strange activation issue

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  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

at least it's strange to me

xp sp2

first, apologies for the long post, but best if i relate everything i have
done

flatmates computer. dr. watson error on boot, ie dr. watson crashes with no
useful information. often two dr. watson processes running. if i kill the
second, they both die and explorer respawns and everything is ok

disabled dr. watson by removing the registry entry for it (following the
published ms article) and restarted. now i receive an explorer.exe error on
boot. hit ok, explorer respawns and all ok

decided to check updates with windows update site as i dont think my
flatmate keeps it very up to date. first, had to download latest update tool.
did that and restarted. explorer.exe error again, click ok, all good

back to update site and off it goes doing its stuff

in the meantime i head to kellys korner to see if i can get the machine to
run a bit fater and disable a few unrequired services. also disable startup
files through msconfig. by this time, update site has got to the point where
it wants to check i have a valid copy of xp on the machine before proceeding.
however, i want to restart to see if my changes through msconfig have had any
effect, so i restart

now, machine comes up ok (have since narrowed the explorer crash down to
something in system.ini), however, the system is asking me to reactivate
windows, giving me three days to do so

questions is this, why is it asking me to reactivate? i havent disabled or
changed any hardware. is it possible by starting with selective startup files
(through msconfig) or by disabling some services i have inadvertently
disabled some hardware? or is it the fact i got as far as the 'check for
valid windows' stage on update site but didnt proceed?

i have no issue reactivating later when i get home, but am wondering if this
will happen every time i have to diagnose a problem

cheers

billy
 
I had a similar problem while attempting to use MSCONFIG to temporarily turn
off all Norton/Symantec background services and processes. I accidentally
also turned off some Microsoft process related to activation, and it
complained by asking me to re-activate. When I turned everything back on, I
still had an activation problem. That is, it kept asking me to re-activate.
I can only assume that XP thought that I had tried to bypass the activation
and had been programmed to detect such hacking and respond accordingly. I
fixed my problem by restoring the C: drive from a backup image. If did not
have that image, I might have had to attempt re-activating.

Unless you get better advice, given where you are, you might have to do the
re-activation.

In the future, while debugging, remember to NOT turn-off key Microsoft
services. I would recommend looking at the Black Viper's website, but it is
once again down. If it ever returns, go there for a wealth of info on what
can and can not be safely turned off. Meanwhile, you might some archived
pages from that website if you Google for "black viper".
 
thanks bob. no chance to restore so i think ill have to reactivate

ill start a new post to see if anyone knows which services can be safely
disabled and which cant as the google search for black viper turned up a lot
of stuff, nothing obviously useful though - dont want to spend the rest of my
day trawling through it all
 
1. What was the exact error message?
2. If you MUST use MS updates, don't install drivers.
3. Don't do too many things before a reboot, even from my site.
4. Validation is becoming manditory, stay away from it if possible.

Note, if it ain't broke don't try to fix it. As for the error messages:

How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
How to Use Clean Boot Troubleshooting for Windows XP
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_conflicts.htm

How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from
Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q307545

How to Disable a Service that Prevents Windows XP from Booting
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q244/9/05.asp

~~~

By default when WinXP encounters a system failure, it reboots without
warning. The setting that controls this can be changed:

Control Panel/System/Advanced/Settings (Startup & Recovery)/System
Failure/Uncheck-Automatically Restart.

You can use Event Viewer to view and manage the event logs, gather
information about hardware and software problems, and monitor Windows
security events.

To view the event log: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or
Start/Run/eventvwr.

To review Shutdown Event Tracker data, Open Event Viewer. Click System Log,
scroll to the Event column, and find entries with the number 1075.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q308427

And also:

Go to Start/Run/Msinfo32/Hardware Resources, Components/Problem Devices and
Software Environment/Windows Error Reporting.

Go to Help and Support/Pick a Task (left side)/Use Tools to view.../(left
pane)My Computer Information/(right pane)View the status of my system
hardware and software/Hardware/Update and Troubleshooters.

How to Troubleshoot Hardware and Software Driver Problems
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q322205

Try running the DirectX Tool: Start/Run/Dxdiag, Lower Hardware Acceleration
(Display/Settings/Advanced/Troubleshoot/Hardware Acceleration). Check
System Info for problematic issues: Start/Run/Msinfo32/Hardware Resources
and Components/Problem Devices and Software Environment/Windows Error
Reporting.


--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com
 
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