In a message dated 5/11/2007 7:55:17 AM Atlantic Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

System -  eMachine T1100
XP Home

Working on for acquaintance. Once machine  booted clicking on any user 
account resulted in machine rebooting. Had  some other issues as well. No 
restore CDs came with machine. Decided to  just reformat and resinstall XP 
Home from a CD I had using the KEY on the  sticker on back of machine.  When 
I put in the "product key" as  listed on the machine I get an "Invalid Key" 
response.  Doing some  net searching I found a reference to the fact that 
eMachines evidently put  the activation key on the sticker not the product 
key. Oops. Well, the c:\  has been formatted so trying to retrieve what the 
actual key was is a moot  point on c:\. Not real familiar with eMachines but 
there is a second  partition on the drive that's FAT32 and appears to have 
something on it.  Is this a restore function? If so how do you access\run the 
 
restore?

Thanks in advance

Jayne  Johnston



Jayne,
    Is the xp cd you had lying around a fresh unused copy?  If so it should 
have the key included. If it  was lost,  I  believe you would have to get it 
(if possible) directly from microsoft. If it is  a copy of xp you are currently 
using on another machine the key can be retrieved  using software on that 
machine such as Belarc Adviser, HOWEVER, since xp home is  designed for use on one 
machine, if you install on another you would be seen as  abusing microsofts 
end user licensing agreement and risk having both machines  rendered useless if 
detected during activation or updates. At least this  is my understanding.
   I recently had a similar response to a xp load attempt and  determined it 
was a previously used copy. Due to lack of funds, I put a new copy  of Win 98 
on it and all worked well ( after finding needed drivers  online).
 
  Good luck,
 Phil Williams



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