RMA'd one of my RAM sticks, Windows deactivating.

[Guest]

Sent one of my two 1GB DIMMs back to the manufacturer this week, Windows says
I need to reactivate due to hardware changes.

The problem is, I have already installed Vista 3 times on this system
because of poor NVIDIA drivers so I think I have no reactivations left.

2 questions:

1. How can I get through to an actual person at Microsoft without paying the
$59 tech support charge (installed Vista on Jan 31 so 90 days support is up)?

2. When I get the RAM stick back, will it reactivate itself or will I have
to do it all over again?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Menno Hershberger]

Sent one of my two 1GB DIMMs back to the manufacturer this week,
Windows says I need to reactivate due to hardware changes.

The problem is, I have already installed Vista 3 times on this system
because of poor NVIDIA drivers so I think I have no reactivations
left.

2 questions:

1. How can I get through to an actual person at Microsoft without
paying the $59 tech support charge (installed Vista on Jan 31 so 90
days support is up)?

2. When I get the RAM stick back, will it reactivate itself or will I
have to do it all over again?

That's weird. I wouldn't think taking out a stick of ram would make any
difference. I added a gig of ram to mine and it didn't complain.

 

[Guest]

That's weird. I wouldn't think taking out a stick of ram would make any
difference. I added a gig of ram to mine and it didn't complain.

The only other thing I have changed lately is the motherboard BIOS...does
that do it?

 

[Michael Solomon]

Sent one of my two 1GB DIMMs back to the manufacturer this week,
Windows says I need to reactivate due to hardware changes.

The problem is, I have already installed Vista 3 times on this system
because of poor NVIDIA drivers so I think I have no reactivations
left.

2 questions:

1. How can I get through to an actual person at Microsoft without
paying the $59 tech support charge (installed Vista on Jan 31 so 90
days support is up)?

2. When I get the RAM stick back, will it reactivate itself or will
I have to do it all over again?

Thanks in advance for the help.

There are no limits on how many times you can activate a system. When the
activation prompt comes up, use the activate by phone option if it won't
activate over the Internet and just tell them what's going on and they'll
activate for you.

 

[Guest]

There are no limits on how many times you can activate a system. When the
activation prompt comes up, use the activate by phone option if it won't
activate over the Internet and just tell them what's going on and they'll
activate for you.

Thanks for the help Michael, that did it. Once I got through to the
representative it was easy to fix.

Should have tried that first, was freaking out because I can't afford
another OS right now and I still have papers due for school.

Will likely have to do it again when I get my RAM back, but it only took 10
minutes so it will be a minor inconvenience at worst.

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

The only other thing I have changed lately is the motherboard BIOS...does
that do it?

I have seen other posts where users have had to re-activate after a BIOS
upgrade.

 

[Michael Solomon]

Thanks for the help Michael, that did it. Once I got through to the
representative it was easy to fix.

Should have tried that first, was freaking out because I can't afford
another OS right now and I still have papers due for school.

Will likely have to do it again when I get my RAM back, but it only
took 10 minutes so it will be a minor inconvenience at worst.

You're welcome, good luck.

 

[Menno Hershberger]

There are no limits on how many times you can activate a system. When
the activation prompt comes up, use the activate by phone option if it
won't activate over the Internet and just tell them what's going on
and they'll activate for you.

That's good to know. I've already had to do it once when I changed
motherboards. Then the next time I tried to do a registry hack to allow mw
to install drivers for a Mustek A3 scanner. It worked fine but the next
time I rebooted it couldn't load my profile and the default profile it gave
me was useless. I finally wiped and reinstalled. This time I'm waiting till
my 30 days is near about up before I reactivate again.
This time I'm cloning the hard drive every night so I won't lose over one
day's installing stuff in case I crash it again. In a couple more days, I
should have it pretty well loaded and then I'll stop doing that!

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> Transa

The only other thing I have changed lately is the motherboard BIOS...does
that do it?

BIOS upgrades are fairly significant, since it gives the impression of a
new motherboard in some cases. Second, it can upgrade the drive
controller, which pretty much will guarantee you a reactivation.

 

[Doris Day]

The only other thing I have changed lately is the motherboard BIOS...does
that do it?

Don't feel bad. I put a different floppy into the drive and that required
reactivation. Now I'm afraid to try another floppy.

Love and Kisses,
Doris

 

[Richard Urban]

When once you have your computer setup as you wish and have activated the
system make a final image of your system partition. Call it something like
"Vista Base". If your system ever get screwed up you can go back to your
base image and you will already be activated.

Now, if you have changed major hardware in the interim this will not work,
as the base image will immediately have to be reactivated also.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Leythos]

The only other thing I have changed lately is the motherboard BIOS...does
that do it?

The bios changes a significant signature of what is checked, it can change
several items, it's not just one thing. Changing the BIOS (actually
updating it) can be enough to trigger the re-activate logic on some
systems.

 

[Alias]

The bios changes a significant signature of what is checked, it can change
several items, it's not just one thing. Changing the BIOS (actually
updating it) can be enough to trigger the re-activate logic on some
systems.

Another reason to switch to Linux: no activation, no WGA, no DRM and no
viruses.

Alias

 

[john]

I have seen other posts where users have had to re-activate after a BIOS
upgrade.

There are plenty of posts here from users who have had to reactivate just
because they ran Windows Update and let it update a device driver. Keep
that MS hotline phone number handy...

--
=======================================
My children - in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other
children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You
don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod.
- Steve Ballmer
=======================================

 

[Frank]

There are plenty of posts here from users who have had to reactivate just
because they ran Windows Update and let it update a device driver. Keep
that MS hotline phone number handy...

Not really.
Just more FUD (lies).
Frank

 

[john]

Not really.
Just more FUD (lies).
Frank

look it up, there are plenty of posts here that say exactly that...
of course I already know you won't. you and the rest of the fanboys have
your own agenda.
so that makes you the liar then, ...doesn't it?

 

[Frank]

john wrote:

look it up, there are plenty of posts here that say exactly that...
of course I already know you won't. you and the rest of the fanboys have
your own agenda.
so that makes you the liar then, ...doesn't it?

No bozo, you made the claim, now you back it up...or shut up!
Frank

 

[Richard Urban]

Actually Frank, this happened to me when updating a SATA driver that was
made available through Vista update.

After a reboot the O/S saw itself as being on a new hard drive and my system
was then designated as Not Genuine. The funny thing is that I was not
offered the option to revalidate. My validation was still good. So, I was
stuck between a rock and a hard place with no way to exit.

I ended up going back to a system image I had created about 24 hours
earlier.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

As for you John. I call it like I see it. If something is true, I will speak
it as such.

My "agenda" is to help others with as little INTERRUPTION from the trolls as
possible.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

Oh stop!

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!