Hmm, just a thought.

Could you enter the numers from your disk. After the installation when you
try to activate you will be required to do so over the phone. You could
then explain what has happened and give them the numbers off the machine.

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 8:27 AM, Peter Shkabara <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Unfortunately, there are differences in the disks. I ran into the same
> problem. There may be a way to patch the disk contents to adjust for this,
> but I do not know how to do this. However, many OEM versions of the OS are
> pre-loaded in a separate partition on the hard disk. If you have not wiped
> out the hard disk, you might check on how to do a restore on the Dell - it
> involves pressing some keys during initial boot process to bring up the
> BIOS
> options. There you would select to restore the XP OS.
>
> Perhaps someone on the list who is more familiar with Dell may give you the
> process in detail. Good luck.
>
> Peter Shkabara
> --------------------------
> [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cubbettee cubbettee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>
> I have a question about a Dell machine running XP.
> Machine is about 7 years old and the owner does not have his disk any
> longer
> I tried to put my xp  disk into the machine, and it did start to install
> everything, however when I put in the  xp numbers on the side of his
> machine, it said those numbers are invalid.  I thought that you could use
> any xp disk as long as you  use the same numbers without changing any
> hardware?  Do i need to use an older disk, one made during the years of his
> computer.  I know I have disks  with sp 2 and some with sp3, on them.
>

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