Can't activate Win7 more than once?

[jtvang125]

I got a new MB because I wanted to try out Crossfire. I had Win7 Pro installed before and although it properly detected the new board and installed the needed drivers it was running a bit sluggish cause I have too much crapped installed when I was testing out different software so I wiped the partition cleaned and started over.

It took the key just fine when installing but when trying to activate, it won't and gives me alternative choices like retyping it or buying a new key. When clicking More Details I get an error code Cx004C008, The activation server has determined that the specified product key could not be used.

MS site says this problem may occur if the key has been activated too many times. However this is only the second activation attempt. I know XP allowed several activations before giving me a exceeded activation limit error.

 

[stlcardinals]

Your best bet is to call Microsoft's Activation Center.

 

[SimMike2]

When you call in, you usually don't have to talk with anyone, just go through some prompts and enter numbers on your keypad. From my experience this should work. However if you have an OEM version of Windows7, it is not supposed to be installed on a different computer, which a new motherboard would usually constitute.

 

[JackMDS]

When you call in, you usually don't have to talk with anyone, just go through some prompts and enter numbers on your keypad. From my experience this should work. However if you have an OEM version of Windows7, it is not supposed to be installed on a different computer, which a new motherboard would usually constitute.

Motherboard can be replaced, and after an explaination over the telephone it will be activated.

However, if the problem is too many activations that another issue.

That means that within the last few months this key was used already more than few times for activation.

Hopefully No one were using your key unbeknown to the OP.

 

[jtvang125]

I bought 2 copies during the student discount they were having. One was installed on my htpc and the other on my personal computer. I did not share the key with anyone but it did come through an email. So it is possible that my email was hacked and the key compromised but nothing looks suspicious.

I'll give MS a call and see what they say.