New motherboard Windows 7 reinstallation/activation issues

I have an HP MT 3125 running Windows 7 Professional x64 OEM. The motherboard died so I decided to replace it rather than go to the expense of a whole new machine. I know this would probably be easier if I replaced with the same model (it was a Foxconn H-Alpinia-RS780L-uATX), but I happened to have an unused Geforce 6100PM-M2 lying around. Anyway, I installed the board and reinstalled Windows using the HP recovery partition. Not surprisingly, Windows won't boot because the drivers are incorrect. I've tried loading the correct ones by booting from an installation disc and choosing repair, selecting the OS and load drivers button. I have the manufacturer's disc with all the drivers, it recognises them but the installation fails. I've also tried installing them in a command prompt using dism. The installation appears to work, but Windows still will not boot. Option 2, I can do a clean install of Windows from the installation disc which works perfectly except that it won't accept my licence key. No option to phone and activate, just the message that my product key is invalid, since I am trying to activate a retail copy of Windows with an OEM key. So, can anyone help with either loading the motherboard drivers into a non-booting copy of Windows (my preferred option), or activating Windows using my OEM key?

So, can anyone help with either loading the motherboard drivers into a non-booting copy of Windows (my preferred option), or activating Windows using my OEM key?

Unfortunately both methods won't work. "Windows 7" uses OEM 2.1 activation which requires three components.

1. A valid "Software Licensing Table" in BIOS ( SLIC ).

2. OEM SLP Certificate which is specific to the manufacturer.

3. OEM SLP license key which is specific to the manufacturer.

Your original motherboard ( which is failed ) BIOS will contain HP SLIC table in BIOS. The recovery media provided by HP will contain OEM SLP certificate and key. Windows will auto activate itself if these three components matches.

The replacement MoBo doesn't contain a HP specific SLIC table. So even if you managed to boot the pre-installed version of Windows, it will ask for activation ( SLIC missing ).

Thanks, I feared so, but I was hoping perhaps if I could get the first method to work it might give me the telephone activation option, or there might be the possibility of speaking to someone at Microsoft - I've heard they will sometimes give out a replacement key if the motherboard replacement was due to failure of the original board?

You would need to Adjust Win7 to boot on new hardware with Paragon Adaptive Restore CD
which works well.

If it doesn't start after P2PAdjust then confirm the Partition Marked Active and run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

If/when it prompts for reactivation, go through the online process and if rejected select phone option. Explain the situation and hope that MS will make allowance as they sometimes do. If not contact HP Support. Activate Windows 7 by Phone - Windows 7 Help Forums

Thanks gregrocker that looks just what I need! I will try it out tomorrow and post the results :)

Well, no luck so far. Paragon went through the automatic install in seconds, resulting only in a 7B bsod instead of the previous boot loop. I tried a manual install of all the drivers I could find on the manufacturer's CD with no luck. Paragon indicates that the correct drivers are installed for the SATA drive and chipset and says that the drivers on the CD don't apply to the hardware configuration. Since I'm able to install Windows to the drive without having to load extra drivers and the OS is recognised by the recovery disc, I'm slightly at a loss to understand which drivers are incorrect - I'm fairly tech savvy but don't have the in depth knowledge. I've also loaded the drivers from the manufacturer's disc into the clean install of Windows to check which drivers are installed and the files appear to be the same as those indicated by the inf file that was rejected by Paragon. Start-up repair just says it is unable to fix the problem. I may just have to buy a retail licence!

Which partition is marked Active? It will not repair if System Reserved (preferred if you have it) or C is not.

Also if you injected a bunch of drivers beyond what PAR prompted you for then you've probably fouled the install as Win7 is not XP but supplies its own drivers.

So the function of PAR is to remove the old ones, HID/SID and Activation then it should load drivers from the 7 driver store at start and pull in all others from Windows Update

Good point, I didn't check. However it is booting as far as the start screen which suggests the correct partition is marked active.

I only loaded the Windows 7 x64 drivers that were on the CD, specifically the ones that I had identified were correct by running the setup.exe on a clean install of Windows and noting the file names in Device Manager. But then Paragon said that these were not compatible and I added them manually. Confused!

NM I got fed up and downgraded to Home Premium :)