XP Hard drive reinstalled in another PC

Hi, my old Dell Optiplex motherboard died. I gave it to a computer friend of mine to see if it was fixable who transferred the hard drive into an old HP PC that he had removed a faulty hard drive from.
My drive was running XP SP3 which fired up fine and seemingly quite normally in the HP. When I first tried to log on, it came up with a dialogue box that said "This copy of Windows must be activated with Microsoft before you can log on. Do you want to activate Windows now?" At this point I clicked on YES and it took me to another large dialogue box that said "Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit." which I did and it then acted quite normal logging me on as usual. It was behaving quite normally every time I logged on and hadn't asked me to do this again until today.
Today when I tried to log on, it went through the same process as earlier, but when I clicked on the OK to exit, it did exactly that and threw me out, back to the log on screen.
Because I cannot access the PC at all, I cannot do anything with it so am hoping someone can give me some idea how I can get past this dilemma.

 

Can you boot into safe mode? Is it pirated?

 

Or did you pay for Windows?

 

above from here

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since this is a dell install on an hp pc, you might have to do this every 30 days if you can, because each OEM install is tied to the motherboard of the pc it came with.

 

That's not a proper activation though. Pretty annoying that you have to do that every 30 days.

Did you pay for windows or did the pc it came with have windows preinstalled?

 

It was a Dell PC I bought off an Aussie On-line auction site so it came with legit software, and yes I can launch in Safe mode so will give this a burl tomorrow to see if it works. I'll cross my fingers for luck. Many thanks Elizabeth

 

The software is legit, but only to be installed on a dell,

 

so if it is legit, then you can use a windows xp activator. it is legal in situations like this.

 

no, it is legit only if installed on the same type of dell that it was originally installed.
running it in the HP is illegal and I am not sure how long he might be able to bypass the activation.

 

Hi all, Elizabeth I did as you wrote and it all works perfectly and surprise surprise, it didn't ask for activation it just logged me on as normal. If it asks me in the future, I'll worry about it then.
Now I've read what you've all written about whether or not it's legal to re-install it into a HP PC and to be honest, I'm not particularly worried about that. I have another Dell PC that I also bought from the same auction site that came with and is running Win 7 that I'm using now and for everyday use. The XP is only used out in the shed to play games on and for very occasional use on the 'net, so it was annoying when it didn't work but all is better now, so I thank you very much for your help and advice.

 

you are welcome

 

OK, i thought it was legal. Thanks for telling me it isn't

 

Hi again Elizabeth, I have successfully carried out the 'fix' process at least 2 or 3 times since your last reply each time the same as the first. Did notice that the last times I did this were closer than 30 days so I was starting to sense impending doom. Had to try again today but it has stopped co-operating and am now back to scratch again unfortunately. Not sure where to go from here but am hoping all is not lost.

 

you can try here, but I offer no guarantees.

https://www.google.com/#q=how+to+activate+xp
search page for this issue.

 

Still no joy!!

Sorry to trouble you Elizabeth but I have reached my limit I feel.
The message I'm getting when I try to log in now reads "A problem has prevented Windows from accurately checking the status of the license for this computer.To proceed your copy of Windows must be activated with Microsoft. Do you want to activate Windows now?"
Of course when you answer yes it merely answers that Windows is already activated and logs you back out when you close the box, and nothing I have tried, and I'm starting to think I tried almost everything, seems to help.
I'm starting to think the Dell hard-drive in the HP PC has finally been the catalyst that prevents my Win XP from firing up.

 

I believe what you say is true, have you tried running checkdisk

chkdsk c: /r

run from the recovery console or from a boot disk such as puppy linux or Hiren's, or ultimate boot disk.

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if you could find the proper install cd, (hp oem) then you could use the key on the side of the pc. it is the key that you pay for not the install disk.

 

I have tried just about everything to overcome the problem I have here. In reading one of the other threads, a suggestion was made to deactivate the windows and then to re-activate again. My question is how does one go about deactivating the windows and do you think this suggestion has any merit?

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/312295

do not use method 1 as guided help has never worked,

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http://superuser.com/questions/4878...s-xp-by-modifying-the-license-in-the-registry

next try above

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http://www.howtogeek.com/124286/how-to-uninstall-your-windows-product-key-before-you-sell-your-pc/

read through above do not know if it will work on xp