Oh Windows XP, You Miserable Piece Of Crap...

I finally did it, folks. I actually broke something on my computer, and now it's stuck in an endless loop. With the thousands of folks now visiting my website thanks to Metafilter and others seeking news of the protest, now I need your help.

For some reason, every time I reboot Windows XP Media Center Edition, it says "You must activate this copy of Windows before you log on. Do you want to do this now?" I hit yes, and it takes me to the activation screen. When the activation screen pops up, it says, "Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit." When I click exit, it logs me off.

I have Googled this until my head is about to explode. Every forum has a different solution that does not seem to work. Clearly, something is boffed with the activation on my product.

Does anyone have any earthly idea how to resolve this problem? Your help is greatly appreciated. Leave me comments, lets talk about this. I have two days before it becomes a serious problem. Barring fixing it, I'm going to have to reformat my hard drive and start over.