See.... this is why I hate microsoft. (whining inside)

MX-5 Dave

Gawd
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Messages
568
I added A STICK OF RAM.


Just 1. Thats it. A single stick of ram.


I have to re-activate windows. No biggie right? Wrong. The activation servers are not responding.


Why would these morons make it so you can install the OS and go 60 days without re-activating, yet if you ADD AN EFFING STICK OF RAM (which btw, this is the first time I have ever had to re-activate due to a hardware change, and I have done some massive changes on other machines), you have to re-activate immediately, and you cant even log into windows to check to make sure your settings are correct. I am thinking my NIC is disabled in the control panel, and the wireless drivers maybe dont load until you are fully booted (actually I know they dont).

So I am screwed. Oh, why dont I call? My phone broke today, so I cant go get it fixed until tomorrow.


F it, I will just reinstall the machine. I will be back up and running with it in an hour, then I can wait 2 months if I feel like it :rolleyes: instead of having to re-activate for adding 256megs of ram.

Obviously not this machine.


/rant



BTW I think the reason it did it is when I added that stick, it shifted the mem speed from 400 to 333, so it probably thinks its a different mobo/proc?
 
Are you using XP?

If so that seems really weird as I have upgraded many XP machines with more/different ram and other components and never had to reactivate...
 
Are you using XP?

If so that seems really weird as I have upgraded many XP machines with more/different ram and other components and never had to reactivate...



Media center 05. Its my htpc. 1 day old copy of it too.

I have it on this machine and I have made MASSIVE changes without ever having to re-activate.

Its ok, I am 3/4 through the re-install process as I type this. But this is a lot of work for something that should have taken 30 sec.:mad:
 
Weird, I have never had a XP machine ask to reactivate when changing any sort of hardware on it:confused:
 
Weird, I have never had a XP machine ask to reactivate when changing any sort of hardware on it:confused:


Wanna hear the best part? I had to start the install over because for some reason it was just rebooting over and over :rolleyes:

Its fine now though, almost back to desktop.

Im gonna take this opportunity to do it all over right and go with all the latest drivers right off the bat instead of using the originals then updating.
 
Sounds like bad RAM,I had to reactivae once when not adding anything and it turned out I had a bad stick, later on when I tried reinstalling windows it kept rebooting randomly ,after removing one of the sticks It orked perfectly.
 
Good rule of thumb, not just directed at the OP here, but at anyone that purchases new RAM or additional RAM:

Get memtest86 and make the bootable CD. Yes you can still make a floppy if needed, and even transfer the contents of the floppy to a bootable USB drive, now that I think about it. More efficient with the CD or USB drive than a floppy.

Put the "new" RAM in the machine and run memtest86 on it for at least 3 cycles, longer if possible, and before you ever actually boot back into whatever OS you're running. This will give you at least some confidence in the RAM you purchased, but realistically letting memtest86 run overnight is my personal suggestion.

I know the feeling quite well: just got some new hardware, whatever it is, can't wait to get it installed and up and running, so cool. But sometimes it turns into a nightmare, and I know that feeling too. :)

Just my $.02...
 
Wanna hear the best part? I had to start the install over because for some reason it was just rebooting over and over :rolleyes:

Its fine now though, almost back to desktop.

Im gonna take this opportunity to do it all over right and go with all the latest drivers right off the bat instead of using the originals then updating.

But ALL the problems you've had so far are Microsofts fault right? Oi vay. :rolleyes:
 
I have it on this machine and I have made MASSIVE changes without ever having to re-activate.
Yes, you can do MASSIVE changes to the hardware without having to reactivate, but if you do MASSIVE+1 changes you will have to. The threshold is at MASSIVE and if you exceed that, well...

I am not fan of activation either.
 
Not to add anymore backlash, since you don't seem to respond to that very well...but here goes.

When building a new system, why activate right away anyway? Get the OS up and running with drivers loaded to make sure everything is functioning properly, and then worry about activating.
 
Not to add anymore backlash, since you don't seem to respond to that very well...but here goes.

When building a new system, why activate right away anyway? Get the OS up and running with drivers loaded to make sure everything is functioning properly, and then worry about activating.

QFT!!!

And with Vista, Microsoft almost made it easy because you've got 30 days to get your boxen working top notch or scrap it the configuration and work on another one.

Of course, it doesn't matter at that point since you've probably already shelled out the moolah for Vista, but even so, at least you can test it all out before you ever need to activate

Activate at the last possible minute, I'd say. It certainly can't hurt to use that 30 days as wisely as possible.
 
ha...

I had the same thing happened to me. Win XP home OEM...

I changed my complete system. went from an amd mobo to C2D. New mobo, new ram, new proc, new videocard and i was able to activate with no problem. But later on i added one more stick of memory to make a dual channel and then TADAA... I had to call microsoft.
 
I had a similar problem, where I took my dad's PC to my appartment to fix some issues, at which point it wanted me to re-authenticate the copy of XP. Problem was that the 'puter was originally on my dad's wireless network, with the onboard ethernet ports disabled, and I don't have a wireless router. Since it wouldn't load windows in normal mode or safe mode with networking I couldn't flip the ethernet ports on, and had to call to authenticate.... 'cept I didn't have a working phone either. I'm sure there was probably something I could have done to get the ports working, but it was certainly beyond me to figure out a work-around. Very frustrating, to be sure.
 
Good rule of thumb, not just directed at the OP here, but at anyone that purchases new RAM or additional RAM:

Get memtest86 and make the bootable CD. Yes you can still make a floppy if needed, and even transfer the contents of the floppy to a bootable USB drive, now that I think about it. More efficient with the CD or USB drive than a floppy.

Solid idea here, except I'll one up it: instead of downloading Memtest and making the bootable CD of just it - download a live CD linux distro (I personally use Ubuntu, but Knoppix works too) - it is bootable, already includes Memtest with it, and if something goes wrong with your hard drive or something, will let you boot into Linux (which can read NTFS IIRC), so you can get your data off with a flash drive or similar. Rather than 2 CDs for your repair kit, you only need 1 if you go this route.
 
But ALL the problems you've had so far are Microsofts fault right? Oi vay. :rolleyes:


Never said that. Reading comprehension>you. In fact, this is the ONLY time I have even mentioned microsoft. Way to try(and fail).

(much the way I tried to take 2 min to test out more ram, and failed lol)

So borrow someone's cell phone and call them. :rolleyes:

At 11pm on a work night. Would you have been happy to recieve that call?

Yes, you can do MASSIVE changes to the hardware without having to reactivate, but if you do MASSIVE+1 changes you will have to. The threshold is at MASSIVE and if you exceed that, well...

I am not fan of activation either.

Yeah thats the wierd part. The only change I made to the only machine that has ever had this cd key, was that stick of ram. I know its not random, but it almost makes it seem that way.
The problem is, activation is kind of a neccessary evil. I just think there HAS to be a better way to implement it.

If you hate microsoft then stop using their products.

If I could, I would. And I have on one of my machines, and on 2 machines I have built for family members. I converted a friend to linux too (even though you cant really get more linux noob than me. In fact that guy is now 10x better with linux than I am)
As a gamer and someone who wants his PC to "just work" without a hassle 99% of the time, there really isnt much of a choice. Trust me, if linux was a viable option for that machine or this one, I would be all over it in a heatbeat. Or if Apple wasnt $$$$$$ (BTW, do games run well when running XP on a mac? I am asking seriously) One of my laptops (the one I use for email/websurfing only) has been running Slackware for a couple years now and I love it. The reality is that for a gamer linux isnt and probably will never be an alternative for the main OS on a PC. We can always hope though. Maybe.

Not to add anymore backlash, since you don't seem to respond to that very well...but here goes.

When building a new system, why activate right away anyway? Get the OS up and running with drivers loaded to make sure everything is functioning properly, and then worry about activating.

It was up and running properly already. I just decided to see if another 256 stick would be of any help. The reason I was questioning that is that the MB in that machine drops to ddr333 when you populate the 3rd row. I ran a couple benchmarks without the extra stick, and was planning on running them with the 3rd stick to see if the slower speed but larger amount would make a positive difference. It had already been activated because you cant do all the windows updates (you can do the first couple, up to about the "validate your copy" part) without activating it first. Otherwise I would wait a week or so to make sure it was stable and ready.

If it weren't for games, I would drop Windows like the turd that it is. :D

What he said:D

I had a similar problem, where I took my dad's PC to my appartment to fix some issues, at which point it wanted me to re-authenticate the copy of XP. Problem was that the 'puter was originally on my dad's wireless network, with the onboard ethernet ports disabled, and I don't have a wireless router. Since it wouldn't load windows in normal mode or safe mode with networking I couldn't flip the ethernet ports on, and had to call to authenticate.... 'cept I didn't have a working phone either. I'm sure there was probably something I could have done to get the ports working, but it was certainly beyond me to figure out a work-around. Very frustrating, to be sure.

Yeah thats what happened to me. Onboard nic turned off, and the wireless doesnt work till the OS is fully booted. Double screwed. I couldnt think of another option either.
 
I had to Activate my XP twice on the rig I use now. Outside of driver updates & newer games/software installed. I only added...

A 512MB matching stick to my patriot ram
Swapped out my SB Live 5.1 to an Audigy 2 ZS Gamer

Only 2 hardware changes. Although the Re-Activation prompt came way after I updated the hardware. I switched the Sound Card again to an X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS but no probs so far. Using the card for now, but it's really for my DX 10 build. =D.
 
Whats crazy is that I am 99% sure that I changed out a mobo/proc/ram on a machine at some point without having to re-activate. ( I did end up re-installing that machine at a later date anyway, the guy didnt want to unless it HAD to)


Here is the kick in the ass part.


I just ordered a new mobo/proc/ram for that machine. Which means another install and activation lol. Oh the irony.

Its only the 3rd activation though, so it wont make me call it in yet. The os installed on this machine has been reinstalled so many times I have to call it in every time now.
 
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