Microsoft Windows Activation Servers Down
Posted by Arnaudt on 25 January 2003 - 22:18 · 25 comments & 6325 views
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Forum name: Arnaudt
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#1 Posted by Angel Blue01 on 25 Jan 2003 - 22:30
- LOL
Take that, WPA!
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#2 Posted by Valkyre on 25 Jan 2003 - 22:35
- Hahaha.
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#3 Posted by Elektro on 25 Jan 2003 - 22:39
- lol...
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#4 Posted by phantomAI on 25 Jan 2003 - 22:46
- And I was just about to activate my copy of windows too
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#5 Posted by Total_CDRW on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:24
- suddenly i feel like activating my copy of windows XP, wait i cant! Am i considered a disgruntled customer now? BTW is it possible to return your copy of Windows if you dont agree to the terms of use? Isn't this a reason why Linux supports "return windows" day?
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(4 replies)
#6 Posted by Drestin on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:28
- Um... unlike everyone who wants desperately to be believe MS is always to blame. I not only activated a copy of XP today but my kid is using his password, so is my wife and so am I. My MSN Messenger is logged in just fine. I can access msdn using my passport too. This is a year old patch - believe me you, MS has applied it. NOT to mention SP3 is already out for SQL 2000 and this was fixed by a patch on SP2. Sorry - MS is not down from this worm and when I called activation they were ready to take my numbers over the phone. MSN support wasn't aware of anyone having trouble getting in either.
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#6.1 Posted by Arnaudt on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:32
- First, I never do blame MS - I know the SQL glitch was issued in many hotfixes by MS and in SP3 ... I'm just stating that the servers are down which is true, I phoned them up myself
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#6.2 Posted by Total_CDRW on 26 Jan 2003 - 02:29
- BTW you're supposed to be allowed to enter your [b]product install id[/b] and have them generate you a [b]product activation key[/b]. For some od reason
you can only get a product activation key from "Support Personel." No more "Please wait while your installation id is verified... Installation ID Verified!/Incorrect Installation ID!..." -
#6.3 Posted by UnnDunn on 26 Jan 2003 - 04:01
- I just reinstalled Windows XP and I haven't been able to activate all day. Now I know why.
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#6.4 Posted by JaggedFlame on 26 Jan 2003 - 07:14
- [neoquote=#6.2 by Total_CDRW]BTW you're supposed to be allowed to enter your [b]product install id[/b] and have them generate you a [b]product activation key[/b]. For some od reason you can only get a product activation key from "Support Personel." No more "Please wait while your installation id is verified... Installation ID Verified!/Incorrect Installation ID!..."[/neoquote]
Was that supposed to be coherent? Yes, that is how it works. No, the servers being down does not mean you are a "disgruntled" customer.
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(1 reply)
#7 Posted by Inertia on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:31
- lmao, absalubtly gutted, i regularly use those servers
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#8 Posted by xStainDx on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:49
- All these posts in this News post by everyone don't seem to be vaild at all because.. Whats the big deal anyway, every microsoft product has a time bomb or x amount of usages before you have to activate. This should not affect anybody. "Take Tha WPA" or " I was just about to activate windows"
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#9 Posted by leebobs on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:52
- HAHAHAHA Can't even keep their own software up to date. Security my...
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(2 replies)
#10 Posted by Total_CDRW on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:53
- Guess what? I had taken a screenshot of my WPA before I clicked "Activate" and saved it, and I just called the Toll free activation number, and they redid the whole Touch-Tone Key system, The lady used to sound all nice and now she sounds rushed. LOL.
And microsoft took away the part where she asks "Press 1 for activating with your touch tone keypad, Press 2 for Technical Assistance with support personel" now it forces you to talk to Tech Support, they've got to manually activate customer copies!
PS: I feel like deactivating and reactivating my copy of XP with support help , how can I do this ?
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#10.1 Posted by xStainDx on 25 Jan 2003 - 23:59
- use the unactivating VBS Script that microsoft wrote.
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#10.2 Posted by JaggedFlame on 26 Jan 2003 - 07:15
- [neoquote=#10.0 by Total_CDRW]Guess what? I had taken a screenshot of my WPA before I clicked "Activate" and saved it, and I just called the Toll free activation number, and they redid the whole Touch-Tone Key system, The lady used to sound all nice and now she sounds rushed. LOL.
And microsoft took away the part where she asks "Press 1 for activating with your touch tone keypad, Press 2 for Technical Assistance with support personel" now it forces you to talk to Tech Support, they've got to manually activate customer copies!
PS: I feel like deactivating and reactivating my copy of XP with support help , how can I do this ?[/neoquote]
That would make sense. The touch tone system has to communicate with a computer to activate, and if it's down, it wouldn't work.
As for the lady sounding rushed, I'd bet you would too if you received a bunch of calls about the servers being down. Nothing really too funny about that.
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(1 reply)
#11 Posted by wI-OSMAN- on 26 Jan 2003 - 00:11
- i tried to activie my copy of XP Home with SP1 but it will not work.. oh well fresh clean install. got 30 days left...
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#11.1 Posted by pmcartney on 26 Jan 2003 - 00:24
- I noticed the problem myself as my AV software mentioned I had a worm so I used my restore disks after destroying the bug. OEM version. Then instead of my cable modem re-registering, I had to do it via my 56k modem. Please note, I'd call MS so you don't lose the ability to USE your computer. Or just get Linux and have more fun www.linuxiso.org
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#12 Posted by Khujo on 26 Jan 2003 - 00:20
- I worked on quite a few customer machines today. I did 3 or 4 XP installs today at different times and couldn't activate any of them, oh well they've got 30 days to do it but i wasn't about to even try calling for them.
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#13 Posted by jago6498 on 26 Jan 2003 - 00:35
- WOOHOO!!! Glad I don't have to worry about that...
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(1 reply)
#14 Posted by Yvo on 26 Jan 2003 - 01:35
- well this just shows that it takes one internet virus to take down microsoft's activation servers
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#14.1 Posted by Eric Ferleman on 26 Jan 2003 - 02:47
- Oh well, those who need to activate have plenty of time before the time limit runs out, it's not like the activation servers will be offline forever. I predict they'll be back up by Monday afternoon.
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#15 Posted by macster on 26 Jan 2003 - 09:22
- Trying to stop priacy is fine But making my life much more difficult than it is already Is really pissing me off
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#16 Posted by davidpaj on 27 Jan 2003 - 00:26
- I take it the activation servers are still down?
Nick Roberts has emailed us saying, "Microsoft Windows Activation servers have been down all day. A call to the activation number is no help either. They give you a message that the servers will be up in 4 to 5 hours." It sounds like the servers may have some how been affected by the SQL worm going around. We will bring you more info when we get it.
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- New de-ringing post-processing algorithm. The new algorithm improves the perceived video quality during playback. It is activated when the post-processing level is set to Level 6.
- Video Buffer Verifier (VBV) model (one and two pass encoding). The VBV ensures that the maximum peak bit rate never exceeds either the user's inputted "maximum peak" bit rate value or/and ensures that the encoded stream never violates the buffer of an MPEG-4 compliant decoder. This helps to prevent decoding failure in both hardware and software where memory may be limited yet compliant to the MPEG-4 standard as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-2:2001(E). In order for DivX video to be successfully delivered over a restricted channel in real time to a decoder, the encoder's rate control must ensure that the decoder's buffer is not violated. When this is done properly, then overflow and underflow will never occur and the encoder is said to be "VBV compliant." It makes no difference whether the video is encoded in 1-pass or many, in real-time or offline. It is the encoder's rate control that must ensure compliance. There are three main requirements of a VBV-compliant rate control algorithm, in order of importance:
- VBV compliance. When VBV parameters are specified (size, initial occupancy, channel characteristics) the rate control should avoid producing video that is in danger of violating the decoder's buffer. Bitstream stuffing may be used in extreme cases to prevent overflow in true CBR systems. Underflow must be prevented by increasing frame quantiser or by dropping frames.
- Target bitrate. We aim to meet the user's requirements as accurately as possible here. This is directly related to filesize.
- Good-looking video. Rate control should aim to produce the subjectively best quality video given other constraints. Consistency is important here as changes in quality are very noticeable and video is often judged by the worse quality segment in the whole sequence.
- Nth Pass™ encoding. Another new addition to the rate control arsenal, Nth Pass™ encoding takes advantage of information available from previous analysis (or analyses) of the video sequence. Nth Pass encoding uses information garnered from previous passes through the video sequence, which can improve quality with each pass. There are four main steps to Nth Pass encoding:
- Analysis (the first pass)
- Map generation (where the results of analyses are processed)
- Strategy generation (strategist examines map of the video sequence and creates a strategy that will best achieve the three VBV RC requirements)
- In-loop nth pass rate control (uses information from the map and strategy to effect rate control that best fulfills the three requirements)
- Support for DivX Certified Profiles. With the new DivX Certification program, DivXNetworks is enabling third parties to create "DivX Certified" products that are rigorously tested and fully compatible with the entire suite of DivX® video technologies. There are four levels of official DivX Certified video products: Handheld Video Devices, Portable Video Devices, Home Theater Video Devices and High Definition Video Devices. These levels quickly and clearly communicate what type and size of DivX video are supported on the certified device. Now, when you encode video, you have the option to force your video to comply with one of the DivX Certified Profiles to ensure that your video will play back properly on certified products.
- DivX Decoder verification logo. There is a new semi-transparent DivX Logo that will appear by default for a few seconds any time you use the DivX decoder to watch a DivX video. This instantly lets you know you're watching a true DivX® video. You can turn the display of the logo on or off in the codec properties dialog.
- New internal application programming interface (API). The internal API of the codec was changed to better accommodate integration with third party partners. This only affects you if you are a DivX licensee and are working directly with the DivX object code. The external API (e.g., DirectShow, etc.) remains unchanged.
- The motion estimation algorithm is better optimized for High Definition resolutions (up to 1080p, or 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution
- The pre-processing performance is now improved with with the IYUY 4:2:0 color space
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- Removed the Intelligent IVTC functionality due to persistent problems caused by lack of variable frame rate file format support. This technology will be back soon in a new form...
- Changed the block skipping threshold for high quantizers, which improves visual quality when high quantizers are used.
- Fixed a bunch of little cosmetic bugs in the DirectShow decoder properties page.
- Fixed a bug where the last P frame before an I frame was not displayed when Smooth Playback was selected.
- Fixed a practically unnoticeable YUV->RGB16 color conversion rounding bug.
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- Fixed a few issues with DivX 3.11 compatibility.
- Modified the decoder to deal with a bug in the old OpenDivX encoder that set the scalability bit incorrectly in certain cases. The DivX decoder can now detect this problem and play the content properly.
- Fixed a problem where some rounding operations were not done toward zero, as is required by section 7.4 of the spec. This fixed an intra case in MPEG-2 inverse quantization.
- Fixed a bug where some frames would be corrupted by an out-of-range error.
- Fixed several rounding issues related to MMX/SSE/SSE2 optimizations.
- Fixed an MMX bug in RGB32 color conversion.
Improved:
Changed:
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