XP activation weirdness

I have a geniune copy of XP Pro - OEM version with SP 2 built in and proper
COA. Installs fine but it doesn't have an activation icon in the system
tools menu and it doesn't ask to be activated at any point. This was fine
until i tried to download from microsoft - when it decided that my version
couldn't be authorised - it doesn't make sense - anyone else come across
this issue or have any ideas?

TIA


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