XP Pro product key problem

I'm trying to upgrade a PC to XP Pro SP2 using a retail package of the XP Pro Upgrade. It was purchased yesterday from Best Buy or OfficeMax or one of those type of places. It's legit. It's not a copy; it's a standard, factory issued, retail box of the XP Pro Upgrade; the box was sealed, top and bottom. The problem is that the included product key comes up as invalid so I cannot install Windows. This is NOT an activation issue, I can't get that far. I boot to the desktop, put in the CD, answer a few questions, and I'm prompted for the product key. With upgrades, the key is on a yellow sticker that is in a tri-fold blue folder. I type in the key from this sticker and I get the message that "The CD key which you entered is invalid. Please try again." and that's it. Is there any way to fix this? Do I return the software? Exchange the software? Has anyone ever heard of this? Could it be due to some software on the PC? I'm in a bit of a time crunch, so sooner is better than later....
Thanks!

I think it is the XP CD because I tried a key from another XP Pro Upgrade just to see if it would take and it didn't.

 

Exchange it for another, if you can. Or contact Microsoft? Bazza

 

UPDATE: I think the problem is with something on the PC :confused I tried a different upgrade CD with a different product key, and it still didn't take it. I'm still working on it :banghead Disabled antivirus/firewall, cleaning temp files and reg, etc.... if anyone has any ideas, PLEASE post 'em!
Thanks :major

 

You didn't say what you are upgrading from

 

Try a different keyboard.

Seriously.

I am not joking.

 

I am trying to upgrade XPMCE to XP Pro. I know that MCE is basically the same Pro except it doesn't have the ability to connect to a domain, and some media extensions have been added. The only reason I'm even trying this is that the owner of the PC says the music app "ProTools LE" will not run on MCE; and will only run on XP Home or XP Pro. I went to their web site, and there is no mention of MCE anywhere that I saw, so he may be right. But I've never heard of such madness: a program that won't run on MCE, but will on Home or Pro? The program installed, but doesn't run properly.
And I will try a new keyboard here in about 5 minutes.... I'll post the results....

 

Well, I tried a different keyboard, I'm typing with it right now, and it didn't work. What could be causing this? Like I said, I've tried 2 different upgrade CDs with different keys and neither of them will take....

 

Ive seen it with stuck keys, or generally incompatible computers....but basically stuck keys.

 

I just got off the phone with Microsoft. They said it's a known issue when using XP Pro Upgrade disc to try to upgrade XPMCE. Some type of coding issue brings up an invalid product key error. So, I have to back up the data, wipe, and reload Major league PITA... over 20gb of music, vids, pics, etc..... This guy really wants ProTools to work.....

 

What a minute.

Why does he need Pro, when MCE IS Pro, with a couple features disabled, depending on version?

 

you dont have the sp3 rc from microsoft installed do you? i have seen this service pack cause issues with programs, mostly games. i am working on a pc with xp home sp1 that had sp3 release canidate installed from microsoft. with sp1, warcraft and the sims games worked properly and the dvdfab decrypter and nero worked fine according to this guy. i had to uninstall and then system restore the pc a few weeks before sp3 was installed to get the pc to work these programs properly. i dont know if the issue was they did not have sp2 on before the upgrade to sp3 or if the pc just dont like it.

 

This was my exact line of thinking also. He's using ProToolsLE, the music recording software. Their web site doesn't mention that it will run under MCE, only Home or Pro. I thought this was crazy, and it made no sense, but whatever. This guy has a friend (the guy himself doesn't know much about PCs) who is supposedly some kind of 'expert' and he says it won't run on MCE. They bought the Pro upgrade from BestBuy and BestBuy assured them that it would upgrade MCE to Pro. I was thinking the whole time "MCE is Pro, with some domain stuff removed, and some media extensions added, but OK". I'm not going to argue with these people. Anyway, Microsoft told me about the coding conflict that doesn't allow MCE to be upgraded by Pro, which kind of makes sense, but BestBuy should have known this. I pretty much knew it wouldn't work, but not because of a product key issue. Long story short (is it too late for that? ) I backed up 28gb worth of music, mixes, beats, etc, (the dude is a "DJ"), formatted, and loaded the XP Pro. And that's where it's at.

No. The owner of this PC doesn't even do regular Windows updates, nevermind an out of the way download like SP3. SP3 isn't one of the 'critical' updates yet, is it?

 

lol, the last comp i worked on i had to save about 60gb or so, and put back (of course making sure it's clean). damn thing was so polluted, that i had to reinstall os (even after trying to clean it). needless to say, i acquired alot of music.

edit - anyway, i need to remember this, as i have a mce comp. - sos

 

win xp works ok with sp2 but the sp3 is still glitchy, causing issues. i downloaded the autopatcher programs before microsoft shut them down and i update computers offline with them and have no problems. sp3 is microsofts answer to autopatcher and it does not seem to work with mce at all. i spent some time trying to install sp3 on a fresh reloaded media center edition pc and got several errors, no work 4 me on mce. i used autopatcher on the mce pc and updated it easily.

maybe this will help someone else.