Microsoft must have struggled with this problem for years.  The answer is
that there is no decent way of identifying a PC with a single number.  That
is why they finally came up with the "PC profiling" method for XP products
as a substitute (which people still don't like as not being reliable).
This takes several factors into account to generate the profile.  It then
allows a small amount of deviation before the user is forced to contact MS
to make an explanation and get a new unlock key.

The basic problem with PC's is that everything is variable over time.  Even
if some PC's had some form of base ID, there are many that would not have
it because they would be the wrong make or repaired/replaced or too old,
etc..

Basing a PC's identity on a disk serial number is not at all reliable,
because a user could quite reasonably want to switch in a larger disk drive
in the same original PC.  Of course the serial number/manufacturer will
surely change if they do this.  Disks can also fail and need to be replaced
and so the problem is the same.  To use a disk serial number would be to
license to a disk, not a PC.  I think that a disk would be even more likely
to change in a PC than a NIC.

I think that Intel's attempt to imbed a serial number into the CPU chip was
an attempt to address this problem, but you know where that went.  Even if
this had worked, there would still be millions of PC's that pre-date the
feature.

Windows seems to generate some form of "product ID" upon installation that
is somewhat unique, such as: 50807-014-7075225-73941.  I think this number
will change with each installation, even from the same source CD.  Maybe
you can access that number and use it like a SUSAN.  However, I suspect
there must be a problem with this or they would not have come up with the
profiling method.

Whatever you end up using, you should not just shut off the license.
Instead put the product into a demo mode, for say 30 days.  This allows the
customer to deal with the issue in a reasonable period of time by
contacting you and yet be able to continue to have the software function in
the meantime (with perhaps a prominent, but friendly reminder of being in
demo mode for n more days always displayed).

Perhaps your products should be redirected to HP3000's as a solution!  Have
you considered performance tiering based on CPU speed?  Maybe you should
cripple performance for more price points?  There must be any number of
proven strategies you could draw from CSY. :-)

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