Activating Windows 7 OEM

[BlaaBlaa]

I have an IBM 817777G ThinkCentre A50 that i bought 2nd hand of E-bay and it came with windows 7 OEM installed and activated. Firstly I am confused as the PC has stickers on it saying things such as designed for windows xp and a sticker for windows xp pro Product Key so it was clearly a windows xp machine when bought especially as i believe it was made in 2001.

Anyway the previous owner has installed windows 7 Pro 32Bit OEM and activated it. I downloaded a windows 7 pro 32bit iso and made a bootable usb install and installed windows fine entering the product key during installation. When in windows i looked at system properties and could see a product id in this format xxxxx-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx . Sadly I was unable to activate this as windows activation said that the key was not a valid key (something like that) i tried to change product key and re-entered receiving this error message 'Error Code 0xC004E003'. I did a new clean install this time skipping the enter product key and unticking activate when online and still same error when trying to activate. I typed slui.exe 4 and used the call activation but the quality was very bad and kept getting cut of when talking to a real person so that was a dead end! Next i tried online chat and a tech guy tried to activate it and i told him everything he needed to know and he said the key has been blocked since day 1 and he cannot manually activate it as it also says it is in use (clearly isn't as i was the one using it and have clean re-installed. I can't remember why it was blocked but it was not because of any legal reasons.

So...this is where i am at. I bought this pc for extremely cheap to take it apart and put it back together again as some learning experience but would really like to use it as a second pc for very basic tasks. I have tried linux and that is just not an option for good reasons (to do with hardware)

If no one knows a workaround then is it possible as a last hope to change the windows iso to search the bios (or where ever an OEM licence key is stored) for the product key and activate itself? I heard things about deleting a file called ei.(something) and replacing it with a $OEM$ folder however i could not find a download. 🙁

Thanks in advance and really sorry for the long post and bad grammer...

 

[USAFRet]

When in windows i looked at system properties and could see a product id in this format xxxxx-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx

That is the Product key, not the license key. Yes, there is a difference.

I did a new clean install this time skipping the enter product key and unticking activate when online and still same error when trying to activate.

A clean install using what media? With license key did you try to use to activate it?

Next i tried online chat and a tech guy tried to activate it and i told him everything he needed to know and he said the key has been blocked since day 1 and he cannot manually activate it as it also says it is in use (clearly isn't as i was the one using it and have clean re-installed.

Install and activation are two different things.

 

[USAFRet]

An inexpensive laptop from ebay, with an existing Windows 7 Pro install, is likely to have a 'non valid' install.
Caveat emptor.

All your reinstalling or whatever has wiped out whatever license key it had when you obtained it.

 

[BlaaBlaa]

Thanks for the fast reply!

Sorry i did not explain well... I know that the windows 7 pc was activated before i clean installed as i went to the computer properties and it said windows is activated and the product is below that was the same as after when i tried to reactivate.

I do know that product ID and Product key are different and that is the thing. It was activated before and now wont activate. I am pretty sure that i have got the right licence key as the product ID (from when windows was activated) is the same as the one now (after a clean install but now it wont activate). I understand that OEM licences are more complex in terms of activation however this is looking impossible! 🙁

And when you say 'A clean install using what media? With license key did you try to use to activate it?' What do you mean by media?

I did use a key finder program (and yes i am pretty sure it gave me the correct key). Assuming it is the correct key could this have any relevence as to why windows will not activate...on the keyfinder it tells me that the product part number is x15-37377 (took picture before reinstalled) and i used an x-17 iso. What does this mean and if so does anyone know where I can download a legit and infection free windows 7 Pro 32 bit iso with x15-37377. I got my ISO from a link that took me to a digital river download.

I understand that installation and activation are seperate but what i mean is it was activated when i got it, have since reinstalled windows with same version and now cant activate it. No one else can be using it as i understand it is tied to my mobo?

I just realised i forgot to write this in reply section...sorry i am new here!

 

[USAFRet]

Digital River is where you want, but how you got there may be an issue
Go here: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

And you MUST download the same version as whatever license key you have.


Whether it was 'activated' before makes no difference. You bought a second hand PC from ebay. No telling if that was in fact a valid, legal, install.
Once you reinstalled, all bets are off as to whether that key would work.


For any used PC, do not ever depend on the OS that was in there. Unless you also get the actual, original, verified install media and license key...assume it is suspect. Especially from ebay.

 

[BlaaBlaa]

Digital River is where you want, but how you got there may be an issue
Go here: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

And you MUST download the same version as whatever license key you have.


Whether it was 'activated' before makes no difference. You bought a second hand PC from ebay. No telling if that was in fact a valid, legal, install.
Once you reinstalled, all bets are off as to whether that key would work.


For any used PC, do not ever depend on the OS that was in there. Unless you also get the actual, original, verified install media and license key...assume it is suspect. Especially from ebay.

Ok thanks for the super fast reply yet again! I will try once more and if it fails again then i guesse i must either give up hope or purchase a new key. Thanks anyway.