[KingAustin]

Originally Posted by siddanth3

i tried re-installing it, and it still says its not activated. its conflicting dell. will getting a new mobo work. well thanks for all your help guys.i really appreciate it, and sorry if i got some of you confused

If you REALLY think it's Dell, then call them up and ask them.

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

I think I understand your situation now.

On how many machines is this retail copy of Windows Vista installed on?

Originally Posted by siddanth3

...me and 4 other friends went and bought vista ultimate just to try something new. it worked in 3 of my friends computers which they built it them selves.. but for me and my other friend, it didnt work...

So you and your friends went and bought one retail copy of Windows Vista between all of you, and installed that copy on each of your computers?

Originally Posted by siddanth3

...i know its active for 30 days, but what after that? i bought this thing, so i want it to be active for ever...

Windows Vista retail is only licensed to one PC. Theoretically, you can only activate Windows Vista with a product key on one machine at any time.

Originally Posted by siddanth3

...and when i restart, it doesnt give me the option to choose between vista or xp...

Unless you specifically configured your system to dual boot Windows Vista and Windows XP, then you won't get the option to switch between the two operating systems. So, upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista means you'll only have Windows Vista on your PC (if there was only one Windows XP partition to begin with), and if you do a clean install of Windows Vista on a hard drive with Windows XP already installed, it will format that hard drive before installing Vista, meaning no Windows XP.

[RisingFalls]

"Dell"
Problem solved.

[siddanth3]

i finally got vista to work. thanks guys for all your help and support. i just used a bios edit hack and just installed vista again, and now it works fine, and is a genuine retail verison of vista. by the way, each of my friends bought their own copies of vista.

take it easy
and thanks for all your help guys
i appreciate it a lot