Reactivation -- Why?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gene Goldenfeld
  • Start date Start date
G

Gene Goldenfeld

I've been using a legit, activated copy of XP (upgrade) for about 2
years now and have the updates installed, including SP2. The last
hardware change was a new monitor in December, and before that a new
hard drive well over a year ago. Yesterday, I installed a Nero Ultra 6
and downloaded and installed all of its updates that I could before
having to reboot. Upon reboot, I was instructed to activate XP within 3
days because hardware changes had been made. Any guesses why?

Gene
 
They are just noting that this PC is quite different from the PC you
registered a few years ago. They want to make sure you have not installed XP
on a different PC. Reactivation should be simple.

joli
 
Joli said:
They are just noting that this PC is quite different from the PC you
registered a few years ago. They want to make sure you have not installed XP
on a different PC. Reactivation should be simple.

joli
Click to expand...

You didn't answer the question: if it's hardware based, why now? No,
reactivation wasn't simple. Neither cable connection nor dial-up would
connect and the first reboot didn't show activation numbers in step 3,
which meant a lot of time on the phone was wasted and the process had to
be repeated after a several minute computer shut down.

Gene
 
Not quite. The staledate for changed hardware is 120 days, not a few years
ago. Changes prior to four months ago should not matter. Changing the
monitor does not affect activation at all. Changing the primary hard drive
can, but changing other hard drives do not. Registration is a process of
registering the user of the product not the product. Registration is
immaterial to activation.

A hardware change, not a software change should be what prompts
reactivation. I don't see the kinds of hardware changes here that are
required to trigger reactivation. I think that there might have been
something go wrong as an unintended result of installing and updating
software. That does not mean Nero has anything to do with it, but
uninstalling Nero would not help, so don't panic and do that.

I agree reactivation should be simple. It should go fine over the internet.
If it not, use the phone method as prompted by the activation wizard. One
way or another you will be reactivated.

However, if reactivation does not hold (the system periodically keeps asking
for reactivation after having already accepted it), then post back for a
fix.
 
....
You didn't answer the question: if it's hardware based, why now? No,
reactivation wasn't simple. Neither cable connection nor dial-up would
connect and the first reboot didn't show activation numbers in step 3,
which meant a lot of time on the phone was wasted and the process had to
be repeated after a several minute computer shut down.

Gene
Click to expand...

I suspect it's Microsoft's current push to enforce their licenses more
strictly. This would be your third change and it probably pushed things
over the edge. They aren't comparing your computer to what it was
yesterday, they are comparing it to what it was when it was activated. From
what I've read, a hard drive change is one of the big triggers.
I don't know the details, but they've also somehow improved their
processes for checking things. Or so I've seen written at least; might be a
rumor, but the source seemed reliable.

That said, I don't know why a "lot of time on the phone" would have
occurred, unless you got smart with them or have made other changes that I
won't go into. Normally it's just a quick phone call: I don't think I
spent more than a minute on the phone the time I called in for Activation
after a lightning hit and substantial damage/parts replacements. They took
a little info, pressed a button, and I was done.

FWIW, anyway,

Pop
 
Colin Barnhorst said:
Not quite. The staledate for changed hardware is 120 days, not a few
years ago. Changes prior to four months ago should not matter. Changing
the monitor does not affect activation at all. Changing the primary hard
drive can, but changing other hard drives do not. Registration is a
process of registering the user of the product not the product.
Registration is immaterial to activation.
Click to expand...


I think you're confusing the 120-day MS database (that determines whether
activation can happen automatically, or whether you have to talk to someone
first) with the hardware hash on the computer that determines whether the to
trigger activation on the computer. The two are not the same.
 
Gene Goldenfeld said:
You didn't answer the question: if it's hardware based, why now? No,
reactivation wasn't simple. Neither cable connection nor dial-up would
connect and the first reboot didn't show activation numbers in step 3,
which meant a lot of time on the phone was wasted and the process had to
be repeated after a several minute computer shut down.

Gene
Click to expand...

"why?" is that something went wrong. Software shouldn't trigger activation
unless the software changes the hardware somehow so that it appears to be
different. Examples would be a bios upgrade or changing the mac addy on a
network card. Exactly why it happened on your computer isn't something that
a random person on a newsgroup could possibly answer. Even if you took the
computer to a qualified shop, I doubt they'd be able to do more than guess.
It's like going to the doctor and asking him where you caught a cold.

It may just be that the file on your computer that keeps track of hardware
changes got corrupted or deleted, possibly related to the software install,
but it could just as easily be an unrelated hardware glitch.

The fact that you couldn't connect to the internet via cable or dial-up
would make me think that you've got other problems lurking. Possibly
software, possibly hardware. The need for activation is just another
symptom.
 
No its not. Your speculation is all wrong. There is nothing in activation
that keeps track of your original configuration. Ten hardware items are
watched for changes, with the NIC MAC address counting the most. If the
hardware configuration does not change for 120 days then prior changes have
no effect when you make a new one. Moreover, you can change the same item a
dozen times and it only counts as one change until reactivation is required
by other changes. Then the slate is cleared and the count starts over. You
can test a dozen different video cards in a week and not trigger activation,
but if you change the mobo and cpu and increase the amount of ram you
probably will have to reactivate.

The OP did not trigger reactivation by making a hardware change. Something
else did and probably caused dll's relating to activation to become
unregistered. It probably was the installer when he installed Nero and the
updates. Reactivation should correct the problem or the dll's may need to
be registered again.

Microsoft Activation: http://aumha.org/articles.htm
Activation FAQs:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302878

Both are available by searching the MS Knowledgebase on "activation".

The MS Knowledgebase is available by searching in the Help and Support
Center or by navigating to http://www.microsoft.com/ and using the link at
the bottom of the page under Support. Use it.
 
That could well be. Nevertheless, I suspect the dll's related to activation
are the culprit. It sounds like they may need to be re-registered if
activation does not hold once successful. In any case the amount of urban
legend that tries to link this kind of issue with what Microsoft is doing to
crack down on misuse of OEM COAs issued by the major computer manufacturers
is getting out of hand. All that crack down has changed is that once
reactivation is triggered, consumers and businesses who have such
installations of XP from the 20 top manufacturers will not be able to
activate by phone. There has been no change to activation itself. Just the
response of the activation center when an owner of one of these mass market
computers needs to reactivate. Large numbers of the mass produced machines
are handled a different way and never have to be activated in the usual
sense at all.
 
Correction for the Microsoft Activation link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302806
Sorry about that.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
Colin Barnhorst said:
No its not. Your speculation is all wrong. There is nothing in
activation that keeps track of your original configuration. Ten hardware
items are watched for changes, with the NIC MAC address counting the most.
If the hardware configuration does not change for 120 days then prior
changes have no effect when you make a new one. Moreover, you can change
the same item a dozen times and it only counts as one change until
reactivation is required by other changes. Then the slate is cleared and
the count starts over. You can test a dozen different video cards in a
week and not trigger activation, but if you change the mobo and cpu and
increase the amount of ram you probably will have to reactivate.

The OP did not trigger reactivation by making a hardware change.
Something else did and probably caused dll's relating to activation to
become unregistered. It probably was the installer when he installed Nero
and the updates. Reactivation should correct the problem or the dll's may
need to be registered again.

Microsoft Activation: http://aumha.org/articles.htm
Activation FAQs:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302878

Both are available by searching the MS Knowledgebase on "activation".

The MS Knowledgebase is available by searching in the Help and Support
Center or by navigating to http://www.microsoft.com/ and using the link at
the bottom of the page under Support. Use it.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
Pop said:
...

I suspect it's Microsoft's current push to enforce their licenses more
strictly. This would be your third change and it probably pushed things
over the edge. They aren't comparing your computer to what it was
yesterday, they are comparing it to what it was when it was activated.
From what I've read, a hard drive change is one of the big triggers.
I don't know the details, but they've also somehow improved their
processes for checking things. Or so I've seen written at least; might
be a rumor, but the source seemed reliable.

That said, I don't know why a "lot of time on the phone" would have
occurred, unless you got smart with them or have made other changes that
I won't go into. Normally it's just a quick phone call: I don't think I
spent more than a minute on the phone the time I called in for Activation
after a lightning hit and substantial damage/parts replacements. They
took a little info, pressed a button, and I was done.

FWIW, anyway,

Pop
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Joli said:
They are just noting that this PC is quite different from the PC you
registered a few years ago. They want to make sure you have not
installed XP on a different PC. Reactivation should be simple.
Click to expand...

Yes, reactivation should be simple. It should also *not* be triggered by the
events the OP described. This is clearly yet another glitch in windows
product activation.

--
 
Thank you, Robert. There are a lot of urban legends floating around about
activation, especially since the recent change in the internet availability
for systems made by the top pc makers. btw, I love your VPC site.
 
Gene said:
I've been using a legit, activated copy of XP (upgrade) for about 2
years now and have the updates installed, including SP2. The last
hardware change was a new monitor in December, and before that a new
hard drive well over a year ago. Yesterday, I installed a Nero Ultra 6
and downloaded and installed all of its updates that I could before
having to reboot. Upon reboot, I was instructed to activate XP within 3
days because hardware changes had been made. Any guesses why?
Click to expand...

Interesting discussion to follow. Thanks. I have to admit when I called
to reactivate the rep and I got into a discussion about my time in
India. However, even without that, time was taken discussing why this
might have happened, and then I was passed to a second rep who let me
know that the missing activation code in step 3 was a stopper until I
shut down for 5 minutes and restarted and tried again. Repeat and
success via the slow automated line. That's no one-minute process.

There must be something not quite right in my Windows setup (Internet
options?) that prevented the connection by cable or dial-up, since the
former is working all the time and I can use the dial-up (to another
ISP) manually as needed. I noticed it happens in this kind of
situation, where the app makes its own attempt to connect. With other
apps (Norton updates, Windows Update, etc.), there is no problem.

Gene
 
Gene Goldenfeld said:
Interesting discussion to follow. Thanks. I have to admit when I called
to reactivate the rep and I got into a discussion about my time in
India. However, even without that, time was taken discussing why this
might have happened, and then I was passed to a second rep who let me
know that the missing activation code in step 3 was a stopper until I
shut down for 5 minutes and restarted and tried again. Repeat and
success via the slow automated line. That's no one-minute process.

There must be something not quite right in my Windows setup (Internet
options?) that prevented the connection by cable or dial-up, since the
former is working all the time and I can use the dial-up (to another
ISP) manually as needed. I noticed it happens in this kind of
situation, where the app makes its own attempt to connect. With other
apps (Norton updates, Windows Update, etc.), there is no problem.

Gene
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I've seen exactly the opposite a number of times -- where a
program can connect for activation or updates or whatever, but IE and OE
won't work.

Not that it helps you any, but it does show that the two can be somewhat
disconnected from each other.
 
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