your OEM OS with a PC or just
a single piece of hardware,
Microsoft considers the OS tied
to the motherboard it’s first
installed on. If the hard drive
takes a dump, if the videocard
or NIC dies, no problem, you
can have the OS reactivated.
However, if the motherboard
the OS was installed on fails,
Microsoft can consider it
deadski. In some cases, the
company will reactivate a
dead board’s OS—say, Dell
has a run of bad boards on
some machines and it has field
techs replace the bad mobos.
The Dog has also heard stories
of Microsoft being flexible in
enforcing the OEM rules. The
company might let you slide,
for instance, if you bought
an OEM copy of the OS and
installed it on subsequent
home-built rigs, but trying to
use a product key from an OEM
PC, like a Dell, on your home-
built rig is not going to fly. That’s
probably because while you
and I might pay $100 for anOEM copy of XP, Dell, HP, and
other large vendors pay sub-
stantially less.
So, no, you would not be
allowed to use your copy of
Windows XP from a new OEM
machine if you installed Linux.
Some companies will allow
you to buy a machine without
an OS, however, if you intend
to install Linux. Retail copies
of Microsoft’s OSes do not die
and can be transferred to a
new machine an unlimited
number of times. DYMO is recalling some 17,
power adapters sold with its printers
that may create a power surge that
overheats the printer and poses a
burn hazard. The adapters were
sold with the DYMO LabelWriter 400,
DYMO LabelWriter 400 Turbo, DYMO
Label Writer Twin Turbo, DYMO
LabelWriter Duo, and DYMO Desktop
Mailing Solution.
If you have one of these print-
ers, examine the power adapter and
look for a date code of 2407, 2507,
2607, or 2707 and make sure the
adapter does not have a RoHS symbol—these are the indicators of an impacted
brick. Any adapter bearing the RoHS symbol, even if it has one of the above date
codes, is not part of this recall.
If you have a bad supply, you should unplug it from the wall and contact DYMO
for a free replacement. Call DYMO at 888-658-3904 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Eastern Time or visit http://global.dymo.com/poweradapter. Battery-Biz is recalling about 1,
notebook power adapters that may
fail, overheat, and pose a burn hazard.
The company said about five people
have complained about the batteries
overheating. The adapters are marked
Duracell Universal Power Adapter.
The recall applies to the 130-watt combo AC/DC version with the model numbers
EA10900, AC-6501, and DRUM130 and date codes 0804 and 0805.
The bad adapters were sold through Dell.com and Duracelldirect.com between
February and March last year for $80 to $120. Anyone with a recalled adapter should
stop using it and contact Battery-Biz at 800-780-6552 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:
a.m. Pacific Time Monday through Friday.RECALL ALERTThis power brick with
the date code of 2407
and without the RoHS
symbol is bad.DYMO printer adapters
with the RoHS symbol
are good.