Cant log in to activate!

[Peskoly]

After installing my new MB, i did a repair install of windows XP. Getting the repair to run smoothly was a process in itself. The repair went well except when it asked me for my SP2 disk, i didnt have one. My OEM package never came with one. Just an "Update for 2005 media center" disk. So i decided since i dont have the SP2 disk i would skip that part and hit cancel for when i asked to insert that particular CD. The install went through even though i hit cancel when asked for the SP2 disk, so i just figured that i was using SP1 or whatever the stock XP came with.

Well finally im about to log into windows for the first time and im told that my XP product key isnt activated even though during the repair process i put in the key and it was accepted and evenything seemed to work out. So now i have 3 days until i need to activate the product key, but since i wanted to get it over with, i chose activate now instead of logging into my desktop. I am then sent to my desktop with just my background loaded and my mouse working. Nothing else is working, no icons, no CTRL ALT DEL.... NOTHING!

I end up turning off my PC and restarting and instead of activating now, i just skip it and went to my desktop. I get to my desktop and then start installing drivers and everything i need to get my computer running normal again. After getting all that situated, the only thing i need to do now is activate my windows XP. So i go to system tools and activate product key and the hourglass flashes for a split second and after that nothing happens. My internet is working and i can go online but nothing with windows update works. I check forums and see that the problem has to do with IE. It turns out that also my IE wasnt working and when i tried opeing it it gave an error saying ordinal 410 not found in the urlmon.dll

After checking up about it online i find out that a solution to get your activator working again is by going to RUN and typing in a series of commands to update some DLL files . i cant remember what they were but it was recommended on the microsoft website and it was supposed to solve my exact problem. I typed in those commands and restarted my computer like i was told

Now its even WORSE!

Instead of telling me i have 3 days to activate, i cant even get into my windows account, It tells me "Do you want to activate your product now?" and if i hit yes, then i shoots me to my background with my mouse working and hangs there forever...

If i say no, dont activate... it tries to log me in but then shoots me back to the account page because since its not active i cant use windows xp. All i can do is get into normal safe mode but i have no idea what to do from there


PLEASE SOMEONE HELP! im having nightmares im about to go over to mac.... not really but i am considering just getting windows 7! which i dont have the money for

 

[philhuy]

did you ever find a solution for this? i have the same problem. i click on the user - says loading personal preferences, then i get alert, must activate before i can login, do you want to now? yes or no. click yes, all you get is background with nothing else, no windows features loads, if yo uclick no, you get knocked back to login screen. I can only get into normal safemode with no networking and i cant acitvate from there

-phil

 

[Peskoly]

im pretty sure its a registry error because i ended up getting so stumped i took it to a repair shop and thats what they said. i wish they went more in depth but they said they had to change a registry key to make it authenticate right. honestly im not sure. Im curious to what OS your running because my discs say media center '02 but somehow it kind of switched to being professional and all my media center functions dont work. its really strange. try and look into the registry issue because im sure all you really need to do is edit a few entries to get it synced again

 

[Guest]

The problem is Internet Explorer. You have to download the installation file for IE on another computer. Then boot the computer to be activated into Safe Mode and install IE. When you reboot, you'll be able to activate.

 

[soundguruman]

you can activate it over the phone

 

[Guest]

No, you can't. You don't even get to the screen with the phone activation information. You just get logged off.

 

[Zoron]

Replacing / upgrading your motherboard will ALWAYS result in reactivation. Your best bet if Grumpy's solution doesn't work is trying to back up whatever files you need and just reinstalling XP fresh... doing a repair install on an updated version of Windows with old media doesn't work. Once you get it up and running, I strongly suggest creating a new installation disc with SP3 slipstreamed into it.