Guest Vaz Posted October 24, 2008 Posted October 24, 2008 Hi, I recently purchased old Compaq PC with COA key(professional) from ebay, I have the windows xp pro sp3 installer cd, When I enter the product key(compaq xp pro coa) during installation it says invalid key,, Please let me know how to solve this problem, what is causing the key to be invalid? Thanks.
Guest philo Posted October 24, 2008 Posted October 24, 2008 Re: windows XP Key(Compaq COA) not working "Vaz" <Vaz@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:42CEB860-ED4F-467C-8606-406B7133147B@microsoft.com... > Hi, > > I recently purchased old Compaq PC with COA key(professional) from ebay, I > have the windows xp pro sp3 installer cd, When I enter the product > key(compaq xp pro coa) during installation it says invalid key,, Please let > me know how to solve this problem, what is causing the key to be invalid? > > Thanks. The Compaq probably has an OEM version of XP and is therefore not valid with your CD. If the CD you have has not been used to install XP on another machine, you should be able to use the key that came with it. Otherwise you *might* be able to get the OEM CD from Compaq
Guest Malke Posted October 24, 2008 Posted October 24, 2008 Re: windows XP Key(Compaq COA) not working Vaz wrote: > Hi, > > I recently purchased old Compaq PC with COA key(professional) from ebay, I > have the windows xp pro sp3 installer cd, When I enter the product > key(compaq xp pro coa) during installation it says invalid key,, Please > let > me know how to solve this problem, what is causing the key to be invalid? You're either using a retail version of XP SP3 or a branded OEM disk (Dell for ex.) that is BIOS-locked to that particular OEM's motherboard. You need a generic OEM XP install disk. Or, depending on the computer's age, it might be worthwhile contacting HP-Compaq for recovery disks. If recovery disks are available, they are very inexpensive and will have all the drivers you need. Unfortunately, they'll also have all the old preinstalled OEM garbage, but you can uninstall that. Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
Guest Vaz Posted October 25, 2008 Posted October 25, 2008 Re: windows XP Key(Compaq COA) not working Thanks for your answers,, I will try to get the restore cd from hp, its P4 system and hopefully they still sell the restore cd's. "Malke" wrote: > Vaz wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > I recently purchased old Compaq PC with COA key(professional) from ebay, I > > have the windows xp pro sp3 installer cd, When I enter the product > > key(compaq xp pro coa) during installation it says invalid key,, Please > > let > > me know how to solve this problem, what is causing the key to be invalid? > > You're either using a retail version of XP SP3 or a branded OEM disk (Dell > for ex.) that is BIOS-locked to that particular OEM's motherboard. You need > a generic OEM XP install disk. Or, depending on the computer's age, it > might be worthwhile contacting HP-Compaq for recovery disks. If recovery > disks are available, they are very inexpensive and will have all the > drivers you need. Unfortunately, they'll also have all the old preinstalled > OEM garbage, but you can uninstall that. > > Malke > -- > MS-MVP > Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! > FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ > >
Guest Bruce Chambers Posted October 25, 2008 Posted October 25, 2008 Re: windows XP Key(Compaq COA) not working Vaz wrote: > Hi, > > I recently purchased old Compaq PC with COA key(professional) from ebay, I > have the windows xp pro sp3 installer cd, When I enter the product > key(compaq xp pro coa) during installation it says invalid key,, Please let > me know how to solve this problem, what is causing the key to be invalid? > The key is being flagged as invalid because you're not using it with an OEM installation CD. Product Keys are bound to the specific type and language of CD/license (OEM, Volume, retail, or full) with which they are purchased. For example, a WinXP Home OEM Product Key won't work for any retail version of WinXP Home, or for any version of WinXP Pro, and vice versa. An OEM Product Key will not work to install a retail product. An Italian Product Key will not work with an English CD. Bottom line: Product Keys and CD/license types cannot usually (it's been reported that the Product Key for a full license will work with an Upgrade CD) be mixed & matched. You would need to use either the original Compaq Recovery disk that came with the computer, or an unbranded, generic OEM disk for the same WinXP edition (Home vs. Pro) as that for which you have the license. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. ~ Denis Diderot
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