My OEM XP Home is on its third motherboard and still going strong.
There seems to be a lot of confusion on this subject, and the bottom 
line is that MS is often very generous.
The only time I ran into a "no boot" situation, I got a screen that said 
activation was required, and a quick phone call to MS solved the problem.



Dean Kukral wrote:
> I am going to "Upgrade" my computer, which means, a new mb, processor, disk drive, memory, and video
> card.  I will use my old case and power supply, and, maybe, some of the old hard drives.  As well as the
> external stuff, of course.  I have a bunch of licensed software that I want to use on the new computer.
> I can use Acronis True Image to make a copy of my current disk on the new disk.
> 
> The problem is the operating system.  I am going on the assumption that XP is smart enough to know that
> this is an all-new computer, i.e. too many "points" of change, and will not let my original oem version
> of XP Pro proceed.
> 
> Question #1: What will happen if this happens?  Will it boot but not run or what?
> 
> Question #2: Suppose I buy a new copy of XP Pro, can I install it over the old XP Pro?  If so, can I use
> an Upgrade version to upgrade XP Pro to XP Pro?
> 
> (The advantage of the Upgrade version is that it should be legally tranferable to a new system if I
> choose, whereas the oem version may not be - at least that is the conclusion I came to when we had this
> discussion some months ago.  If the oem version were transferable, then I would not be having this
> problem.  However, since Vista is coming out, it is unlikely that I will be doing such a transfer.)
> 
> I may well build a "new" computer using the old stuff, so I don't mind buying a new copy of XP.  The  old
> XP can be used on the new computer.  The issue is my upgrade.  I would much prefer a clean install, but I
> have a half-dozen pieces of software that would be a hassle to get reauthorized.  I may end up doing a
> clean install anyway, especially if the answers to the questions above prove discouraging.
> 
> Dean Kukral
> 
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