Halo 2 - installation activation ok, Live says 'invalid key' - ???

Game just arrived in the mail yesterday - I've installed it twice now, and
reinstalled Live separately as well - type in my key during installation,
says the verification server verifies it. Launch the game, try to log into my
Live account (WestsideSxE) and they tell me my key is invalid. What the hell?
I deleted the local install of my Xbox Live profile and redownloaded it (that
was fun, couldn't even do it in Halo 2 because it kept screaming the key was
invalid, had to reinstall Shadowrun to get it on the PC) and still nothing...
any suggestions? Thanks

Double-check your key, probably entering it wrong. Those 8's look a lot
like B's.

Which key are you talking about the Halo 2 CD key, or the Live for Windows
Account creation key?

If Halo says the Key is wrong, the key is wrong. Not much we can do about
it, call Microsoft tech support, the number is in the back of the manual.

the halo key inside the box above the disc holder - pretty sure I'm typing it
right - the #s are in a slightly larger font than letters. Guess I'll have to
double check the manual... back has the quick list of key commands like the
old Xbox games, and I only saw the microsoft.com/games/halo2 url for the game
on the inside of the manual for support (which leads to the tech support
area, which had no answers, which leads to the contact page, which tells me
to cough up $35 to call or email them... ARGH :D

[which is how I wound up here hahaha])

That sucks. EA offers free support for all their games.

Wow, $35 what a ripoff, and all because you just need your cd-key verified.
Wish they had something online for that.

--
-A.