Blacklisted Product IDs

[dfritz]

My tech and I made a total of 5 phone calls to Microsoft to activate Windows XP today!! Some were repair installs in which they were original distro or SP1 and I used SP2 disk. (Otherwise, you have to install SP2 anyway). Others were new hard drives - we've had a rash of failing hard drives recently.

Anyway, I'm not upset that we have to activate Windows, but that the large OEMs' product IDs have been black-listed, and cannot be activated automatically, but only by phone. I could avoid some by doing the repair installs with the original version CD, but then all of the updates take even longer to install than the phone activation.

As a Microsoft OEM System Builder myself, I can preactivate my new installs, but might there be a way to preactivate a repair install? Probably not, but thought it worth a try.

Thank you all.
Dean

[geoscomp]

I've noticed a lot of that type of thing lately as well..including problems with system restores on HP computers that were totally restored with all the same hardware and updated (from cd) with all the updates. I know what you mean about hard drives lately, and we've also seen a lot of failing caps again requiring motherboard replacements..and even with the same model/brand motherboard purchased direct from the oem manufacturer we've had to reactivate. If you find a solution..let me know. It's costing me a lot of man hours waiting on the phone

[dfritz]

I was at the "roll-out" meeting for XP. MS said that activation would not be "painful". Then, things changed. I still don't quite understand why they blacklisted the product IDs from Dell, HP, etc. I know it had to do with piracy, but why just theirs, why not the ones that I build, too. I'm glad for that little favor.

I too have seen a lot of domed caps.

I'll keep you posted.

[Shard92]

I was at the "roll-out" meeting for XP. MS said that activation would not be "painful". Then, things changed. I still don't quite understand why they blacklisted the product IDs from Dell, HP, etc. I know it had to do with piracy, but why just theirs, why not the ones that I build, too. I'm glad for that little favor.

I too have seen a lot of domed caps.

I'll keep you posted.

not sure either though maybe a clue every other week before he got his xp legally my brother called me saying some place had contacted him with cheap software and should he buy and almost everytime they were trying to sell dell oem product keys with the disks...

[dfritz]

Oohh! MS System Builder people, in one of their newsletters, said there was some kind of abuse, but did not elaborate. So were these authentic COAs that someone smuggled out of Dell's factories or forged ones?

As I was researching posts before posting this one, someone made a statement that I agree with. If Microsoft would lower the cost of their products, the incentive for piracy would disappear proportionately. At the same time I understand capitalism. I don't suppose that Mr. Gates is going to read this post, however.