[quote name='Kayden']You may have typed in the code correctly, but that doesn't mean that its the right code. There are hidden settings in the installs that differentiate between retail, OEM, volume license, Dell, HP, Gateway, IBM, etc... If you were trying to use an official retail XP CD and trying to activate it with a Dell license, it wouldn't work. Its weird though because when you use Dell/HP/Gateway recovery media, you don't have to enter the key or activate. The recovery media even lets you install on machines that aren't from that company, yet they ask for activation. Something in the bios methinks... but thats a tangent.
Look at the COA (sticker with xxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxxxxxx) on it. It'll say Windows XP Professional and then under that it will say Dell/Gateway/HP/OEM/ETC... What ever that says is the type of install media you need to use for that key to work.[/quote]
Yeah, like I don't do this for a living...I know all that. (no offence meant in my tone...)
I wish I had seen this post earlier, so I could have had a timlier response. I was pissed because of the CSR's inability to understand I was trying to activaye my key, not get a new one.