Vista reactivation??

[maxkillz]

well I installed a "new" motherboard in my computer and as I was checking everything I noticed on the bottom of the "system" window it says

windows activation

2 days until automatic activation. activate windows now

but when I click it, it says my copy is invalid and that I must purchase a new copy. this has me slightly worried as my hard drive came with vista preinstalled and I have no disk. what do i do? acer is no help and microsoft is almost as bad...:wtf:

 

[Rob]

So help me understand this. You bought a system with vista installed, recently upgraded the mobo, and now Microsoft says it's not valid?

Did you computer come with any system restore disks?

Also if worst comes to worst, you can google an activator for Vista. PM me if you want to go that route.

 

[maxkillz]

So help me understand this. You bought a system with vista installed, recently upgraded the mobo, and now Microsoft says it's not valid?

Did you computer come with any system restore disks?

Also if worst comes to worst, you can google an activator for Vista. PM me if you want to go that route.

the system never came with any disks of any sort actually...just a single sheet of paper saying plug in power and monitor and keyboard/mouse and have fun...:undecided:

should I try putting the old board back in and seeing what happens? I don't have the cash to just throw away whatever vista costs...

the old board works for the most part, the onboard graphics and sound are currently dead and the network card is buggy...

 

[Rob]

You could always try that...

What brand is the computer?

 

[maxkillz]

it's an acer, but it's gonna suck trying to get the new board out and the old one in.

anything I can do to prevent from my system getting...screwed by microsoft?

 

[Rob]

Yeah you could always use an activator. That's what I would do...

 

[maxkillz]

hmm

but is there any legal way to solve this?

 

[Rob]

You can try switching out the mobo...

You can try contacting Acer/Microsoft support again

Or you can purchase another copy of Vista

Those are your options.

 

[HIMNL9]

Well, imho, if the copy of OS was preinstalled, and if after a repair of the PC is considered not valid, it's microsoft fault, cause you still have the valid license sticker on the pc (i suppose).

Here, when this happen, you have to choose the phone activation (not the online activation), wait for the operator (usually, when activation through phone fails, the autoresponder connect you with a human operator), then explain him the situation (that you have changed the MB on an Acer pc with preinstalled OS, and now the activation process sa you that your copy is no more valid), then usually they ask you your activation number or the license number from the sticker, and give you a new product number and activation sequence.

At least, almost all the times i solved this problem in this way, here, but i'm not 100% sure that it work the same way in all the countries ..... but, well, it's a toll-free number, and all that you risk is to spend some time trying, so if you want to try this system, and if it work, you're ok

 

[Rob]

Hmm I forgot about over the phone activation... Thanks for pointing that out HIMNL.

I second what HIMNL said, at the very least it can't hurt.

 

[maxkillz]

well apperently theres a stick on the side of the case with a diff code, but on the second braket of numbers it starts with an O (tried 0 and still doesn't work) it says that it is an invalid character. I can't put any more numbers in after the first 5 digits..

 

[HIMNL9]

"invalid character" ???

Never heard about this, all the serial numbers must accept numbers and common letters.

Uhm, except you are using some east character tables or unicode ? ..... but this does not have sense ..... i mean, the serial numbers are always made with numbers and letters .....

Or you are speaking about the activation codes, that the phone say you in the activation process ? ..... in this case, they are numbers only, no letters .....

 

[maxkillz]

I mean when I go to

>system

Windows activation

Product ID: it goes xxxxx-O3M-xxxxxxx-xxxxx

and it says it's invalid all of a sudden and I have 2 days to reactivate. I don't quite remember what it said before though....so it might be different from before I installed th motherboard

when it says type in Product ID i try to type that ^^^^ and I can't type the O, it says invalid character

 

[HIMNL9]

OEM, not O3M .....

At least, i never seen one of these codes containing anything different from OEM, in this position .....

 

[maxkillz]

OEM, not O3M .....

At least, i never seen one of these codes containing anything different from OEM, in this position .....

doesn't matter won't let me put in the O I just changed the rest to XXXXX due to paranoia lol

 

[HIMNL9]

Wait, wait ..... product ID ? ..... that is NOT the serial number (only old products used that form for serial numbers)

The license sticker is looking different for different countries and series of products, but actually, the serial numbers of all M$ products (at least, all those that i know), is the usual string of five groups of five characters, like xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx ..... where the X can be numbers or leters, indifferently ..... if the seller sold you a pc with a valid license, you have to find a sticker with a serial number in this form, somewhere

Usually for OEM products, they stick it on the case of the pc, or back or under it, but sometimes the lazy ones left it hooked on the disc case ..... and, also if there was no disk with the PC (the ones that, when you turn them on for the first times, ask you to create a set of recovery dvd), the license sticker must be on the machine ..... otherwise, you may go to the seller and ask for it, if they sold the pc as "preinstalled OS" .....