Yet another XP activation issue

[Twisted385]

I am new here and wanted to first say I have spent sometime here this morning reading articles and have not found the answer to my problem.  I own 2 computers.  The first is a laptop that came with xp home on it.  I purchased the xp pro upgrade and installed it last night.  I then went to my second computer running win 2000 and installed the upgrade to it as well with the same key.  I was able to activate the laptop fine but when I went to activate the pc I got a message that it was to soon to activate again (sorry I do not have the exact message with me).  How long should I wait before trying to activate again?  


Also just a little bit more info, it is giving me the option to enter a different cd-key.

[Bob]

You can't activate XP more than once with the same key.  Especially on two different machines.  That is the whole point behind XP's activation method, to keep people from installing the same OS license (key) on multiple machines.  That is why you need a different key or don't activate.  Legal keys can be purchased on the web for under $100 for Home or Pro full version.  I don't know if upgrade is available though.

[Butt+lick]

a coworker found this:

3. "How many times can you actually activate XP?": On the same PC with substantially same configuration, you can activate infinite number of times. Substantially Same PC means 5 hardware changes when NIC is present and 3 hardware changes when the computer does not have a NIC. Also, after every 120 days, the activation counter is reset and activation on a completely different PC will go through without hassles over the internet. EULA requires that this be done only after previous computer's Windows XP has been deleted. On a substantially different hardware, activation within 120 days of previous activation can be done over the phone after explaining what the changes are. No Personal Information is required.
4. Windows XP allows installation ONLY ON 1 PC at any given point of time. Subsequent activation requests are REJECTED. If a user lies that the installation from the first PC is deleted, then the user is given activation for the second PC.

[Guest]

I read a nuber of activation problems on this website and have a cure for all of the problems caused by microsoft. Get unix or linux, I know they can be difficult at times and are not as well supported but at least you do not have to deal with microsoft and you can gain a great deal of knowledge. The more people that do this the more unix and linux are supported and the less money you have to give to microsoft.
P.S. I'm not a microsoft hater, I just think there are better ways of doing things.