Cannot activate XP on one Mobo ?

[FatRakoon]

This is a bugger and no buts.

Im building up a PC for a couple up the road. I decided to use an ASROCK VSTA Mobo and E4300 because I got it nice and cheap from the MM and it should be a nice little system to upgrade them from their 2.6Ghz P4

Anyway, to also get them Legal, ( Well, sort of ) I give them one of my old Licences. I do the install and do everythign as usual, and I come to activate it and it starts going through the process but then it hangs whilst waiting for info I assume from teh activation process... The page just sits there and does nothing.

Ok, so at first I thought that maybe the XP activation servers / site is just not fully working, or somethign and I ignore it.

Still the next day ( Yesterday ) its still not happening, so I think sod it, I will crack it. Nope, thats not helped either...

Now, I will cut a long one shorter ( somethign I need to do every post I recon ) but here is the crack...

I have tried a whole host of disks to install Windows XP onto this Motherboard. XP Home, and Pro both fail to activate and both crack just fine but then wont do the updates... Even XP Black which is already cracked comes up onto the desktop with that blue star thingy as soon as its finished installing.

Now, I have another couple of PCs that I am knocking up, so I took some time to check these out and the Media I used for that ASROCK work just fine on these PCs, so its clear that the issue is simply down to that bloody Asrock board and not the disks?

So, what on earth could it be?

Like I said, I have a legal copy of the full Retail version of XP Home and I am not cracking it, I am using its own LEGAL serial number to install and it just will not activate. I only tried the various cracks etc jsut to try getting it in somehow, but nothing will help. I have done somethign like 14 installs with various disks now, but none have worked.

Oh, one thing I can do though... Is crack it and not try doing the windows updates and teh normal updates work fine, however, they use NOD32 and guess what? - That wont fully update until all the windows updates are all done... Catch22

Please offer me somethign to guide me cos Im going nuts here!?!??!

Thanks in advance.

 

[dynamis_dk]

Cant you just ring them up for activation and try to sort it that way??

Have you tried just the one serial you have??

 

[FatRakoon]

Yes. I was trying with a RETAIL key.

That has been used before, it is one of my own, but its a Retail so it should be ok going from one to another, I then dug out my bag of nasties and I tried a few various others, NEC, HP, Fuji for example, even tried a couple of XP Pro installs but they all did the same thing?

It was failing to activate and once it failed then the warning came up all the time and I could not get rid.

Anyway, I have managed to get around it now... Bit iffy but it seems to work.

The Chipset is a VIA 880 and I installed it on an old SKT 487 thats got a VIA, and the first thing I did was try to activate it and it went in just fine. I grabbed the HD and stuffed it back into the VSTA Mobo and it never flinched. I installed the chipset and Audio drivers, installed NOD32 and went to update and its passed the activation junk... Touch wood its done.

Thanks for the note however.

 

[Burnsy2023]

So what did the person on the phone say when you tried to activate?

 

[postmanfw]

Get a dell disk as never had any problem with them activating with keys on sticker

 

[FatRakoon]

So what did the person on the phone say when you tried to activate?

No, I never got the chance to talk on the phone.

I would chose activate over the internet and the page would come up, it would then need to download and install the advantage code, but then it would just not properly activate, and nothign would happen.

Get a dell disk as never had any problem with them activating with keys on sticker

I dont think you understand... Like I said, I tried the very same ones on a spare PC and they activated perfectly fine EVERYTIME... Im sure MS must be suspicious cos I ahve activated 6 times on 2 different PCs today.

The thing is that the Asrock PC would not allow it... It had NOTHING to do with Windows at all, it was the PC itself.
This is also verified because even the Copy of XP Black that I have, ( and thats already activated and cracked ) came up onto the desktop wit ha message warning me that it had failed activation... AND I NEVER TRIED ACTIVATING IT????

So that must surely be somethign with the Motherboard? - It does this even when its not connected to the internet.

 

[FatRakoon]

OH? Looks like I spoke too soon!

I just went back to check how its going and there are some updates, so I set them to go and the bloody things wants to verify activation again?

So far the little blue star thingy has not come up, and I only keep going to the blank page...

Here is teh URL...

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/va...de=GBR&Error=10&PageName=validate&Product=Wga

Oh hang on... Mental challenge coming up... I just put the link into a new tab and a page showed up with a downlaod button... I have just done that and saved the resulting APP... Im going to load that into the other PC right away and see WTF....

----

Well, ok, I just downloaded that file... 156K

When I copied it to the Asrock, it says invalid win32 application, however, when I tried to run it on this PC, and the other test PC ( Thats windows 32Bit same as teh asrock, it did indeed start to open it up and download further files. )

So why not the asrock?

This is really weird.

 

[BigBoy]

dodgy Ram or possibly something not plugged in properly?? I would go back to basics and check every little thing over starting with reseating the CPU and all add on cards/Drives and so on then memtesting the Ram and doing a full format and reinstall of XP.

 

[FatRakoon]

Hmm..

Well, after it failed to activate for the first 3 times, I did strip it down and re-try it. I have also tried it with different RAM yes, but the RAM Im using has already passed MEMTEST so I know its not the RAM. The CPU was an E4300 and is now an E6400 and again, its done it with both. The PSU is a hyper 380 and I have tried my trusty UltraX 500 and now its back to the Hyper and these are no different either.

Similarly, the Media I used were copies with semi-custom installs, but again these are fine in other PCs ( And yes in other Drives too ) and I gave up and I have used my original disks but again, no difference.

As I said, the PC works absolutely 100% perfectly. It activates absolutely perfectly every time, but as soon as I try to do any updates, it fails the validation ( even though its just activated ) and if I just let the automatic updates come, one of them is the Windows advantage update and as soon as that comes... BANG, it thinks its hookie again.

I have tried to download that link I gave previously but while it works fine on any other PC that I have tried it with, on the Asrock it thinks its an invalid win32 app ? - That does indeed or rather can indeed point to ram issues, however I only have the issues with activation, nothign else, and all teh ram tests that I have done, all tell me the ram is perfectly fine, and other RAM is also fine.

Im at a loss and like I said, the more confusing thing is that I cannot crack windows on this PC either????

Its as if this PC will NEVER allow XP to be activated on itself?

 

[BigBoy]

You are rebooting between activation and updates?

Tried it with a Clean (not custom in any way other than adding SP3) SP3 disk?

Perhaps its the motherboard as you seem to have changed every other possible chunk of hardware possible (unless the HDD is fubar, not the disk platter but the controller? but this is rare) But as you said its only Activation that's the problem.

Have you checked the BIOS and turned Reset Configuration Data to off/Disabled?

Is the BIOS Date and time correct (silly question I know but is the Battery ok?)?

Any Caps on the Motherboard bulging blown?

Just trying to slim down the possibilities.

Most activation issues are BIOS/Motherboard related could be that!

 

[FatRakoon]

You are rebooting between activation and updates?

Yes of course.

As I said earlier, I thought I had found a solution in that I activated it and it went in well, and then after a fair while, it decided to not be activated again?

Tried it with a Clean (not custom in any way other than adding SP3) SP3 disk?

Not at first of course, but then yes. I have SP2 as my latest most up to date disk, and I have used these also, and yes, I have also made up a CD with ONLY SP3 but again, Zero difference.

Perhaps its the motherboard as you seem to have changed every other possible chunk of hardware possible (unless the HDD is fubar, not the disk platter but the controller? but this is rare) But as you said its only Activation that's the problem.

Again yes I have tried different HDs. I have tried IDE, SATA and hell I have even tried IDE on a Sata Adapter and a Sata Drive on an IDE adapter, but these make no diff either!

Have you checked the BIOS and turned Reset Configuration Data to off/Disabled?

Im thinking that there is somethign in the BIOS thats doing it?
The BIOS was on 1.40 when I started it off and its now on the latest of v2.30.
I have been going through various options in the BIOS... I mean, I have an EVGA 680i Mobo that can be a bit of a bummer to get right when installing, but at least it does not do this issue.

Is the BIOS Date and time correct (silly question I know but is the Battery ok?)?

Battery replaced yesterday as a precaution.
BIOS Date & Time - yes, keeping an eye on that... Seems good.

Any Caps on the Motherboard bulging blown?

Ok, I will have a look... Not thought about looking for things TBH cos its only XP that does this ( XP64, Vista and W7 are all fine by the way )

Just trying to slim down the possibilities.

Im open to anything at the moment.

Most activation issues are BIOS/Motherboard related could be that!

Yes.

Its the allowing activation and then changing its mind is the one that gets me... apart from that its 100% flawless in every other way!!!???

 

[BigBoy]

In that case its the Hardware ID that keeps changing and the only thing that would affect that is the motherboard/Bios, Is the Rig Clocked?

 

[FatRakoon]

I know its the Motherboard... Thats been clear to me from the start.

I think it might be faulty, but why then would it allow me to activate with Win7 just fine ( Been running Win7 for my son for months just fine ) and its only XP that its being a PITA

I have been keeping an eye on the clock... Looks like its keepign time just fine, and date of course.
I have checked the Mobo for any visual hints of dammage, not just the caps and again, it looks good.

I am at a complete loss as to why this is doing what its doing, and since its been a fair while now and Im not able to yet resolve the issue, I have decided to go with another Mobo and this one is now going to go back to Win7

Thanks for the help, but this is just irritating me now.