Windows says its not genuine when it is

  • Thread starter Thread starter James D. Houston
  • Start date Start date
J

James D. Houston

I've had this PC, a Dell Dimension 2400, for about a year now. It came with
XP Home pre-installed and was working fine until a few days ago when it
crashed. When I try to reboot it I either get blue screens with one of
several error messages (mulitple_irp_complete_requests,
invalid_page_fault_in_nonpaged_area) or it comes up with an XP Pro logo and
tells me that it is not a genuine copy of Windows. The PC is part of a
point of sale system located in a area where several people have access to
it, so I suppose someone could have been screwing around with it but,
assuming that's not the case, does anyone know what could be going on here?
I'd rather not have to wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything, but so
far that looks like the only option. Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Thanks in advance.

Jim
 
James said:
I've had this PC, a Dell Dimension 2400, for about a year now. It came
with XP Home pre-installed and was working fine until a few days ago when
it crashed. When I try to reboot it I either get blue screens with one of
several error messages (mulitple_irp_complete_requests,
invalid_page_fault_in_nonpaged_area) or it comes up with an XP Pro logo
and tells me that it is not a genuine copy of Windows. The PC is part of
a point of sale system located in a area where several people have access
to it, so I suppose someone could have been screwing around with it but,
assuming that's not the case, does anyone know what could be going on
here? I'd rather not have to wipe the hard drive and reinstall
everything, but so far that looks like the only option. Any help would
be greatly appriciated. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Who put XP Pro on the PC. If it wasn't you or you don't know how it got
there, then I would say the evidence is quite strong that someone has
tampered with the PC. If that is the case, your only safe option is to wipe
and load. If that is not the case, see if one of the following KB articles
applies:

Windows Genuine Advantage does not validate a copy of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916247

Windows XP-based computers that were installed by using a Volume License
product key might be marked as non-genuine
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926333

The Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation check process does not
complete when you try to validate your copy of Windows XP or Windows 2000
Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905226

You cannot download Windows Genuine Advantage updates on a Windows XP-based
computer that you purchased from an Original Equipment Manufacturer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914225

You receive an "Invalid Product ID" error message when you try to validate
Windows on a Windows Embedded for Point of Service-based or a Windows XP
Embedded-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906893

You receive a "Validation Incomplete: Online Validation Failure" error
message or a "0x80080204" error code when you try to validate Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906533

Error messages when you try to validate a Windows XP-based computer by using
Windows Genuine Advantage: "Product Key Inaccessible" and "0x80080212"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917050

Error message when you run the Windows Genuine Advantage validation check
process: "Windows Activation Required"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924166
 
Tom said:
Who put XP Pro on the PC. If it wasn't you or you don't know how it got
there, then I would say the evidence is quite strong that someone has
tampered with the PC. If that is the case, your only safe option is to
wipe and load. If that is not the case, see if one of the following KB
articles applies:

Windows Genuine Advantage does not validate a copy of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916247

Windows XP-based computers that were installed by using a Volume License
product key might be marked as non-genuine
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926333

The Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation check process does not
complete when you try to validate your copy of Windows XP or Windows
2000 Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905226

You cannot download Windows Genuine Advantage updates on a Windows
XP-based computer that you purchased from an Original Equipment
Manufacturer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914225

You receive an "Invalid Product ID" error message when you try to
validate Windows on a Windows Embedded for Point of Service-based or a
Windows XP Embedded-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906893

You receive a "Validation Incomplete: Online Validation Failure" error
message or a "0x80080204" error code when you try to validate Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906533

Error messages when you try to validate a Windows XP-based computer by
using Windows Genuine Advantage: "Product Key Inaccessible" and
"0x80080212"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917050

Error message when you run the Windows Genuine Advantage validation
check process: "Windows Activation Required"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924166
Click to expand...

Gosh, with all these workarounds and fixes, one might come to the
conclusion that the WPA and WGA/N programs are faulty and cause paying
customers to jump through these hoops instead of using their computer.

Alias
 
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