windows xp activation failure.

i recently got a new old computer and it was working just great, until 7 days ago it said " you need to activate your copy of windows." now 7 days later, im without a computer.
when i try to start the computer up it says " you need to activate this copy of windows before logging on." and then it brings me to the key activation screen and reads: "this version of windows is already activated, click ok to exit."
and its one stupid loop that loops. all help is appreciated.

Who sold it to you and why didn't the tell you about that?

it wasnt sold, more like given. it was an old gateway computer that my friend fixed up. i dont know what happend. he says to bring it to his house for repairs. but im just gonna reboot, i hate saying goodbye to loads of entertainment stored on my harddrives

You can recover the files if you buy a USB external HD enclosure for laptop hard drives. Remove the HD, put it in the enclosure and connect it to another PC. Windows will give it a drive letter and you can copy the files.

I have one of those enclosures for IDE drives. I use it all the time.

I'll have to add this to my "to buy" list. Sounds like it could be quite handy. As a matter of interest, do you recommend any in particular Don2007?

I have a NexStar for IDE drives. You want one for laptop drives or buy one for each.
http://www.tigerdirect.com has them.