XP activation is flawed!

G

Gatticus

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2006
Messages
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Anyone get the below happen to them before?

Something that has me irked with activation is that twice now I have had to reactivate when I haven't even changed any hardware. First time was after installing an older version of Winamp and it said I had to reboot the computer, upon reboot it said my hardware had changed significantly and I had to reactivate (just prior to installing Winamp I had played a Starforce protected game). The second time it happened was after installing a Starforce protected game and it said I needed to reboot to install the SF drivers. Again, upon reboot it said I had to reacivate because my hardware had changed significantly. The first time I called MS about it and the guy blamed it on my hardware, I blamed it on their faulty activation scheme. This is something I am going to keep a close eye on, especially if it is related to Starforce. I will make a big stink about it but I have to be sure who the culprit is first.

I have one small question regarding XP activation too. On another forum someone is saying that XP has a total hardcoded limit on the max amount of activations you can do with XP. He said he was told by the MS person doing his activation that it is stored on a central server and the total times you can activate is kept secret. Anyone hear that before? I thought the amount of activations was reset every six months and it is set to six.
 
The changes you make to your system are somewhat cumulative as far as xp activation goes, I think.. If say over a 3 month period, you add a HD, a vidcard, and then install a driver that windows may mistake as a new device(starforce), I suppose it could trigger a reactivation.. I'm prolly wrong, but xp activation does act funny now and again..

I don't much care for the MS activation scheme, but it is rather painless.. At worst, a call to the activation hotline gets you up and running.. As long as your OS is legit anyway..

And yes a certain number of activations within a certain timeframe will flag you for a call to the hotline.. Not sure how many over what time period though..
 
There is no limit to how many times you can activate before it won't activate at all. There is a limit to how many times you can activate within a certain time period before the internet activation stops working and you have to call the 800 number.
 
OK, I have got a response from an MVP on usenet and he also says there is no limit to how many activations one can do. That is why I say XP activation is flawed. Read this.
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=007710

The exact same thing has happened to a friend of mine with an OEM copy of XP.

As for my own issue of XP wanting to reactivate when I never changed any hardware I am suspicious of it being caused by Starforce too. I just need further proof of it and I will start a ticket with Microsoft and Starforce.
 
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