Vista Timebomb

[flexy]

Today in the morning i turn on my PC to see that my Vista SP1 was expired.

This wouldnt be a big deal since i wanted to upd to RTM anyway.

The problem is only that the deactivation/expiry re-introduced the fact that i cannot open control panel, program manager, device manager, and WINDOWS UPDATE anymore.

I had this very, very issue a montha go already and needed some odd patches and workarounds to get it working again.

Now..i am sitting here with Windows Update not working, ergo i cannot update to SP1 RTM. I also cannot deinstall the formerly installed Beta SP1 since i cannot get to Program Manager and cant remove anything!

All the old tricks and the KB in regards to the "missing control panel" issue dont work anymore either!


I am kinda stumped what to do....i might end up getting SP1 RTM from rapidshare or some warez site (GREAT!) since i dont have any idea how to get the normal SP1 now...in the hopes that reinstalling the official SP1 would fix my PC.

Just another Vista &%!"'&"§* story...


Edit: it might be helpful if someone could post a link to a legitmate SP1 download witht the actual/official RTM x64 - i am really hesitant updating my vista install with some shady rapidshare stuff from russia.
I can also post a log of my WGA validation tool to prove that i own a legit Vista copy.

or PM me. I also dont understand that i dont get the DL at technet/MSDN. I got the SP1 beta this way last time. Now i am looking and looking, but i dont see SP1 !! As said i cannot access WU, so i cannot just update with WU!

Workaround 2)

A way to re-activate/extend the one i had on there. "evaluation copy 6001"..and then try WU from there?

 

[stash]

You can't install the final SP1 over any betas. So unless you can figure out how to uninstall the current version of SP1 you have installed, you will be stuck.

That said, I don't know how you would uninstall once you hit the timebomb.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: flexy
Today in the morning i turn on my PC to see that my Vista SP1 was expired.

This wouldnt be a big deal since i wanted to upd to RTM anyway.

The problem is only that the deactivation/expiry re-introduced the fact that i cannot open control panel, program manager, device manager, and WINDOWS UPDATE anymore.

I had this very, very issue a montha go already and needed some odd patches and workarounds to get it working again.

Now..i am sitting here with Windows Update not working, ergo i cannot update to SP1 RTM. I also cannot deinstall the formerly installed Beta SP1 since i cannot get to Program Manager and cant remove anything!

All the old tricks and the KB in regards to the "missing control panel" issue dont work anymore either!


I am kinda stumped what to do....i might end up getting SP1 RTM from rapidshare or some warez site (GREAT!) since i dont have any idea how to get the normal SP1 now...in the hopes that reinstalling the official SP1 would fix my PC.

Just another Vista &%!"'&"§* story...


Edit: it might be helpful if someone could post a link to a legitmate SP1 download witht the actual/official RTM x64 - i am really hesitant updating my vista install with some shady rapidshare stuff from russia.
I can also post a log of my WGA validation tool to prove that i own a legit Vista copy.

or PM me. I also dont understand that i dont get the DL at technet/MSDN. I got the SP1 beta this way last time. Now i am looking and looking, but i dont see SP1 !! As said i cannot access WU, so i cannot just update with WU!

Workaround 2)

A way to re-activate/extend the one i had on there. "evaluation copy 6001"..and then try WU from there?

I really doubt this is a Vista issue and isnt some sort of malware or other issue. SP1 RC1 doesnt expire until June 30th, so it's not going to 'randomly' 'expire' on you, something is causing that and the inability to open control panel/etc.

 

[bsobel]

I've never tried it but this thread links to a tool that they claim can extend the timeout (at least on Longhorn betas, may applyt to the SP). That said, I still think this is a more fundemental issue and you need to nuke that box from orbit (its the only way to be sure)

 

[flexy]

bsobel, you are right. it shouldnt have expired yet.

Although (through some bios fiddling around i did yesterday) i (by mistake) set back my system time/date ..so today i booted with the wrong date (2007). Maybe this somehow affected the SP1 install and it deactivated itself.

 

[bsobel]

Aww, that was indeed probably it. One thought, fix your time and then try system restoring back to before that bios change. I dont know if that will work, but its worth a shot.

 

[flexy]

i try a system restore now. Btw. when i go into safe mode, it says SP1 is still there. Its only that the "evaluation copy" mark is not shown anymore. So something mustve been changed.

edit: system restore didnt help.

 

[sanzen07]

Bummer. This is why installing beta software is not a good idea.

 

[VinDSL]

Vista SP1 Final doesn't have a 'time bomb', therefore you aren't running Vista SP1 Final - you running a SP1 beta! 😉

Sorry, but I don't know any other way of putting it...

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Vista SP1 Final doesn't have a 'time bomb', therefore you aren't running Vista SP1 Final - you running a SP1 beta! 😉

Sorry, but I don't know any other way of putting it...

He knows that, hence the quote "since i wanted to upd to RTM anyway" and "ergo i cannot update to SP1 RTM. I also cannot deinstall the formerly installed Beta SP1"

Please read the post before responding.

Bill

 

[VinDSL]

Have him fix his post... 😀

Originally posted by: flexy
Today in the morning i turn on my PC to see that my Vista SP1 was expired.

He isn't running SP1!

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: VinDSL
Have him fix his post... 😀

Originally posted by: flexy
Today in the morning i turn on my PC to see that my Vista SP1 was expired.

He isn't running SP1!

If you read his post the issue is clear. Please stop thread crapping and only respond if you have something to offer to the OP besides your know it all attitude and wrong answers.

 

[VinDSL]

I see!

Maybe you can answer this...

How would changing his date from 2007 to 2008 help his expiration problem?

Microsoft isn't smarter than this?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: flexy
Although (through some bios fiddling around i did yesterday) i (by mistake) set back my system time/date ..so today i booted with the wrong date (2007). Maybe this somehow affected the SP1 install and it deactivated itself.

When XP first came out, I played with the 30-day activation limit. I found that setting the system clock back and then moving it forward was A BIG MISTAKE!

 

[Mem]

I would go with bsobel suggestion of resetting the time in BIOS to the correct year etc....if that does not work I would just reformat and reinstall Vista which as you know does not take long,I know most smart/wise users backup their data so that should not be a problem.

Sometimes its just quicker to reformat and reinstall Vista then to find the solution to some problems.

 

[Canterwood]

Originally posted by: sanzen07
Bummer. This is why installing beta software is not a good idea.

This why installing beta software on anything other than a test rig is not a good idea. 😉

 

[flexy]

Guys, update:

If you look on Google for "control panel not working" or "control panel empty"...you see A LOT of people haveing the same issue.

This is/was a REALLY tricky one and an average person would probably already have re-isntalled vista.

A little more detail:

This is a often (!) mentioned bug which causes a) Control Panel, Windows Update as well as many other property pages not to open anymore.

As safe-mode said all my updates/kb were still isntalled. The "only" thing i noticed was that the "evaluation copy" did not show on the desktop anymore, and my Vista was more or less totally hosed. Seriously.

There was a trick to get into CP, via Windows Explorer. But then into CP, showing programs it did NOT show "show isntalled updates"...which also made it impossible to check/deinstall SP1.

I had to deinstall SP1 beta v.688 (the one i had) using PKGMGR from CMD prompt like

start /w pkgmgr /up:VistaSP1-kb936330~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.0.0.17052

this actually worked AND got rid of the problem, CP works again.

Now re-installing SP1 RTM.

The often mentioned KB which actually got rid of the problem, KB 929637 is a VERY ODD KB which can only be aquired via hotfixshare.com respective contacting MS where they send this per email.

this hotfix is supposed to fix this issue (and it did for me before i had SP1, and it worked a while WITH SP1 isntalled) - the description of th hotfix itself has NOTHING the slightest to do with the problem...rather they talk about "nero incd". But it would fix the problem.

The problem now is that this hotfix installs a new kernel (ntoskrnl.exe) , V 6000 which is good for BEFORE SP1 (SP1 kernel is 6001)...so it was impossible to reapply the same hotfix to the system with SP1 since the kernel is newer in SP1.

In other words: if you got SP1 isntalled and the "control panel" problem re-appears there is NO (known) way to fix this!!

I am installing RTM SP1 right now and hope the system stays clean.

Problem seems to affect Dell/OEM machines and is related to software-licensing, IMHO. But restarting mentioned services (as i see on google) doesnt fix CP panel anymore, not under SP1.

This is a really tricky one, where the bug itself prevents solving the problem, and as i explained further above not even a system-restore helped.

Online i read about people having the same issue doing a restore to a month back, with no success!

G.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: flexy
Although (through some bios fiddling around i did yesterday) i (by mistake) set back my system time/date ..so today i booted with the wrong date (2007). Maybe this somehow affected the SP1 install and it deactivated itself.

When XP first came out, I played with the 30-day activation limit. I found that setting the system clock back and then moving it forward was A BIG MISTAKE!

Uhm....lets put it that way:

If accidently setting the time back one year TOTALLY HOSES a vista install we have indeed a problem....so has MS....

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: flexy

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: flexy
Although (through some bios fiddling around i did yesterday) i (by mistake) set back my system time/date ..so today i booted with the wrong date (2007). Maybe this somehow affected the SP1 install and it deactivated itself.

When XP first came out, I played with the 30-day activation limit. I found that setting the system clock back and then moving it forward was A BIG MISTAKE!

Uhm....lets put it that way:

If accidently setting the time back one year TOTALLY HOSES a vista install we have indeed a problem....so has MS....

B-E-T-A
Spell it with me now, class.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: flexy
If accidentally setting the time back one year TOTALLY HOSES a vista...

Um...

Can you explain that?

I just purposely tried to set the time back one year, and it was a PITA.

How did you do this accidentally? In BIOS or something...?


EDIT


n/m

This is definitely Microsoft's fault...

Originally posted by: flexy
Although (through some bios fiddling around i did yesterday) i (by mistake) set back my system time/date ..so today i booted with the wrong date (2007). Maybe this somehow affected the SP1 install and it deactivated itself.

Looks like it messed up your keyboard too... 😀

 

[bsobel]

How did you do this accidentally? In BIOS or something...?

"Although (through some bios fiddling around i did yesterday) i (by mistake) set back my system time/date ..so today i booted with the wrong date (2007)"

Again, please read the thread.

This is definitely Microsoft's fault...

How?