Win98 OEM license with a retail XP upgrade on top. I told them the mobo failed and the replacement required a different CPU. All the other parts including memory were the same. Maybe it depends on the mood of the tech.

[jagabo]

The good news is 90% of the time a web reactivation will work. If not the phone tech has always reactivated me after I gave him my sob story. Even once when I changed the motherboard and CPU at the same time.

Just make sure your story isn't "I just built a new computer and I want to transfer my OEM license."

Yep OEM license is the main issue.

"System builder" licenses fall into the same category. If you want to transfer your license from an old computer to a new one say you had to replace a faulty motherboard. Or say you were checking the performance of several NICs to see which one was fastest.