Activation on XP Stuck in infinite loop

[Herb Martin]

Anyone seen a KB article or other fix for being stuck in Activation?

XP was activated. At logon it claims it needs activation,
but on beginning to activate it claims it is already activated
and pitches back to the logon prompt again.

Same thing happens for next logon so it is never completed
and logon is not possible.

 

[Malke]

Anyone seen a KB article or other fix for being stuck in Activation?

XP was activated. At logon it claims it needs activation,
but on beginning to activate it claims it is already activated
and pitches back to the logon prompt again.

Same thing happens for next logon so it is never completed
and logon is not possible.

See MVP Rick Rogers' information here:
http://www.rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Activation

If the machine is a Dell Inspiron 8100, this is a known issue. Let me
know if it is and I'll give you the info.

Another reason can be that the installation was done with a pirated copy
of Windows.

Windows Product Activation (WPA) - http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm
Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation -
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Malke

 

[Herb Martin]

See MVP Rick Rogers' information here:
http://www.rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Activation

Excellent -- will do -- thanks for the info.

If the machine is a Dell Inspiron 8100, this is a known issue. Let me
know if it is and I'll give you the info.

I have another machine stuck on a (legal) upgrade from Win2000
to Win2003 Server with a similar problem -- but it is an Inspiron
7500 (old lab machine for testing).

Another reason can be that the installation was done with a pirated copy
of Windows.

No. They are both legal but it was a legitimate concern on your part.

We only saw this for the first time in the last few weeks -- one KB article
I saw indicated that Microsoft might have disable some keys that had
gotten "out into the wild" (ours didn't do that since we have much tighter
control of these than most people) but perhaps their fix for that caught us
also.

Windows Product Activation (WPA) - http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm
Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation -
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

 

[Malke]

Excellent -- will do -- thanks for the info.


I have another machine stuck on a (legal) upgrade from Win2000
to Win2003 Server with a similar problem -- but it is an Inspiron
7500 (old lab machine for testing).

I rather doubt this is caused by the same thing but it couldn't hurt to
try, so here's my information on the Inspiron 8100:

Activation problems occur because of a conflict between the XP
activation component and the Inspiron 8100's graphics adapter. As a
work around, boot the installation in base-video mode by :

a. Run msconfig and select boot.ini tab.
b. Select boot entry and then select the /BASEVIDEO check box, Apply
& OK. Reboot.

After your computer reboots with the /basevideo option, you can activate
Windows. After activation, remove the /basevideo option from boot.ini
and reboot.

Malke