Getting around activation to install drivers

[D1H25]

I switched motherboards on my system and Windows XP recognizes that a "significant" amount of hardware is different so it is making me activate windows again. The problem is I don't have the drivers installed for the new motherboard so I can't get online to activate Windows. Does anyone know how to get around the activation so I can at least get into the OS to install the ethernet driver before activation? Or does anyone know how to install the drivers without going directly into Windows? Thanks.

[TwoRails]

You can easily re-active by a phone call that takes about 1 1/2 minutes. Usually you can still get into Windows even with changes and have 30 or so days to re-activate.

[D1H25]

Yeah I thought it should give me thirty days too but I can't even get in

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by D1H25 Yeah I thought it should give me thirty days too but I can't even get in

That's right. I made a significant hardware change a while ago and I could only get into safe mode. It wouldn't activate over the internet or over the phone, so I reformatted the drive (however a Repair would probably work too) to be able to activate.

This isn't a copy of Win XP from Dell or another pre-built is it?

[D1H25]

No it's a regular copy of XP pro. I would hate to have to reformat. Maybe I should try to get into safe mode and see if I can get online and activate. We'll see how it goes.

[blue60007]

OK then...I think all you'd need to do is a repair install. Yeah, try getting into safe mode, or give M$ a call.

[D1H25]

I activated over the phone. Worked fine.

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by D1H25 I activated over the phone. Worked fine.

Great. I'm glad to see you got it working. Thanks for the update.