Hi all,
My Computer a: AMD Phenom 9350 2.0 GHz Quad Core Skt AM2 CPU
Motherboard: Nvidia K10N78 with Geforce 8200 Chipset.
Duel Channel DDR2 8000 Memory (4X1 GB OCZ X 800) = 4 GB.
Microsoft XP Professional 32 bit
Nvidia 9500 GTS 512 MB PCI Express Graphics Card

Had been playing up and very erratic then became impossible to use!
As the computer is a hand built one not a commercial model, I could not reset it to factory settings!

So I gritted my teeth and did a full format and re installed windows! And of course everything that goes with it

Microsoft however decided that the copy of XP I bought with it is not genuine and wants me to upgrade and pay again for windows 7, which are no good to me, most of my programs will not run on it.

I phoned their customer service and explained everything to them, they happily gave me a new key code, but the link to install the key code had by then gone on my computer !

The technician suggested I reinstall the software again to get the key installation box back to enter it, I said “what” and she assured me it was the only way!

I was demented but decided to try “google” to see if there was a way of getting the box to show, when the phone rang, it was another Microsoft technician, who had herd his colleague and had phoned me back to explain how to re enter the code easily.

Within a few minuets it was all done, and I was much relived.
Mick