WinXP on different hardware?

[Cubsfan]

Ok, as some of you may have seen on different forums, I'm about to replace my motherboard, processor, and memory. I know that WinXP pays attention to specific hardware (like the serial # of the processor). I need to boot up my old installation of it to backup some things, but is WinXP going to throw a fit? With Win98 it wasn't a big deal at all, but will I have to call Microsoft or anything?

Thanks!

[LPMiller]

depends on how much you change, and if you change the mainboard. XP tends to crash on boot up if the chipset is different from the one it was installed on, and the only way to fix it is to run a repair install.

If you are just changing processors, video card, sound, etc, you should be ok. XP will ususally only balk about activation if you change the nic, or the mainboard.

[i6s1]

You're "allowed" five hardware changes every 6 months, if you have a retail version. If you have a pirated version, you have nothing to worry about. Because of the onboard stuff on the mobo, that may be 5. Can't say for sure.

[Cubsfan]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm changing to the ASUS P4PE, so basically that's changing the sound card, the network card, the mainboard, the ram, and the CPU :)

So a repair install will help out, and then since I probably have more than 5 changes, will I need to call Microsoft or something?

Thanks again guys!

(Oh, and FYI I have the retail version of WinXP Pro. Got that back when Officemax had a great deal)

[Cubsfan]

Did you try to repair the installatin first? This is the problem of course with having a "forced upgrade" :)

I'm still going to reinstall winxp, but I'd like to be able to get my old data off of the drive first!