problem ended up being just another reason to re-evaluate IE7...

[cubby1223]

Problem I had was finally solved. The activation window in XP uses Internet Explorer to perform its tasks. And with IE7 installed, the activation window may or may not open up. So if the computer is stuck in a loop where it must re-activate before logging in, and the activation window cannot open up... You're kinda stuck not going nowhere fast. And repair installs do not correct the problem, just yet.

If safe mode is accessible (not blocked out by the activation screen), IE7 probably can be removed from there. But if safe mode is inaccessible, have to uninstall IE7 from the recovery console then do a repair install.

I always love when I waste hours on issues like this learning the bugs & workarounds in new software, especially on software Microsoft pushes out on users when it's still not even close to being bug-free. Why oh why does internet explorer need to be so tightly integrated into everything...

 

[cubby1223]

Fun, the only google hit that solved the problem says it's a problem with IE7, and for him uninstalling IE7 (restoring IE6) allowed the activation window to finally appear. But at least that person had access to safe mode to run the uninstall procedure, I don't. I searched for the recovery console method to removing IE7, but even that requires a final step once back into Windows, which I cannot reach thanks to the activation.

Maybe another repair install will help at this point. Can't hurt. (I've got a backup from prior to the first repair install to fall back to if anything goes completely wrong).

 

[Smilin]

Activation issues are covered free of charge by MS support. Save yourself some time and call them next time. There are steps that can be taken (not to be discussed here) that could have corrected the issue with ease. Activating once you are finished installing would have avoided this whole thing too.

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: Smilin
Activation issues are covered free of charge by MS support. Save yourself some time and call them next time. There are steps that can be taken (not to be discussed here) that could have corrected the issue with ease. Activating once you are finished installing would have avoided this whole thing too.

It was a motherboard gone bad, and replacing the motherboard required reactivation. Unavoidable. :disgust: The last thing I wanted last night was to talk to India. And are you saying Microsoft helps people "crack" activation? Google provided more than enough suggestions on how to crack activation.

The only bright spot was that for once, finally reactivating XP didn't require having to talk to an actual person and answer all their questions.


But seriously, just a few days prior I was cleaning off a decent amount of spyware / malware from the system, and certainly Microsoft isn't going to help me resolve those problems if any still exist. So that's really what I was looking for first to solve this issue. Then to find out it's an IE7 problem that other people have had & uninstalling IE7 fixes it... I did notice IE7 is no longer classified as a critical update, thank God. But hey, if I run into this again (and I'm sure I will), I know how to easily fix it.

 

[Smilin]

You weren't given 3 days (or whatever) to activate after the mobo swap? Was the mobo identical?

No they won't help you crack activation but there other methods involving your wpa database that can move to you to a 'never activated' state.

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: Smilin
You weren't given 3 days (or whatever) to activate after the mobo swap? Was the mobo identical?

No they won't help you crack activation but there other methods involving your wpa database that can move to you to a 'never activated' state.

Unless it's a brand new install, I never have 3 days to reactivate. I've done a lot of cleanups of computers over the years and usually the last step I do is a repair installation. Even with all the same hardware, I do not get the 3 days.

This system was purchased in '02 or '03, and no exact match readily is available, so I had to get a different model replacement. And it's always nice to get a board with upgraded features.



But really, weird things happen when IE7 is installed. I've seen explorer.exe not able to load. I've seen HP software for scanners fail to open. I've seen the initial first run of IE7 where it attempts to set the default search engine & cleartype settings crash svchost.exe and then shut down nearly all of the system services. Now I've seen the reactivation window fail to open. In all situations, uninstalling IE7 allowed the computer to run like it was.

 

[Smilin]

The big takaway I wanted you to get..

All of these are free support from MS:
Activation issues.
Problems installing service packs, updates or hotfixes.
Problems resulting from service packs, updates or hotfixes.

Also if you have a paid incident with MS and it turns out to be a bug in their software they will refund your money. Having worked a lot of cases I can say this doesn't happen that often. You would be amazed what havok 3rd party stuff causes. IE is a great example because of the plug-ins.

I'm glad you're running though. A repair is indeed the heavy hammer that works.

 

[cubby1223]

It's good that some issues are free support, but that's not what upsets me.

I can deal with tech support problems. It's everyone else who does not have the skills to figure out for themselves what's gone wrong, nor do they have the knowledge or the tools to work along with Microsoft's tech support staff to resolve problems themselves. Sure it's business for me, but it's never good when all I can say to the person who I'm billing is "It's an issue with Microsoft's software, and we just have to accept problems occurring every now and then."

Everyone understands that problems occur, but installing a web browser should not have the ability to cause the problems that happen. But then again, we all know this. Doesn't make it any less aggravating, though.

 

[stash]

It's everyone else who does not have the skills to figure out for themselves what's gone wrong, nor do they have the knowledge or the tools to work along with Microsoft's tech support staff to resolve problems themselves.

The customer doesn't need to have any knowledge...the PSS folks are trained for that. If necessary, they'll set up a remote connection to your machine and drive (with you watching so you can see what's happening). That probably wouldn't work in your scenario though (unable to login because of reactivation). But the majority of engineers can handle complete technophobes with little problem. During my time in enterprise support, I talked to hundreds of clueless people, trust me. These aren't grandmas trying to send email either, they're "professionals"

But seriously, I'm always stunned when people will spend hours and hours trying to troubleshoot an activation issue or an issue that seems to result from the application of a Microsoft update. These issues are free, take them up on the offer. If you aren't satisfied with your support experience, let them know! I don't know how it works on the consumer side, but on the enterprise side, every case ends with the engineer sending a summary (problem, cause, resolution) of the case, and a followup from that engineer's manager. If you have a complaint, tell them...you have a direct email and telephone connection to that manager.

My $.02.

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: stash
But seriously, I'm always stunned when people will spend hours and hours trying to troubleshoot an activation issue or an issue that seems to result from the application of a Microsoft update.

It wasn't exactly the 3 hours like I first griped. When broken down, it would be like half-hour figuring out what was going on, half-hour searching Google to find a promising solution, then the rest of the time implementing the solution and finishing up the repair. And actually I could subtract out the time during the repair install where I just walk away and did other stuff.

I still figure I came out ahead time-wise than if I had actually called Microsoft for tech support.

 

[stash]

I still figure I came out ahead time-wise than if I had actually called Microsoft for tech support.

That's cool...I was speaking more in general, not really to your specific issue. I figured you weren't saying you didn't know how to troubleshoot an issue with MS

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: cubby1223
It's good that some issues are free support, but that's not what upsets me.

I can deal with tech support problems. It's everyone else who does not have the skills to figure out for themselves what's gone wrong, nor do they have the knowledge or the tools to work along with Microsoft's tech support staff to resolve problems themselves. Sure it's business for me, but it's never good when all I can say to the person who I'm billing is "It's an issue with Microsoft's software, and we just have to accept problems occurring every now and then."

Everyone understands that problems occur, but installing a web browser should not have the ability to cause the problems that happen. But then again, we all know this. Doesn't make it any less aggravating, though.

I understand that problems are frustrating but please don't lecture when you never bothered to troubleshoot this down to root cause. You did short-circuit troubleshooting, reached a conclussion and are now griping about it when you don't even know what caused the problem. You also performed steps that MS would consider a last resort since once they are performed they make it impossible to determine root cause and ensure this won't happen again.

Call MS with this stuff. It's a $245+ call that you get for free and if at all possible the tech will help you determine root cause.