Activate XP fails (Out of Box Experience) - catch 22

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Guest

One of the problems I'm having post-XP pro upgrade is that I can't get the
activate program to run. The Out of Box Experience crashes.

The version of pro has been validated as legit (got it from CDW).

The catch 22 is that to activate it via phone I need a phone number which is
provided when the activate program is run. But since that program fails.....

Tom
 
tcarp said:
One of the problems I'm having post-XP pro upgrade is that I can't get the
activate program to run. The Out of Box Experience crashes.

The version of pro has been validated as legit (got it from CDW).

The catch 22 is that to activate it via phone I need a phone number which is
provided when the activate program is run. But since that program fails.....

Tom
Click to expand...

1. Try repairing the registry entries for the .DLL files used by
activation:

Use Start- Run and enter the following text in the dialog box:
regsvr32.exe regwizc.dll

Then do it again with the following text:
regsvr32.exe licdll.dll

2. Launch activation manually. Use Start - Run and enter:
%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /A

3. If it still crashes, look in Event Viewer (right-click My Computer
and select Manage) for an error or warning event with a matching date
and time stamp.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
1. Try repairing the registry entries for the .DLL files used by
activation:

Use Start- Run and enter the following text in the dialog box:
regsvr32.exe regwizc.dll

Then do it again with the following text:
regsvr32.exe licdll.dll

2. Launch activation manually. Use Start - Run and enter:
%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /A
Click to expand...

Had tried this before. Still crashes.
3. If it still crashes, look in Event Viewer (right-click My Computer
and select Manage) for an error or warning event with a matching date
and time stamp.
Click to expand...
Pretty vague error report. Type error, category none, file faultrep.dll

Tom
 
I'm having the same or similar problem:
Changed Mainboard due to hardware failure. Windows says hardware changed,
need to re-activate. I say ok go for it.
On first time (during startup/logon) it gives msoobe.exe at 0x7726381c
referenced 0x00000000 and the memory can't be written.
If I try to Activate during windows, Activation program will not start and
fails with Microsoft Out of Box Experience has encountered a problem ...
msoobe.exe offset 0000381c

Windows XP Pro OEM. System was built 6 mos ago, MB failed and was replaced
with a different board. Did a Repair Install during startup process.

Everything else with windows and applications seems ok. It just wants to
activate and can't. WGA fails also because it isn't activated.

On the web I saw many references to a problem with IE7. Remove it and this
problem goes away. The problem is that I believe that IE7 was installed on
this system before Windows Repair Install, now there is no trace of it, and I
cann't reinstall/uninstall it because it requires WGA which requires
activation, but I can't activate because IE7 is installed (at least
partially) and I can't uninstall (it isn't in the list) and I can't install
and ad infinitum.

Microsoft support says they can't support OEM copy, the manufacturer must
support, and since I'm the manufacturer, then I'm stuck.

Any Ideas?
--eric
 
Started up into safe mode with networking
Logged on when asked
It said 'not activated - activate now?' I said yes.
It shutdown and powered the computer off about two seconds later.

Upon reboot it still wants to be activated, and it still won't do it in
exactly the same way.
--eric
 
Was an idea to try. I'm assuming you did a Repair install after the
MB swap. Have you gone through Device Manager and removed
any "Phantom" devices that may have carried over from the earlier
hardware profile ? Needs a System Environment variable added
and the "Show Hidden Devices" option enabled to view 100% of
the hardware profile.
 
Yes, cleaned up all of that while I was on hold with Microsoft for two hours
waiting to be told to buzz off because Microsoft doesn't support Windows XP
problems (if it's an OEM edition) for manufacturers.
--eric
 
These abrupt power offs - did they occur using the older hardware ?

I've never experienced a condition where activating caused a PC
shutoff. Since you changed the MB have you checked your voltage
rails to see if any are at/near the thresholds. Most MB BIOS has
a basic hardware monitoring function for temp/voltage.

At a minimum I'd download and install the appropriate/latest chipset
driver package for the new MB.
 
On the web I saw many references to a problem with IE7. Remove it and this
problem goes away. The problem is that I believe that IE7 was installed on
this system before Windows Repair Install, now there is no trace of it, and I
cann't reinstall/uninstall it because it requires WGA which requires
activation, but I can't activate because IE7 is installed (at least
partially) and I can't uninstall (it isn't in the list) and I can't install
and ad infinitum.
Click to expand...

Not sure this will be your problem, but mine appears to have been related to
IE. In my case IE7 was installed before I ran the XP Pro upgrade. Either
because of issues with IE7 or, more likely, because the upgrade attempted to
install IE6 and when it encountered files with a newer date to them it may
not have tried to replace them. In either case, the pattern I found was that
there are quite a few programs that use IE components to execute.

I ended up doing a clean install of XP Pro and, of course, a re-install of
all my apps. So far, none of the problems have returned.

It sure would have been nice to get a warning during the upgrade.

HTH

Tom
 
Yes, I am aware that the problem is most likely related to IE7. There are
numerous posts on the web about this problem (just no solution other than
remove IE7, which I cannot do).

It just appears that this is one of the problems that Microsoft refuses to
talk about and deal with.

As I related in my original post, yes, IE7 was installed before the Repair
Install. The repair install trounced on the IE7 install and now IE7 is not
in the Add/Remove list and I cannot either uninstall or install it (it
requires activation to install)

So Microsoft has built yet another gotcha. If you have IE7, you cannot do a
repair install. If you do, you cannot activate afterwards. They have been
unresponsive in fixing the problem. I am told to "talk to myself (i.e. talk
to the computer manufacturer) about the problem that they created.

If anyone has any other thoughts about how to fix it I would be most
appreciative.

Thanks,
--eric
 
Also, I cannot reasonably do a clean install. This is a custom embroidery
system. There are about 23 hours of custom installation and configuration in
the system, not counting all the normal stuff that has to be reinstalled
(office, utilities, email, firefox, windows-updates, etc.) and some of the
custom embroidery programs charge a fee for each install (about $15.00 each
for 8 different modules.) so on top my 28 hours billable, would be another
$120 of charges (plus shipping) for replacement key CD's for the custom apps.


And that's not even counting the two hours on the phone with Microsoft today.

Macintosh and Linux are looking pretty attractive!
--eric
 
Eric said:
Also, I cannot reasonably do a clean install. This is a custom
embroidery system. There are about 23 hours of custom installation
and configuration in the system, not counting all the normal stuff
that has to be reinstalled (office, utilities, email, firefox,
windows-updates, etc.) and some of the custom embroidery programs
charge a fee for each install (about $15.00 each for 8 different
modules.) so on top my 28 hours billable, would be another $120 of
charges (plus shipping) for replacement key CD's for the custom apps.
Click to expand...


I understand the problem, but for the future you should *always* be sure you
are in a postition to do a clean installation. You are always vulnerable to
a host of different events that can necessitate reinstalling cleanly--hard
drive failures, theft of the computer, virus attacks, etc.

In fact, the more you think you can't do a clean installation, the more you
have to be prepared to do so. The solution to the problem is backup, backing
up all of those custom things you can't do without.
 
The abrupt power off appears to be solely caused by the act of initiating
activation.

No, this problem did not exist on the prior, activated system. The problem
does not exist except in Safe Mode, when selecting Product Activation.

The power supply was upgraded along with the MB replacement. Voltages are
within limits. Current updates have been installed for all MB components.
--eric
 
I am certainly aware of all of that. I am certainly in a position where I
am prepared and able to do a clean install. The last clean install was only
a few months ago. I never said I wasn't in a position to do it.

What I said was:
It was impractical for time and cost reasons to do a clean reinstall.

What I also should have said was:
1) Microsoft is not supporting a problem caused by their add-on programs,
specifically IE7 and Product Activation. Both of which are forced upon the
user if they want to use Windows. The problem is not caused by hardware, as
I learned from the other searches on the web I have done.
2) I do not believe it reasonable for Microsoft to break something that
could cause significant time and money to rectify on the consumer's part and
not be reasonably willing to fix it at no cost to the consumer.
3. I'm just not willing to do a clean install at every drop of a bit. It's
extremely time consuming to get a customized system back to the level of
efficiency it was at before Windows broke. And lets be honest, that's the
reason to do a clean install almost all of the time. What would have
happened if IBM's VM was as volatile as Windows and required a reinstall
every other month? User's would have revolted. Regardless if it was
perceived to be the only game in town.

What I didn't say was:
More than twenty of my customers have come to me saying "I do all the
updates, why is it that Windows XP is less reliable since December?" (And
the users who haven't done the last few months of updates are praising how
good their system is running.)

<shrugs> I don't know the answer to their question, but most of them
volunteer an answer that indicates that Microsoft is no longer percieved to
be a trusted provider of a quality product who corrected problems when they
occurred.

That's too bad. Microsoft used to be.

--eric
 
Being prepared to do a clean install even for an reasonable unmodified
system is totally non-value added. And backups are not the total answer.

Palm, Strohl LDRPS, Office, .net, sql server, Adobe CS2, Macromedia Studio
8, Norton Anti Virus, SnagIt, Irfanview, Quickbooks, Redux client etc.

In my case, every single one of those has to be reinstalled from the
original CD.

It is arrogant and unrealistic to make such a broad, sweeping statement
about being prepared to do clean installs like that's to be expected. Some
of us believe that a clean install is a defect. In my case, the defect was
in the XP upgrade tools that were too stupid to recognize that a more recent
Window's component was already on my laptop.

Conservatively I spent a dozen hours over 3 days getting things back and
that's after at least the same amount of time trying to figure out what went
wrong.

So next time you decide to take this MVP moral high ground just keep in mind
that those of us who backup our systems regularly think you missed the whole
point.

I do incremental backups every week and took two complete backups just
before I had to bite the bullet to work around a horribly designed upgrade
system.

You want to be helpful? Tell me a way to do a full system restore from my
full system backup that allows me to boot up and things are right back where
they were including all the apps.

Whether you believe it or not it is a defect in the design to ever have to
go back and do a clean install.

In all the years I've used a Mac as my desktop, even before the conversion
to a Unix OS, I've never had to go back and do a "clean install".
 
I'd have to say I am disappointed. I had hoped to find a solution to my
problem. Apparently it is a common problem, but complex enough that people
don't describe it the same way, so problems and answers don't get put
together.

I would have thought with all the expertise here in this group that someone
would have found the solution.

Instead of the solution, I find that people are more inclined to ask
questions that were answered in the original problem description, or to point
out ways that I could have worked around the problem before I had it, or just
general "you should have done this" comments. Nothing about how to solve my
problem.

As a result, I have less confidence in Microsoft and even less in their
support forums. And of course, I still have my problem.

Microsoft shrugs it's shoulders, the users of Microsoft end up suffering
extraordinary inconvenience. Good publicity. Good way to get me to consider
Vista over Mac or Linux.

--eric
 
I'd have to say I am disappointed. I had hoped to find a solution to my
problem. Apparently it is a common problem, but complex enough that people
don't describe it the same way, so problems and answers don't get put
together.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. There's no way I would install vista on my PC laptops (3 of
them) and I won't be installing IE7 again anytime soon.

This journey of mine has put me off ms products (at least OS components) for
a very long time. And to say that the support I got from MS when I finally
decided to call them was less than impressive is an overstatement. I kept
the emails I got from support just in case they wanted some feedback to
improve their quality.

I don't have quite the problem with these forums that you do. Every so
often someone comes to a thread and helps at least eliminate possible
problems. I just don't like the arrogance you run into sometimes.

My desktop is, and has always been, a Mac. My current G4 is the fourth Mac
I've used over the last couple decades and to date the only problem I've ever
had was a bad chunk of 3rd party memory causing application crashes. And all
that even before Apple's decision to go to a Unix base.

Businesses have learned over the last few decades to focus on their "core
competencies" and get everything else from somebody else.

MS must think OS is one of their core competencies. I wonder....
 
Eric Powell said:
I'd have to say I am disappointed. I had hoped to find a solution to my
problem. Apparently it is a common problem, but complex enough that people
don't describe it the same way, so problems and answers don't get put
together.
Click to expand...

One mistake you did make was to "piggyback" your message on top of
somebody else's. That does cause confusion, as in the same thread we
were dealing with both the original issue raised by Tom (tcarp) and
yours.

And the two problems were not identical, at least not on the basis of
the information provided to date.

It got so confusing that I lost track of my original discussion with
Tom and seem to have left him with his problems also unresolved.

I would have thought with all the expertise here in this group that someone
would have found the solution.
Click to expand...

Some problems do not get solved in these newsgroups, that is true. But
we do try. And as unpaid volunteers that is about all that can be
expected.
Instead of the solution, I find that people are more inclined to ask
questions that were answered in the original problem description, or to point
out ways that I could have worked around the problem before I had it, or just
general "you should have done this" comments. Nothing about how to solve my
problem.
Click to expand...

Which "original" question - yours or Tom's? His was with regard to
problems after upgrading to XP Pro from something or other, your was
with regard to problems after replacing the motherboard and doing a
repair install.

Was your replacement motherboard provided by the same OEM who
manufactured/assembled the computer originally? Most OEM versions
that come preinstalled on new computers use the SLP or "BIOS Locked"
process which means they are self-activating when installed on a
computer with a motherboard BIOS from that specific OEM and that they
cannot be activated on any other motherboard.
As a result, I have less confidence in Microsoft and even less in their
support forums. And of course, I still have my problem.

Microsoft shrugs it's shoulders, the users of Microsoft end up suffering
extraordinary inconvenience. Good publicity. Good way to get me to consider
Vista over Mac or Linux.
Click to expand...

Your Windows XP is an OEM version. By virtue of their OEM Licensing
Agreement with Microsoft the supplier of your OEM version (presumably
the manufacturer/assembler of your computer) and not Microsoft is
responsible for all end user support and product warranty issues with
your OEM license.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
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