> No BIOS issues, but Windows 2000, WXP, and VISTA are designed to detect > any changes other than memory, and shut down the hard drive
"Shut down the hard drive"? Hardly. They'll say "Yo, gotta register/enter a product key" at worst. But most OEM versions recognize OEM hardware, so you likely don't even have to do that: I've done fresh reinstalls of OEM versions on new hard drives, and swapped drives between similar-brand machines, and had no problems. It's possible that between models (T30->T4x) it might whine, but I'd be unsurprised either way. At worst, you can spend some time on the phone with Microsoft and they'll likely make it happen. I had an experience with an OEM reinstall that went bad (due to changed hardware and not having actual OEM disks). Despite having a retail copy, it wouldn't recognize the key. A Microsoft support guy from the Philippines went to bat for me with someone in US support -- basically she was saying "Too bad, I'm not going to do anything" and he argued with her and finally said "But his CD was unreadable" (which he KNEW wasn't the case) and that got her to budge. They sent me a new CD and a new key. Be polite and patient and plaintive -- make it THEIR problem without being confrontational -- and you should be fine. The irony is that RayBay or Bruce might have more problems than thee or me simply because they've probably had to do it more often: I'd assume that they keep track of such requests, and if they get too many from the same people, get suspicious. Even though *we* know RayBay & Bruce are good guys, Microsoft might not! ...phsiii _______________________________________________ Thinkpad mailing list [email protected] http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
