Re installing XP on a new hard drive, please help

[busted]

Hi there this is my first post so apologies if i get this wrong, I have had to replace the hard drive on a dell laptop as it had been dropped and have eventually reinstalled the XP home disc that was purchased with the laptop, but when i activated it it says it has already been activated, i have tried contacting microsoft but they are closed until monday, will they be able to get around this or do i have to buy another copy of xp.
please help
thanks

Andy

[sdkfz]

You have 30 days to activate before the system stops working, so unless you have waited till the bitter end, you will be fine till monday.

http://support.microsoft.com/default...07890&sd=techh

edit: PS welcome to PCMech!

[DragonNOA1]

M$ doesn't have a 1-800 number to call 24/7? Are you sure you have the right number?

[raftero]

go to programs,accessories, tools, activate windows, if it says that is is already activated dont worry about it.

[autotran]

Are you clicking Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Activate Windows? If so and it says "Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit" then you are all done and Windows is activated legally. If you aren't doing it this way try it and see what you get. If you have to activate it by phone you will get a 24/7 800 phone number to call. Dave

Edit: Already answered by raftero, misread post

[busted]

Thanks for your help, i think the problem was that i had already had a hardrive quite recently fitted by somebody else and they must have activated it and then to try and do it again so soon was causing the problem, a friend phoned microsoft to activate it and this went ok and is now activated and the activate icon has gone,

Thanks for all your help

Andy