Anilrgowda

have a Dell laptop I purchased on eBay. I am installing a new hard drive. I installed XP Pro SP1 using the CD that came with the laptop. The intall went fine. However, when I try to update to SP2, XP keeps freezing up at the point when my install status window says that XP is checking the product key. I suspected that something might be amiss. So I downloaded and ran the keyfinder program by magical jelly bean. I discovered that the product key does not match the product key that is on the sticker on the bottom of my Dell laptop. So after doing some research I see that I can enter the registry and change the product key so that it match the ones that is supposedly assigned to my laptop. But before doing so, I have two questions: (1) assuming the product key on my laptop sticker is genuine, will I be able to upgrade to SP2 once I change the product key in the registry?; and (2) are there any other ramifications of changing the product key in the registry?

Soln
With Dell Cd's the key is a Volume licence key and is therefore the same. You should not have any problems down the line.