Motherboard has failed...What does that mean for my OEM copy of Vista?

[Sulaco]

Hey guys,

I have a fully legal, OEM copy of Vista Home Premium I purchased with a DVD drive and a case a few months back.
I installed it on an older but still very usable machine I assembled awhile go.

Anyway, the motherboard on which I installed it (Asus A8N-E) has recently died: SATA failed, USB ports failed, and now, it won't even power on reliably.

My question is, what happens to my OEM Vista I paid $100 for? Can I transfer it to the new system I'll have to build (mobo/RAM/CPU, anyway)?
Or am I basically SOL because I can't modify hardware on this license?

Thanks very much!!

 

[bsobel]

MS is very lienent when it comes to replacing failed motherboards. In theory you should try to replace the board with the same, if its no longer available they'll still activate on whatever you wind up getting.

 

[Sulaco]

Thank you!

You've just taken a load off my mind.

WHat should I do about the HDD from the failed mobo that has the Vista install on it? Is there a "de"activation I need to go through before trying to activate Vista with the new machine?

 

[lxskllr]

No deactivation necessary. You might even be able to use your old drive with a repair install, or even straight up with the exact same board.

 

[RebateMonger]

In three years on these Forums, I can only think of one poster who said he/she was denied re-activation of an OEM license, no matter what the reason.

 

[tcsenter]

The only exception to non-transferrable OEM licensing is in the event of motherboard being replaced due to failure or defect. Normally, this would only apply to motherboards authorized by the OEM under warranty.

However, since you have purchased an OEM System Builder license as opposed to a royalty OEM license distributed by Dell or other PC maker, that makes you the OEM System Builder who gets to determine what constitutes an authorized replacement.

Neat, eh?

 

[Sulaco]

Thanks alot guys.

I assume I'll need to activate over the phone? Will I be telling the reason for the hardware change to a live person?
Anything in particular I should say/not say to make it seamless?

 

[lxskllr]

You'll probably talk to a computer first. Nothing happens when the computer's involved :^D When the computer asks you to say something, don't. After awhile it'll get tired of you, and put you on with a real person. When they ask you why you're reinstalling, tell them it's for a MB replacement. When you're asked how many computers it's installed on, you'll tell them 1. You'll then get a bunch of numbers to type in, and you should be good to go.

 

[tcsenter]

You get so many online activations without having to call activation support, usually in the neighborhood of three. If you've only activated once or twice before, it will probably activate online.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
You get so many online activations without having to call activation support, usually in the neighborhood of three. If you've only activated once or twice before, it will probably activate online.

I'm guessing that you just answered the question I posted an hour ago in this "New Topic" Thread:

RAID0 failure and VISTA re-installation

I couldn't be sure if I had read ". . . neighborhood of three . . . " somewhere else months ago, but I'm now more sure of it.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
You get so many online activations without having to call activation support, usually in the neighborhood of three. If you've only activated once or twice before, it will probably activate online.

Actually, I've been rejected, after reinstalling, twice. Once with a System Builder's OEM Vista Ultimate x64.

The worst one was when I tried to reactivate my Windows Server 2008 after a much needed reformatting of the drive. Microsoft Tech Support and Pre-Sales both patch you through to Activation who either want your account number to add more activations or ask you for the installation ID, which they don't realize Windows Server 2008 does not have. And it's impossible to understand their Activation and Server teams, both based in India. Their Pre-sales and Tech Support are both based in the US still.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
Actually, I've been rejected, after reinstalling, twice. Once with a System Builder's OEM Vista Ultimate x64.

That's why I stated "usually" and "in the neighborhood" as opposed to more definite terms. MS activation uses a weighting system to determine the threshold for blocking online activation and the major criterion are disclosed in Microsoft documentation. But there are cases that seem to prove the unexplainable exception.

If you reinstall Vista using the repair or in-place upgrade methods on the same or substantially similar hardware configuration, the system is supposed to retain the previous activation status, provided that you did not format or replace the hard drive containing the encrypted activation files, or the files were not corrupted/damaged in some way.

If online activation failed for a copy of Vista that had previously been activated only once, you most likely either did not reinstall the OS using repair or in-place upgrade, made significant changes to the hardware configuration since the previous activation, or both. Or, you were another of the unexplainable exceptions.

Online activation of royalty OEM keys is more restrictive. In fact, online activation is automatically blocked for all royalty OEM keys. After calling to activate a royalty OEM key, the activation rep. can elect to remove the block, but this will only permit a very limited number of subsequent activations online before it is automatically blocked again.