Vista Re-Activation after driver update!

[xendrome]

I installed the latest Nvidia Nforce Drivers for Intel 590 chipset. And it also gave me 3 days to activate Windows.

WTF is up with that?

[OPaul]

Presumably you can reactivate as many times as needed, right?

[Robgig1088]

Presumably you can reactivate as many times as needed, right?

with XP, you could activate it up to like 10 times over the internet then you had to spend 20 minutes on the phone with someone in India to activate it. Annoying as heck.

[Mr. Gibs]

with XP, you could activate it up to like 10 times over the internet then you had to spend 20 minutes on the phone with someone in India to activate it. Annoying as heck.

Haha if I call microsoft HK [cuz i live in hk] i get to talk to some guy in hk lol. They usually speak perfect english and if the guy can't understand you, he just reconnects you to another person.

[pewe]

Some of the problems reported here regarding the need for re-activation contradict what MS says in its WPA document which is here;

http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/1/6/21654b16-6c81-4d96-9390-5203cd43d07d/WindowsProductActivationTechnicalMarketBulletin.doc

It clearly states that a change to a Graphics card (not just the driver) should not initiate re-activation.

Here are 2 examples of changes taken from their document

Scenario A:

PC One has the full assortment of hardware components listed in Table 1 above. User swaps the motherboard and CPU chip for an upgraded one, swaps the video adapter, adds a second hard drive for additional storage, doubles the amount of RAM, and swaps the CD ROM drive for a faster one.

Result: Reactivation is NOT required.

Scenario B:

PC Two has the full assortment of hardware components listed in Table 1 except that it has no network adapter. User doubles the amount of RAM, swaps the video card and the SCSI controller.

Result: Reactivation is NOT required.

So have they moved the goal posts and not told anyone?

[ZonoBurk]

Thats not the point... having to reactivate the entire operating system everytime you do a minor driver update on the same computer with no physical changes is the point... I'd consider that pretty annoying... especially considering you have to repeat a 40 mile long number to them when activating... and then get a crapload of number back to type in... all for a driver update.

This happended to me yesterday. Yes it IS annoying. Esp. when the woman you have to tell the number to is from India, then THEY get mad when they can't understand you. I was telling her my product key instead of my "activation number" -- oh boy!

[Squirrelington]

with XP, you could activate it up to like 10 times over the internet then you had to spend 20 minutes on the phone with someone in India to activate it. Annoying as heck.

Last I checked, I activated XP and when I went to activate again 3 months later, after buying a new mobo (preparing to update proc later on), I couldn't activate over the net because I 'exceeded' my activations by doing it once so..... Hello India, can I use Windows?

[thunderbird_117]

Could you try this things :- :D

1. Install Graphic Card Drivers.

2. Install Sound Card Drivers.

3. Install Printer Drivers.

4. Install Network Card Drivers.

And other hardware stuff.

So let us how many times you have to activate it :).

[Mark Schieldrop]

I was forced to reactivate yesterday. Only changes I've made to this machine since Jan. 30 are the new nvidia nforce4 chipset drivers and adding an extra GB of ram to get me to 2GB.

I wasn't that annoyed though. It said I had 3 days to activate. I just made the call when I had some free time and I got activated again, no problem. I explained what I did and he gave me the code without hesitation.

I was confused why online activation didn't work, perhaps because my initial activation was only about a week ago.

[ZonoBurk]

Here's a fix from Microsoft for the activation problem.

[wutang01]

Yea, I believe KB931573 solves that problem, as MchWalte has posted ...

[pewe]

This works.

The update was installed on my PC automatically as part of the auto update before I made the changes to my graphic drivers and as I posted earlier it never asked for re-activation.

[hagjohn]

I just changed my Sata drive to support sata2 (same hard drive) and updated a ULi driver and now I'm having to activate again.... only my issue says... "The product key you typed in is already in use"... :wacko:

[medafor]

I have the OEM version of Vista Ultimate. I had to reformat my computer because my raid setup was failing (RAID0 SUCKS). It said my key was in use once i tried to reactivate it. The automated phone didn't work, i suggest skipping straight to the live operator. The operator asked me what problem am i having with activation. She also asked me is if my copy of Vista was installed on any other machines, i sad "no", then she gave me the number. Pretty simple and fast.

PS I also copied the phone activation number down, does anyone know if this phone activation number will work mutiple times if you have to reactivate?

[hagjohn]

I'm on hold again for the 5th time (2 calls later, because I was disconnected).... trying to reactivate Vista... all this for a change in my hard drive setting (from sata to stata2 mode) and updating the ULi drivers.

updated: 6th person... took 45 minutes with 8 on holds but it's activated again.

Edited February 13, 2007 by hagjohn

[S.MULLA]

i had to do a format on my laptop- which i installed ultimate. and i had to call MS up since i got " already in use" message.ffs... and they gave me a activation code and i reactivated my copy. 2 activations within 2 weeks.. :(

not good ms.

[OPaul]

I'm on hold again for the 5th time (2 calls later, because I was disconnected).... trying to reactivate Vista... all this for a change in my hard drive setting (from sata to stata2 mode) and updating the ULi drivers.

updated: 6th person... took 45 minutes with 8 on holds but it's activated again.

I thought the hotfix was supposed to fix this? Or is this normal behavior?

[hagjohn]

I thought the hotfix was supposed to fix this? Or is this normal behavior?

I attempted to install but it said that it didn't apply to my version of Vista... and yes, I downloaded the right one.

[Deihmos]

I have installed vista about 5 times and never had a problem activating online plus I have changed drivers etc and it never asked me to reactivate. Maybe this key in use is only for the OEM versions.

[lawtai]

heh, this just happened to me as I had updated the SATA driver that was provided through windows update. The annoying part was when I called, I got a woman in India and she told me to call them back in 15 minutes because their system was running too slow. Too bad I didn't know about that hotfix before I updated the driver.

[Chimera]

heh, this just happened to me as I had updated the SATA driver that was provided through windows update. The annoying part was when I called, I got a woman in India and she told me to call them back in 15 minutes because their system was running too slow. Too bad I didn't know about that hotfix before I updated the driver.

Same thing just happened to me with the same SATA driver. I called and talked to a nice Indian guy who's name I didn't catch, and 10 minutes later was re-activated. MS need to fix this problem, it's damn annoying.

[lawtai]

Well, the hotfix is supposed to fix the problem. I haven't tried installing it yet though since I had to go to work.

[DrCheese]

lol disgusting... You'd think MS would use the hardware ID rather than driver versions to check for changes. I don't see how they could have screwed up what worked so well in XP(Generally).

Its just annoying that I now have to ring up MS to use something I legally have.

This kind of stuff never hurts pirates who bypass all this garbage anyway

[lawtai]

heh unfortunately, I was unable to install that patch as it said I had the wrong version. However, I was able to get my windows reactivated in 10 minutes.