Vista activation BS !!!!!

[Doomer]

This is f#ckin' ridiculous. I replace my power supply and Vista tells me I have to reactivate due to a HW change. Does anybody else see where this going ??????

 

[lxskllr]

Sounds like it's going online to reactivate :^P

 

[Doomer]

Yea, well thanks Einstein. How did you figure that out ????

It did reactivate but my point, which you obviously missed, is the only HW change was the freakin' PS. How the heck did Vista even know the PS was replaced ????

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Doomer
How the heck did Vista even know the PS was replaced ????

That's the Vista Wow ;^)

Who the hell knows? Windows activation is always full of voodoo. I've transferred between machines and had no activation complaints, and I've replaced a gfx card and had to reactivate... That's just the way it is. Did you change drivers for anything while replacing the psu?

 

[corkyg]

I change HDDs weekly in two Vista Machines and have never been bugged about reactivation. What you describe is indeed strange.

 

[Doomer]

Nope, no driver change at all. I had another system force a reactivation a couple of months ago for no reason whatsoever. Absolutely nothing changed. Maybe the PS change and reactivation was just a coincidence.

Checking the MS activation forum revealed a smorgasbord of problems. People are ticked and rightly so. MS needs to fix this.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: Doomer
Maybe the PS change and reactivation was just a coincidence.

This is the most likely scenario. A PSU change isn't noticed by the OS, unless Vista's activation is reading voltage sensors!

 

[nerp]

The machine is activated, no? What's the problem here?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I change HDDs weekly in two Vista Machines and have never been bugged about reactivation. What you describe is indeed strange.

That's weird. MS' whitepaper about Vista Activation said that changing the hard drive will demand Activation. Edit: Are you saying you restore to a different hard drive every week, or are you saying you swap hard drives?

Yesterday, I restored my Vista Business Retail edition onto a new hard drive in anticipation of upgrading to Vista Ultimate I wanted a backup system drive just in case the upgrade went badly, plus I wanted to check the integrity of my WHS backups. Within a few minutes of the restoration to an IDENTICAL new hard drive (using Windows Home Server), I was asked to Activate within three days. The ONLY thing that was changed was the hard drive serial number.

But, as noted, MS' Activation is always a bit Voodoo-ish.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Doomer
This is f#ckin' ridiculous. I replace my power supply and Vista tells me I have to reactivate due to a HW change. Does anybody else see where this going ??????

Changing the PS did NOT cause Vista to activate. Perhaps the symptoms (I presume the old PS was bad) left something corrupt. But PS's are NOT one of the things scored by the activation system.

 

[tcsenter]

Yeah, I changed to boxers the other day so that my package wouldn't be so squished together when I sat and Vista tells me I must re-activate because my configuration changed. Damn you, Microsoft! :roll:

 

[Aberforth]

If you use Vista retail version for a long time (like 6-12 months) it doesn't bug you for re-activation, I've changed my entire pc, mainboard and other hardware serveral times without phone activation.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Doomer
This is f#ckin' ridiculous. I replace my power supply and Vista tells me I have to reactivate due to a HW change. Does anybody else see where this going ??????

Changing the PS did NOT cause Vista to activate. Perhaps the symptoms (I presume the old PS was bad) left something corrupt. But PS's are NOT one of the things scored by the activation system.

I agree, especially since I just replaced power supply on one of my PCs. Actually, I changed from a 400watt PS to a 600 and changed the video board from a 7800 to an 8800GTX and didn't have to reactivate.

Under normal operation, Activation wont trigger by a Power supply swap. Either something was corrupt, more changes were made than just the power supply, or perhaps someone got a hold of your key and is trying to use it on more than one machine.

Vista doesn't just going for your to reactivate normally either. I have two Vista machines that have been running for 22 months without being asked to reactivate. One of these machines is rarely used, the other heavily used and runs 24/7 since it's my web server/Media Center PC. In fact, none of the 5 Vista installs in my household has had to reactivate.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Doomer
This is f#ckin' ridiculous. I replace my power supply and Vista tells me I have to reactivate due to a HW change. Does anybody else see where this going ??????

This is either BS, or something else is going on. There is currently no way for the PC system to detect the power supply, brand, model, or otherwise.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Doomer
This is f#ckin' ridiculous. I replace my power supply and Vista tells me I have to reactivate due to a HW change. Does anybody else see where this going ??????

Did you move a card to another slot, or change SATA/IDE ports for any drive?

 

[Baked]

Blah blah blah. If you have a legal and retail copy of Vista, reactivation is as easy as pushing the activation button (if you're connected to the net, but that's a given now a days), I know because I mess w/ my hardware all the time and I've reactivated my Vista Ultimate a number of times.

 

[Doomer]

Blah blah blah. what ya gonna do when MS says you've reached your limit ????

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: Doomer
Blah blah blah. what ya gonna do when MS says you've reached your limit ????

I'm going to call the # on the screen and they will activate me regardless. And the activation data is cleared from their system after a few months so the chance of running out is quite slim, unless, of course, you can't help yourself from constantly reinstalling the OS or swapping hardware in and out. And even if you do run out of activations, a quick phone call = problem solved. I've run out of activations on a Vista test machine I run as well as with a copy of office 2007 which I have installed on my desktop and laptop (which is permitted with retail copies of office professional -- two installs.) Total time lost = 5 minutes.

 

[Doomer]

You are a true USER.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Doomer
Blah blah blah. what ya gonna do when MS says you've reached your limit ????

There is no limit. I now think your trolling. You first claimed you reactivated based on an event which doesnt cause activation. Now your claiming there is an activation limit, which there is not.

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: Doomer
You are a true USER.

Yep. I use my computers and get my work done, watch whatever I want, play games, communicate and create. I USE my computers rather than constantly futz about them and whine and bitch and moan.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: Doomer
Blah blah blah. what ya gonna do when MS says you've reached your limit ????

Changing a power supply would not require activation.

But maybe changing the ps changed memory timings, cpu clocks, reset bios and maybe that is what windows saw.

Anyways if you can spend so much time posting here then clicking activate shouldn't be a problem i have done it a few times and its a pleasure 🙂.


And there is no activation limit.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: nerp

Originally posted by: Doomer
You are a true USER.

Yep. I use my computers and get my work done, watch whatever I want, play games, communicate and create. I USE my computers rather than constantly futz about them and whine and bitch and moan.

You should have said 'Im a PC and I use my computers and get my work done, watch whatever I want, play games, communicate and create. I USE my computers rather than constantly futz about them and whine and bitch and moan.'