New Video Card Drivers = Reactivation ?!

[Tecknomage]

First, I updated to SP3 last weekend.

I updated my nVidia GeForce 7300 drivers today, using the nVidia recommended
procedures (which I've used before); uninstall drivers in Add/Remove
Programs, run Driver Cleanup Pro (removes all nVidia files & Registry
entries), rebooted and installed the new drivers.

For the first time ever, when I rebooted, I was notified that my copy of
WinXP needed reactivation. Reminder, I have updated nVidia drivers in the
past and this did NOT happen.

Anyone know if this is new with SP3 or with the Genuine Advantage (a
notification which also showed up for the first time)?

 

[Bob Harris]

Updating drivers should not prompt reactivation.

But, changing a video card could.

I once updated a motherboard's BIOS and that caused a demand for
reactivation, even though the hardware had not changed.

So, "software" changes of the right type can trigger re-activation.

Is there any chance that what you thought were simple drivers included some
sort of "flashing" of the BIOS within the video card, which might make it
seem like a different video card to XP?

You also mentioned Windows "Genuine Advantage", which is an extra layer of
anti-piracy protectiuon that Microsoft added to XP some time ago. If you
have been accepting all the monthly "critical updates", then WGA should have
already been installed and active. If you have been avoiding installing
WGA, well, you now obviously have it, and that was probably a part of SP3.
Does WGA say that your PC has a non-genuine copy of XP? If so, you really
need to contact Microsoft to straighten things out, assuming that you have a
completely legal copy. Otherwise, buy one and do a repair installation up
through SP2, then update to SP3 again.

Plan B: Try driver roll-back, recovery points, or re-installing the old
drivers. New drivers are not always noticeably better than the older ones,
and maybe the activation and WGA stuff will cease. Along these lines, note
that SP3 can be uninstalled via start--> settings--> control panel-->
add-remove programs.

For the future: I have had updates, even some from Microsoft, cause
undesireable effects up through causing the PC to fail to work at the
windows desktop level. Thus, long ago I learned to make an image of the C:\
partition before doing any update and also before doing any "cleanup", other
than temporary internet files. Such images are also useful in case of virus
attack or hard drive failure. Originally I used Norton GHOST (older
versions run from a DOS floppy), but more recently have been using Acronis
TrueImage (makes image within XP; recovers via bootable CD and supports USB
drives). Here is a link to other backup/recovery software, some of which is
free:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html

 

[Tecknomage]

I agree with all you say.

This was NOT a video card change. I just updated my GeForce 7300 WinXP
drivers, which I have done in the past without these prompts on reboot.

The "Genuine Advantage" ALSO gave me a message, which IS new.

My question, is this due (incl Reactivation) to the latest version of
"Genuine Advantage" or SP3 (or both)? This is more a curiosity question.

 

[smlunatick]

This happened to me (years ago) in XP before and with the nVidia drivers. It
seems that sometimes video card drive will make several important changes to
the components that XP bases the "product activation" on.

Note: This was before the first service pack, so it should be true for any
"service pack" levels (SP0, SP1, SP2 and SP3.)