WOW! Registration Key No Longer Valid

[Terry Smythe]

This morning I suffered a system crash - "missing or corrupted file -
C:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM"

I have no idea how to fix this.

In desperation I attempted to reinstall my WinXP from my original authentic
disk, and upon entering my valid CofA registration code, an error message
appears - "Invalid Key". My entry is correct, rechecked several times.

I have one only original WinXP disk, still in original box, c/w its original
CofA registration key.

How is it possible that my genuine registration key is no longer valid?

I'm dead in the water, currently on my wife's laptop.

What are my options?

Regards,

Terry Smythe
Winnipeg, Canada
..

 

[Leythos]

This morning I suffered a system crash - "missing or corrupted file -
C:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM"

I have no idea how to fix this.

In desperation I attempted to reinstall my WinXP from my original authentic
disk, and upon entering my valid CofA registration code, an error message
appears - "Invalid Key". My entry is correct, rechecked several times.

I have one only original WinXP disk, still in original box, c/w its original
CofA registration key.

How is it possible that my genuine registration key is no longer valid?

I'm dead in the water, currently on my wife's laptop.

What are my options?

You have some form of malware on your computer - the only computers I've
seen this on have been compromised.

If you boot into recovery mode you can copy the corrupt file back, or do
a chkdsk to fix it, but you still need to get rid of the malware.

 

[philo]

This morning I suffered a system crash - "missing or corrupted file -
C:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM"

I have no idea how to fix this.

In desperation I attempted to reinstall my WinXP from my original
authentic disk, and upon entering my valid CofA registration code, an
error message appears - "Invalid Key". My entry is correct, rechecked
several times.

I have one only original WinXP disk, still in original box, c/w its
original CofA registration key.

How is it possible that my genuine registration key is no longer valid?

If you are *absolutely* positive you have entered the key correctly...
you may have a hardware problem...possibly RAM
That may have been why your machine crashed in the first place

try running a ram test

google for memtest86

 

[Terry Smythe]

In desperation I attempted to reinstall my WinXP from my original

authentic disk, and upon entering my valid CofA registration code, an
error message appears - "Invalid Key". My entry is correct, rechecked
several times.

Just tried to install my original WinXP on a spare hard drive that is known
to be clean. Same result - "Invalid Key". This is weird and potentially
costly. I haven't touched my original WinXP disk since original install
about a year ago.

I'm truly dead in the water, can't get past the front end boot routine.

Regards,

Terry Smythe
Winnipeg, Canada

 

[philo]

Just tried to install my original WinXP on a spare hard drive that is
known to be clean. Same result - "Invalid Key". This is weird and
potentially costly. I haven't touched my original WinXP disk since
original install about a year ago.

I'm truly dead in the water, can't get past the front end boot routine.

Then the cd itself may be dirty, scratched or cracked

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Terry;
If the key worked before, it will now.
Are you sure you are using the CD that came with that key?
There are many different types of each and they are not interchangeable.
Perhaps the CD is damaged-unlikely with that error.

Look again closely, B-8, G-6, O-0, I-1 and others look alike.
Have someone else try, sometimes another set of eyes and fingers can get it
right.

Otherwise if retail, contact Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=326246

 

[Guest]

I agree with Jupiter.
I did a "clean" install on a brand new hard drive that I use as my backup
disk. I also wanted to make the new disk a "bootable" drive (in case my hard
drive failed). I unplugged the original hard drive and plugged in the brand
new one, formatted it, and did the Windows install.

When it came time to put the Key# in, it told me the same thing it's telling
you. I borrowed my wife's "reading" glasses and looked at the tiny numbers on
the bar code, and realized that I had used an "8" instead of a "B", and an
"O" instead of a number "0". I guess it's hard to admit that I'm getting
older and some of my parts don't quite work like they used to...

(P.S.- I use my own "reading" glasses quite a bit now...)

Cheers!
Mack

 

[Terry Smythe]

If the key worked before, it will now.

Most interesting. I tried to do a clean install on a spare drive, and
same "invalid key" error message. Character size, in this case, is not an
issue. I have only one original WinXP disk (SP2) and only one registration
key in reasonably large characters affixed to the big triple folder.

So tried a second time to do a "repair". Most confusing that "repair"
appears twice, with the first one simply dropping me to a C: prompt, asking
what I want to do next, with no option to backup to a previous dialog box.
The second one is the real "repair", went through the routine of overwriting
most all files, with no damage to my settings, finally working its way down
to final step, to my surprise, asking me for my registration key. WHY?
Only a repair to an existing installation.

Following the lengthy "repair", the invalid key error message
appeared........groan......... Why wasn't the registration key asked for
up front? Monumental aggravation!

So I finally bit the bullet and did a clean install in my main c: drive.
After finally getting down to the final task, it once again asked me for my
registration key, and this time it took it. The UP side is that I'm back
in business. The DOWN side is that I spent better part of the weekend
reinstalling 20 gigs of software.

The reinstall wiped out WinXP's previous knowledge of all my software,
albeit leaving all their files alone. Also the reinstall did not touch the
few files I had left in the C: drive. I normally put all my files in
other drives/partitions.

Appreciate all the discussion from others emerging from this most
aggravating adventure. Why has Microsoft made it so difficult to reinstall
WinXP? All previous versions, no trick at all to reinstall with no loss
of settings and installation links.

Regards,

Terry Smythe
Winnipeg, Canada

 

[Guest]

Great! Glad it worked. You said:

"Also the reinstall did not touch
the few files I had left in the C:
drive. I normally put all my files
in other drives/partitions."

That's a very good practice. I use a seperate disk to store all of my data
files and backup files. An extra disk (for data storage) is always better
than a partitioned system drive because if the main drive motor simply fails,
everything on the extra partition is also lost. Once I started structuring
the spare disk with various folders for each program's data, it really wasn't
a very big deal. When you save a file, Windows will ask you for a filename
and location. Once that file is stored, it will go back to the same location
that you originally designated.

Take care and keep your Anti-virus software updated and your system backed up.
Cheers!
Mack