Activation interval prematurely expired

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I've built a PC for my sister, and I installed WinXP Home SP2. I haven't
activated yet, because I know a couple of pieces of hardware are going to
change when I deliver the machine.

Note: my memory on the exact order of events is a little fuzzy. The
following is an account of what's been done, but the chronology might not be
right.

The memory I bought turned out to be incompatible with the motherboard, and
after playing around in the BIOS for a bit, I did a CMOS clear. I'm pretty
sure I was able to still get into Windows after that, but then of course the
time had been reset to sometime in 2005. The network cable was unplugged, so
I updated the time manually. I think it was the next reboot when Windows
would no longer let me in. It immediately requires activation.

It's only been two weeks (if that) since I originally installed Windows. I
need to make a few more software installs/changes before delivery, and as
stated, I don't want to activate until after then. I'd rather avoid
reinstallation, as I've already put quite a few hours into it. Is there any
way I can get in?

-David Murphy
 
David said:
I've built a PC for my sister, and I installed WinXP Home SP2. I
haven't activated yet, because I know a couple of pieces of
hardware are going to change when I deliver the machine.

Note: my memory on the exact order of events is a little fuzzy. The
following is an account of what's been done, but the chronology
might not be right.

The memory I bought turned out to be incompatible with the
motherboard, and after playing around in the BIOS for a bit, I did
a CMOS clear. I'm pretty sure I was able to still get into Windows
after that, but then of course the time had been reset to sometime
in 2005. The network cable was unplugged, so I updated the time
manually. I think it was the next reboot when Windows would no
longer let me in. It immediately requires activation.

It's only been two weeks (if that) since I originally installed
Windows. I need to make a few more software installs/changes before
delivery, and as stated, I don't want to activate until after then.
I'd rather avoid reinstallation, as I've already put quite a few
hours into it. Is there any way I can get in?
Click to expand...


What hardware was going to change? How many components?
I think you are just making things more difficult on yourself - I'd either
activate it or sysprep it and wait.
 
Shenan Stanley said:
What hardware was going to change? How many components?
I think you are just making things more difficult on yourself - I'd either
activate it or sysprep it and wait.
Click to expand...

The CD drive is going to change, and I'm going to be adding in the memory
from her current system. That'll be two strikes against her already. I really
don't want her to have to deal with reactivation if other things have to
change down the road. This whole activation thing is the reason I've pretty
much decided to stop at Win2k for my own home machines.

So am I just out of luck?

-David Murphy
 
David said:
I've built a PC for my sister, and I installed WinXP Home SP2. I
haven't activated yet, because I know a couple of pieces of
hardware are going to change when I deliver the machine.

Note: my memory on the exact order of events is a little fuzzy.
The following is an account of what's been done, but the
chronology might not be right.

The memory I bought turned out to be incompatible with the
motherboard, and after playing around in the BIOS for a bit, I did
a CMOS clear. I'm pretty sure I was able to still get into Windows
after that, but then of course the time had been reset to sometime
in 2005. The network cable was unplugged, so I updated the time
manually. I think it was the next reboot when Windows would no
longer let me in. It immediately requires activation.

It's only been two weeks (if that) since I originally installed
Windows. I need to make a few more software installs/changes
before delivery, and as stated, I don't want to activate until
after then. I'd rather avoid reinstallation, as I've already put
quite a few hours into it. Is there any way I can get in?
Click to expand...

Shenan said:
What hardware was going to change? How many components?
I think you are just making things more difficult on yourself -
I'd either activate it or sysprep it and wait.
Click to expand...

David said:
The CD drive is going to change, and I'm going to be adding in the
memory from her current system. That'll be two strikes against her
already. I really don't want her to have to deal with reactivation
if other things have to change down the road. This whole activation
thing is the reason I've pretty much decided to stop at Win2k for
my own home machines.

So am I just out of luck?
Click to expand...

You don't understand activation nor the hardware that can change and effect
it.
Not only were/are you making it hard on yourself - you did/do it for no good
reason.

How does MPA determine tolerance?
How many components of the computer can I change before I have to
reactivate?
http://www.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302878#5f

"Common changes to hardware, such as upgrading a video card, adding a second
hard disk, adding RAM, or upgrading a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, do not
require reactivation."

Now while the truth of the matter (experience) may vary - I know I have not
personally ever had to reactivate a machine for adding RAM and/or
adding/changing a CD/DVD drive. If you read more on activation, you will
see that the hardware hash used to determine if you need to reactivate is
compared not by the number of changed components - but by a point system and
as long as 7 of the 12 points match (10 hardware devices, 1 point per device
except the network card which is 3 points) - then you should not have to
reactivate. That means you could add more RAM, change the CD drive, change
the video card and still not have to reactivate.

And lets say you ended up having to reactivate... 5 minutes - on the
phone - with an automated system should be your worst case scenario. Best
case would be you were able to activate over the Internet - no human
interaction beyond that.

Essentially - if your activation time has expired (early or not) - you
should be getting a choice to "activate" or "Shut Down" when you come up?
Just activate it. If you have done much work on this computer - you will be
saving yourself a ton of time. You must really dislike spending time with
your sister if you were trying to avoid the *possibility* of a 5 minute
phone call in the same room as her. *grin* If the activation does not
work - for whatever reason (like it thinks it sat there for over a year due
to your BIOS trick - heh) and there is no phone activation option - then you
might have to reinstall.

If you do end up reinstalling - use the knowledge from the page I linked you
to above to make your job easier - not harder - and just activate it and
move on. =) Windows XP Activation can be a slight nuisance - but less of a
nuisance than you have made it into by not just activating and continuing
your installation and movement of the PC in question. I'd personally say
the WGA stuff annoyed more people than the WPA thing.
 
David said:
I've built a PC for my sister, and I installed WinXP Home SP2. I
haven't activated yet, because I know a couple of pieces of
hardware are going to change when I deliver the machine.

Note: my memory on the exact order of events is a little fuzzy.
The following is an account of what's been done, but the
chronology might not be right.

The memory I bought turned out to be incompatible with the
motherboard, and after playing around in the BIOS for a bit, I did
a CMOS clear. I'm pretty sure I was able to still get into Windows
after that, but then of course the time had been reset to sometime
in 2005. The network cable was unplugged, so I updated the time
manually. I think it was the next reboot when Windows would no
longer let me in. It immediately requires activation.

It's only been two weeks (if that) since I originally installed
Windows. I need to make a few more software installs/changes
before delivery, and as stated, I don't want to activate until
after then. I'd rather avoid reinstallation, as I've already put
quite a few hours into it. Is there any way I can get in?
Click to expand...

Shenan said:
What hardware was going to change? How many components?
I think you are just making things more difficult on yourself -
I'd either activate it or sysprep it and wait.
Click to expand...

David said:
The CD drive is going to change, and I'm going to be adding in the
memory from her current system. That'll be two strikes against her
already. I really don't want her to have to deal with reactivation
if other things have to change down the road. This whole activation
thing is the reason I've pretty much decided to stop at Win2k for
my own home machines.

So am I just out of luck?
Click to expand...

Shenan said:
You don't understand activation nor the hardware that can change
and effect it.
Not only were/are you making it hard on yourself - you did/do it
for no good reason.

How does MPA determine tolerance?
How many components of the computer can I change before I have to
reactivate?
http://www.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302878#5f

"Common changes to hardware, such as upgrading a video card, adding
a second hard disk, adding RAM, or upgrading a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
drive, do not require reactivation."

Now while the truth of the matter (experience) may vary - I know I
have not personally ever had to reactivate a machine for adding RAM
and/or adding/changing a CD/DVD drive. If you read more on
activation, you will see that the hardware hash used to determine
if you need to reactivate is compared not by the number of changed
components - but by a point system and as long as 7 of the 12
points match (10 hardware devices, 1 point per device except the
network card which is 3 points) - then you should not have to
reactivate. That means you could add more RAM, change the CD
drive, change the video card and still not have to reactivate.
And lets say you ended up having to reactivate... 5 minutes - on
the phone - with an automated system should be your worst case
scenario. Best case would be you were able to activate over the
Internet - no human interaction beyond that.

Essentially - if your activation time has expired (early or not) -
you should be getting a choice to "activate" or "Shut Down" when
you come up? Just activate it. If you have done much work on this
computer - you will be saving yourself a ton of time. You must
really dislike spending time with your sister if you were trying to
avoid the *possibility* of a 5 minute phone call in the same room
as her. *grin* If the activation does not work - for whatever
reason (like it thinks it sat there for over a year due to your
BIOS trick - heh) and there is no phone activation option - then
you might have to reinstall.
If you do end up reinstalling - use the knowledge from the page I
linked you to above to make your job easier - not harder - and just
activate it and move on. =) Windows XP Activation can be a slight
nuisance - but less of a nuisance than you have made it into by not
just activating and continuing your installation and movement of
the PC in question. I'd personally say the WGA stuff annoyed more
people than the WPA thing.
Click to expand...

To add to that - your sister would have to change 3 more things in order to
have to reactivate (or one more thing if she changed the network card.) My
bet is that most of the hardware it is using is probably INTEGRATED onto the
motherboard you are giving her. This means she would need a new
motherboard.

Unless you see that motherboard going bad and needing replacement in the
next 120 days (from the time you activate) then the worst that will happen
to your sister is that the motherboard dies, it gets replaced, a repair
install is performed on the system and a reactivation (least of her worries
at that point) has to occur. If after 120 days - it can be done over the
Internet connection she has. If less than 120 days have passed - the phone
call/automated system.

My advice...

Activate the system and deal with what has not happened when/if it ever does
happen.
 
Shenan Stanley said:
You don't understand activation nor the hardware that can change and effect
it.
Not only were/are you making it hard on yourself - you did/do it for no good
reason.
Click to expand...

Excuse me? From that very page you linked:

-----
The following 10 hardware characteristics are used to determine the hardware
hash:
• Display adapter
• SCSI adapter
• IDE adapter
• Network adapter media access control address
• RAM amount range (for example, 0-64MB or 64-128MB)
• Processor type
• Processor serial number
• Hard disk device
• Hard disk volume serial number
• CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive
-----

Both memory amount and CD-ROM are listed. I know plenty well how activation
works.
How does MPA determine tolerance?
How many components of the computer can I change before I have to
reactivate?
http://www.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302878#5f
"Common changes to hardware, such as upgrading a video card, adding a second
hard disk, adding RAM, or upgrading a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, do not
require reactivation."
Click to expand...

Each in itself does not require activation. However if I start her off
already having two parts different from what was used in the hash, it makes
it more likely that it'll trip her up on any future upgrades/replacements.
Now while the truth of the matter (experience) may vary - I know I have not
personally ever had to reactivate a machine for adding RAM and/or
adding/changing a CD/DVD drive. If you read more on activation, you will
see that the hardware hash used to determine if you need to reactivate is
compared not by the number of changed components - but by a point system and
as long as 7 of the 12 points match (10 hardware devices, 1 point per device
except the network card which is 3 points) - then you should not have to
reactivate. That means you could add more RAM, change the CD drive, change
the video card and still not have to reactivate.
Click to expand...

And if the built-in network interface craps out (I've seen this a number of
times) and she has to replace it with a PCI card... she's at the limit
already.

I know it's not a huge deal to reactivate, but it's an unnecessary nuisance.

At any rate, this is all a bit off-topic. I'll assume the answer to the
original question is "Sorry, outta luck."

-David Murphy
 
David said:
Excuse me? From that very page you linked:

-----
The following 10 hardware characteristics are used to determine the
hardware hash:
. Display adapter
. SCSI adapter
. IDE adapter
. Network adapter media access control address
. RAM amount range (for example, 0-64MB or 64-128MB)
. Processor type
. Processor serial number
. Hard disk device
. Hard disk volume serial number
. CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive
-----

Both memory amount and CD-ROM are listed. I know plenty well how
activation works.


Each in itself does not require activation. However if I start her
off already having two parts different from what was used in the
hash, it makes it more likely that it'll trip her up on any future
upgrades/replacements.


And if the built-in network interface craps out (I've seen this a
number of times) and she has to replace it with a PCI card... she's
at the limit already.

I know it's not a huge deal to reactivate, but it's an unnecessary
nuisance.

At any rate, this is all a bit off-topic. I'll assume the answer to
the original question is "Sorry, outta luck."
Click to expand...

Not really - you can try a repair install. It may work.
However - I stick with "you are just making things unecessarily hard on
yourself".

You are basically - as far as I can tell - saying you have crap components
in that system and expect them to be replaced by your sister either because
they died and/or she needs better ones. You also seem to be saying that
*she* will be the one to do it and probably have to go through the 5 minute
process of activation and you perhaps think she cannot do this reliably.

Yeah - you replace two and it changes the hash and if she changes the NIC
(if it is built in - which you are implying - it will still be there and
adding a PCI card will not change the fact it is still there) by replacing
the motherboard - or if the motherboard does not have a built in video card
and she changes that and the processor is upgraded - she'll need to
reactivate. However - if she is going to change the processor - chances are
she will be getting a whole new system anyway - it just seems to be the way
things work. She might change the video card - but evemn with your two
changes already made - she still has 2 points left to play with. And if all
this happens 120 days after you activated the first time *(which has a
better chance the earlier you activate it now) -- She will click a button
while connected to the Internet and *poof* - done.

To me - it's not worth the aggravation you have put yourself through
thusfar. You can blame Microsoft's activation process (which does have its
issues) if you like - but if you had just activated it and dealt with the
rest later - you probably would have never had this conversation or
aggravation. =)
 
Shenan Stanley said:
Not really - you can try a repair install. It may work.
However - I stick with "you are just making things unecessarily hard on
yourself".
Click to expand...

Ah... that's a thought. Maybe I'll give that a shot.
You are basically - as far as I can tell - saying you have crap components
in that system and expect them to be replaced by your sister either because
they died and/or she needs better ones. You also seem to be saying that
*she* will be the one to do it and probably have to go through the 5 minute
process of activation and you perhaps think she cannot do this reliably.
Click to expand...

It's not about expectation. My crystal ball isn't any better than yours. But
if there was a way I could make it a few steps more tolerant to changes, I
would think that would be the best practice.

I mainly brought it here because I'm pretty certain I'm not the first person
to have run into this issue, and I figured someone would be able to tell me
if there was a workaround.

I'll try an upgrade-in-place. Thanks.

-David Murphy
 
I'll try an upgrade-in-place. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Just to wrap this up, I did the repair install. It worked a little too well,
possibly because I didn't know the best way to do it. It reset the activation
timer, but it also did some interesting stuff with the other software that
was installed. So I just went ahead and wiped it and started over. Oh well...
it was worth a shot.

-David Murphy
 
Back
Top