XP Authen. 30 Days Expired, Cannot Login. How Can I Login to Authe

Purchased and loaded OEM Copy of XP Pro on employee's laptop. Thought I had
authenticated, actaully maybe the authentication never worked. Employee let
30-day period expire. Now I cannot get past login screen to authenticate,
stays in a loop. Says I must authenticate, I click Yes, logs me out, lets me
try logging in again, again says I must authenticate. Stays in this loop
regardless. Called Microsoft, and they were no help, just wanted me to pay
$59 to try getting help. So, I tried to re-install from Safe Mode w/command
prompt. Would not allow me to update, said I had to re-install, which I did,
a 2nd copy as I did not want to lose the employee's stuff on the computer.
All of the Microsoft info says Authenticate from the Start Menu, but I cannot
even get past the login screen. Please help.

TMurphy wrote:
> Purchased and loaded OEM Copy of XP Pro on employee's laptop.
> Thought I had authenticated, actaully maybe the authentication
> never worked. Employee let 30-day period expire. Now I cannot get
> past login screen to authenticate, stays in a loop. Says I must
> authenticate, I click Yes, logs me out, lets me try logging in
> again, again says I must authenticate. Stays in this loop
> regardless. Called Microsoft, and they were no help, just wanted me
> to pay $59 to try getting help. So, I tried to re-install from
> Safe Mode w/command prompt. Would not allow me to update, said I
> had to re-install, which I did, a 2nd copy as I did not want to
> lose the employee's stuff on the computer. All of the Microsoft
> info says Authenticate from the Start Menu, but I cannot even get
> past the login screen. Please help.

Do you mean 'activate'?
Did you try a repair installation?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I did mean Activate. I am trying Repair at
this tiime based on notes I found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330136/en-us. Will see what happens. I tried
a Repair yesterday from a Safe Mode w/Command Prompt boot and it was asking
me questions that I could not answer and cancelled. Again, it's in progress.
Will report results. Thank you.

"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

> TMurphy wrote:
> > Purchased and loaded OEM Copy of XP Pro on employee's laptop.
> > Thought I had authenticated, actaully maybe the authentication
> > never worked. Employee let 30-day period expire. Now I cannot get
> > past login screen to authenticate, stays in a loop. Says I must
> > authenticate, I click Yes, logs me out, lets me try logging in
> > again, again says I must authenticate. Stays in this loop
> > regardless. Called Microsoft, and they were no help, just wanted me
> > to pay $59 to try getting help. So, I tried to re-install from
> > Safe Mode w/command prompt. Would not allow me to update, said I
> > had to re-install, which I did, a 2nd copy as I did not want to
> > lose the employee's stuff on the computer. All of the Microsoft
> > info says Authenticate from the Start Menu, but I cannot even get
> > past the login screen. Please help.
>
> Do you mean 'activate'?
> Did you try a repair installation?
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
>
>

Same results, logon stays in a loop. I log into Windows, am asked to
Activate, select Yes, Windows logs me off and then prompted to log back in
again, am asked to Activate... Is there something in the registry where I
can reset a Date or counter?

"TMurphy" wrote:

> Thank you for the reply. Yes, I did mean Activate. I am trying Repair at
> this tiime based on notes I found here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330136/en-us. Will see what happens. I tried
> a Repair yesterday from a Safe Mode w/Command Prompt boot and it was asking
> me questions that I could not answer and cancelled. Again, it's in progress.
> Will report results. Thank you.
>
> "Shenan Stanley" wrote:
>
> > TMurphy wrote:
> > > Purchased and loaded OEM Copy of XP Pro on employee's laptop.
> > > Thought I had authenticated, actaully maybe the authentication
> > > never worked. Employee let 30-day period expire. Now I cannot get
> > > past login screen to authenticate, stays in a loop. Says I must
> > > authenticate, I click Yes, logs me out, lets me try logging in
> > > again, again says I must authenticate. Stays in this loop
> > > regardless. Called Microsoft, and they were no help, just wanted me
> > > to pay $59 to try getting help. So, I tried to re-install from
> > > Safe Mode w/command prompt. Would not allow me to update, said I
> > > had to re-install, which I did, a 2nd copy as I did not want to
> > > lose the employee's stuff on the computer. All of the Microsoft
> > > info says Authenticate from the Start Menu, but I cannot even get
> > > past the login screen. Please help.
> >
> > Do you mean 'activate'?
> > Did you try a repair installation?
> >
> > --
> > Shenan Stanley
> > MS-MVP
> > --
> > How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
> >
> >
> >