Perhaps somebody will remember this better than me....  What I did was call 
the number that comes up during installation... Then, following directions 
given to me by a VeryNice lady from Microsoft, her computer generated a VERY 
long *secret* number which I tried (using voice recognition) to relay to a 
(presumably) Microsoft computer. After MANY tries (computers are SO patient 
<grinding my teeth>) I was given a *new* key that worked.

Actually, it sounds worsed than it was. It only took an hour or so. And the 
twitch in my left eye is almost all gone now....

Like I said... Probably somebody here knows a better way.

Good luck.


>From: JJ <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List              
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [PCBUILD] Product Key Not Product Key - What to do
>Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 01:05:55 -0400
>
>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
>[log in to unmask]
>
>              The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech
>                     support at our newest website:
>                          http://freepctech.com

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live Hotmail is the next generation of MSN Hotmail.  It’s fast, 
simple, and safer than ever and best of all – it’s still free. Try it today! 
www.newhotmail.ca?icid=WLHMENCA146

              The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech
                     support at our newest website:
                          http://freepctech.com