blank desktop when try to activate srv 2003

hi all,
little problem, ran a repair install on server 2003 std r2, had to skip the activation key section cuz other tech recorded it wrong. long story short, now at login it asks me to activate windows....i click yes and then it hangs at a blank blue desktop. I can log in under safe mode, but that does no good since you can't activate windows from safe mode.
Any idea why this would be happening? any solutions?:confused
Thanks in advance

 

Try this link it's a microsoft link that seems to explain problems with server 2003 ! http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325375 good luck !

 

This may help:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312295

You may just have to rebuild that server then.

 

Thanks guys...I'll keep ya posted.

 

well so far nothing is working.....waiting on microsoft support..any other options any one can think of? otherwise its format and reinstall from backups which I really would rather not do.

 

ok, apparently IE 8 is the problem.....after the repair install the the files on the registry for IE 8 and the IE7 that gets installed by the disks did not play well together causing a heck of a problem. way to go microsoft.