Guys, I followed the sticky on creating an OEM SLP CD. The bios has Gigabyte SLP string and the CRC matches that in the OEMBIOS archive. But when I enter the MS OEM key on installation it keeps saying invalid product key. Can anyone tell me why this is happening? Thanks Dave.
Well Dave I think there is one key which is treated as global for all xp. I think you should search for that key. It is not available with me right now. I ask for it and will share over here soon. Regarding BIOS setting I am sorry I couldn't help you with it.
Spammers die! I worked out the original problem was the iso I extracted from wasn't a proper retail cd. But someone explain this? : I obtained a proper sp3 retail image, modified it as per sticky, and upon installing to a formatted drive it didn't ask for a key! But it seems to be activated. I haven't checked with any of the 3rd party tools but it seems the key that was in winnt.sif has been accepted? Can I just follow any of the online "how to change product key" guides to change it to the current MS key without problems? Or will the accepted key be ok? Man, I've activated my desktop and lappie with windows 7, and people keep saying XP is easier, but I don't see it. It's damn complicated.
post your setupp.ini from i386 folder i have a feeling you are using a vlk cd. there are also xp pid checkers available on forum to check your key that will tell whether it is retail oem oemslp or vlk.
No urie, the md5 hash of the iso matches that of the proper retail cd. I forgot to mention I had run the tattoo disk in default mode (hp slp) before realizing the gigabyte string was in the bios. So the bios now has both hp and gigabyte strings. But even if the product key that is in Suicide Solution's provided winnt.sif is a HP key, how has this activated considering I added the gigabyte oembios files to the disc? So should I bother changing the key? I haven't connected to the net yet but am worried it won't pass the MS genuine test.
Ok, I'm a little more awake this morning. I just checked the pc in question with MGADiag and it has indeed accepted the product key in Suicide Solution's winnt.sif. Googling shows that key is a HP one. So can someone please explain how this XP activated when I inserted Gigabyte oembios files into the iso? Thanks.
Ok, I thought it might be something like that. It passed the MS online check so I guess there's no reason to change the key right now. Thanks for the help.
M$ key works with most OEM SLP but not all and yes XP OEM SLP keys are brand specific but a few will work with different manufacturers, youv'e got to understand that key from M$ was not available before i think SP1 another thing not all those manufacturers are in existence now so original OEM SLP key is needed. remember it is M$ that supplies the key not the OEM manufacturer OEM is when you say build your own machine or buy from a small computer shop and buy windows cd you can only use it on that machine that is OEM NONE SLP it wont work with an OEM SLP key. retail you can transfer to another machine.