Windows Vista not Genuine?

[dguy6789]

Hello.

I have an Emachines computer in my living room with Windows Vista Home Premium(the one that came pre-installed). Just randomly today, the desktop turned black and in the bottom right it says the copy of windows is not genuine. It's never done this before and just started today.

Anyone know anything about this?

 

[13Gigatons]

Maybe something damaged some files or is interfering with activation check. How long have you had the machine?

 

[dguy6789]

The machine is a little over 6 months old. It has SP2 and all of the windows updates, has fully up to date antivirus(Avira), there's nothing installed on it other than a couple simple games and Firefox. I installed a Radeon HD 4670 into it about three months ago. Nothing new software wise has been installed to it recently. It just started saying the copy of Windows isn't genuine today.

 

[lopri]

Though rare, it can happen for seemingly no reason. Is your system's time/date set correctly?

 

[dguy6789]

Date and time are set properly.

 

[CptCrunch]

Does it give you a activation code? If so, call Microsoft and have them sort it out.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Hello.

I have an Emachines computer in my living room with Windows Vista Home Premium(the one that came pre-installed). Just randomly today, the desktop turned black and in the bottom right it says the copy of windows is not genuine. It's never done this before and just started today.

Anyone know anything about this?

I had this happen twice ,anyway disconnect from net ,reboot PC leave it a few minutes then reconnect to the net,this is what they told me over the phone it normally works ok.

 

[Athena]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Just randomly today, the desktop turned black and in the bottom right it says the copy of windows is not genuine. It's never done this before and just started today.

If it just started today, it's probably the result of one of yesterday's patches.

I just opened an XP Virtual Machine I hadn't used in a few weeks and got an update notice for Genuine Advantage right away.

The first thing I would do would be to run the Genuine validator to see if there is really something wrong. If it fails validation, you can use the pre-update restore point to roll back the most recent patches and see if it will pass validation then.

If you still have problems, contact Microsoft.

 

[dguy6789]

I tried leaving it unplugged from the internet for a while after rebooting and no go. I downloaded the WGA tool and it said it could not determine if my copy of Windows was valid and to try again later. It said something about the internet service for it not working. My guess is that the validation servers being down or something is what caused this to show up and when they come back up the problem will fix itself.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: Athena

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Just randomly today, the desktop turned black and in the bottom right it says the copy of windows is not genuine. It's never done this before and just started today.

If it just started today, it's probably the result of one of yesterday's patches.

I just opened an XP Virtual Machine I hadn't used in a few weeks and got an update notice for Genuine Advantage right away.

The first thing I would do would be to run the Genuine validator to see if there is really something wrong. If it fails validation, you can use the pre-update restore point to roll back the most recent patches and see if it will pass validation then.

If you still have problems, contact Microsoft.

i had this on my buddy's computer , HP OEM vista do the same thing.. i did ran the validation online from your link and it was validated, and everything went away

it appears activation!=validation

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Hello.

I have an Emachines computer in my living room with Windows Vista Home Premium(the one that came pre-installed). Just randomly today, the desktop turned black and in the bottom right it says the copy of windows is not genuine. It's never done this before and just started today.

Anyone know anything about this?

This is the result of MS's shotgun approach to WPA/WGA. A bunch of innocent users get shot down along with the pirates.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
I have... Windows Vista Home Premium(the one that came pre-installed).

Just randomly today, the desktop turned black and in the bottom right it says the copy of windows is not genuine...

Anyone know anything about this?

WoW! That's wild!!!

Same thing happened to a family member, on Monday (13-April-2009)!!!

He's got a 6-month old Toshiba lappy with pre-installed Vista HP (purchased at a local B&M) and it did the same thing as you described.

He thought it was a virus that caused it - but he said he hadn't downloaded anything, opened any PDF files, et cetera!

Actually, he said something to the effect, "Fuck Vista! I'm going back to Ubuntu." So, we never did figure out what caused it.

If it WAS Microsoft's fault - nice going! I was trying to convince him Vista isn't as bad as everyone says. :|

Anyway, thanks (to everyone) for posting this! Misery loves company. I'll let him know you got screwed too...

 

[dguy6789]

Every attempt so far to use the Windows Activation tool on the Microsoft website so far has been met with a message saying that it could not determine if the installation was valid or not due to the server not working or something like that. I think either a windows update caused an unexpected problem, or the server for activation is down.

I don't hate Microsoft for this though. Problems happen sometimes, this is the first time I've ever had a real problem with the OS. Even so, from what I can tell, there has been no reduction in functionality. It just says I need to activate windows from time to time and has text on the bottom right of the desktop saying it isn't valid. Seems like I can just wait until it gets fixed.

 

[ViRGE]

Just call MS and get it sorted out - it should take all of 3 minutes. They don't bite, I promise.

 

[Athena]

I was just thinking the same thing. Why spend hours trying to troubleshoot something that is clearly not your fault?

 

[dguy6789]

I went to look for an option to call Microsoft, but all it gave me were options to call Emachines. I did manage to fix it though just now. Every time I tried to activate, I just kept clicking activate using your current product key. It would always say it couldn't do it. I decided just for the heck of it to click change product key, and just put in the key that was on the sticker on the case and it activated right away.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Faith = Nonthinking

Odd sig you got there...

In Microsoft we trust (I guess) - even thee of little faith!

Ever *thought* of dumping Vista and moving up to Linux?!?!?

 

[dguy6789]

I play too many games to use a non windows OS.(Although I have been drifting away from PC gaming and moving towards console gaming lately) I have been trying to learn how to use Linux a bit on another computer in my spare time though. I don't really have any intention of making Linux my main OS, Vista works well for me 99% of the time.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
I don't really have any intention of making Linux my main OS, Vista works well for me 99% of the time.

That's cool! Whatever works well for you... 99% of the time!

Still don't understand the sig - seems self-belittling - having so much faith in Vista and all.

Maybe this explains it...

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Doesn't this latest incident shake your faith in Microsoft - being branded a pirate and pushed off the gangplank - getting on your hands n' knees and having to prove you're a loyal follower - being told to call eMachines, before being dispatched with a "Thank you for calling Microsoft Product Support, and have a great day." ?

 

[dguy6789]

This was indeed an annoyance, but it's not like I am so disgruntled that I never want use a Microsoft product ever again. For the most part, Microsoft stuff has worked well for me in the past, so one minor issue that ended up being easy to fix isn't going to make me want to never use Windows again. It's not faith because I have a reason for sticking with Windows. I'm not blindly doing it. I do like Microsoft as a company, but that's not without reason either. Having a problem with it is the exception, not the norm. It doesn't make sense to me to stop using Windows over this.

It would be far more troublesome to me to have to deal with Linux not natively working with a large number of applications I use on a regular basis than this problem I had that didn't actually stop me from doing anything, it just had a message saying to activate windows.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
It's not faith because I have a reason for sticking with Windows.

I see...

It's the Battered Wife Syndrome at play (a popular theory of multiple victimization).

The battered person usually ends up killing the abuser - knife in the heart while they're asleep or whatever...

That's what I did to Microsoft! LoL!

Now I bring Windows out of the cage when I wanna play with it, and put it back when I'm done, e.g. multi-boot it.

I guess you're not to that point yet...

Thanks for the explanation!

BTW, I'm not flaming - just curious.

 

[dguy6789]

Windows has worked well for me since XP came out

Vista does not crash, I don't get viruses or anything I don't want(because I know how to use a computer), all of my games and other programs work fine, and dragging the windows around looks nice. I also know how to use Windows. I don't see a reason to switch my primary operating system to something else.

Microsoft isn't perfect, but I don't think anyone could name a company that has released a perfect product except for the company that made Digsby

If I had persistent problems I would consider another OS.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: VinDSL
That's cool! Whatever works well for you... 99% of the time!

So, you are saying that if he moves to Linux he'll never have any problems? That's kewl. I've have to take a look at that

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: VinDSL
That's cool! Whatever works well for you... 99% of the time!

So, you are saying that if he moves to Linux he'll never have any problems? That's kewl. I've have to take a look at that

I'm not saying that at all...

I asked if he had ever considered using Linux - then noticed his sig - that's all.

Windows is a religious experience for many ppl (unthinking faith - like his sig states).

It's a priesthood, of sorts, with ppl like yourself leading them down the primrose path.

Sorry if you took my queries the wrong way...

I'm not trying to convert one of your followers!

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Windows has worked well for me since XP came out

Vista does not crash, I don't get viruses or anything I don't want(because I know how to use a computer),..

LoL! Yeah, I know how they work too...

Here's how it goes with Windows:
I have a clean install of Microsoft XP Home Edition SP3 on this Netbook - complete with IE8 (thanks to RebateMonger).

Every week or so, I fire up XP and spend the next 30 minutes installing security updates - then I restart and use Linux.

I guess I should boot up Vista (on my lappy) and see if the license is still authenticated - haven't used it in a few weeks. :roll:

Here's how it goes with Linux:
I can let a Linux machine sit for months, boot it up and start using it.

Um...

Guess that's about it. To each his own. Have fun!