Ram died, Vista wants to reactivate?!

rare · 20 Feb 2007 at 01:43

As per title! I have had some fualty ram on my machine, two sticks of Geil. System works fine with one stick, which is what Im currently using. Now windows says I have two days to activate (again!). When I try to activate it says product key already in use. I assume this is because I already activated it.

Using OEM vista 64 bit ultimate. I would have thought ram change would have been allowed

I have some on order should be here by wed's, once its back in it takes it up to 2GB like it was when I first activated vista. Im wondering if it will be ok then. I tried to search for an answer on here but im not so sure. If any one has any experience please throw it at me!!

BubbySoup · 20 Feb 2007 at 01:57

I think a call to MS will be in order for you.

Sorry.

rare · 20 Feb 2007 at 01:58

I guess so

All I have is the number for the automated system. I hope they can help. I will wait until the new ram comes through on wed's and see what happens when I put that in.

-Mike- · 20 Feb 2007 at 14:08

/me strokes XP.

Vista seems very VERY picky.

Psypher5 · 20 Feb 2007 at 14:13

vista phone system is like the xp one, automated and simple. You maybe sent to a guy to talk to, but they just ask basics.

As easy to reactivate as XP is.

gareth170 · 20 Feb 2007 at 15:34

hi

i installed a new hdd and vista needed me to call microsoft, i entered the hardware id numbers in to the phone then a guy came on and he gave me the activate id without any problems. then i asked about the activate over internet and he said every vista key will activate only once over the internet same as xp.. and he said everytime i format my hdd i will just need to call MS to reactivate vista..

Energize · 20 Feb 2007 at 16:30

Why do they make people go through the hassle of phoning up instead of doing it over the internet? Do they want to waste loads of money on call centres?

dirtydog · 20 Feb 2007 at 16:43

gareth170 said:
and he said everytime i format my hdd i will just need to call MS to reactivate vista..

Really? That isn't like XP then, as far as I know. I have reactivated XP online, on my machine.

wormvortex · 20 Feb 2007 at 16:45

dirtydog said:
Really? That isn't like XP then, as far as I know. I have reactivated XP online, on my machine.

with xp it depends what you change and maybe how many times you reformat. I reinstalled xp about 5times and had to phone them up one of those times and the guy simply gave me a code and away I went.

Steve Watford · 20 Feb 2007 at 17:33

wormvortex said:
with xp it depends what you change and maybe how many times you reformat. I reinstalled xp about 5times and had to phone them up one of those times and the guy simply gave me a code and away I went.

Mine went for a good 10 reformats and then activated another 5 times using a backup .wpa file I had stored. But that was the limit i guess. I got put through to an indian call centre and the connection was very shoddy, I could barly make out what he was saying, had to phone up a 2nd time because I heard the cdkey wrong

DanMc07 · 20 Feb 2007 at 17:45

wormvortex said:
with xp it depends what you change and maybe how many times you reformat. I reinstalled xp about 5times and had to phone them up one of those times and the guy simply gave me a code and away I went.

Ive reformated like 20 times over a cupple of years and havent had to call them up once to reactivate my oem xp :cool:

I would have thought a ram change would have let you activate though, seems like it you will be able to reactivate, like xp, with no problems

Posty · 20 Feb 2007 at 17:51

I have a OEM Vista home premium and today had to reinstall it as i installed a new CPU (RMA as my c2d 6300 died) and a new HDD and i had no problems installing and activating Vista

rare · 20 Feb 2007 at 18:19

I have never had to do this, even with XP!

I will just phone the number vista gives you and try that. I was a bit worried when it told me my key was already in use. You dont say !! Im using it!!

gareth170 · 23 Feb 2007 at 14:23

dirtydog said:
Really? That isn't like XP then, as far as I know. I have reactivated XP online, on my machine.

yes its same as xp... even when i called microsoft the guy said its same as xp.. if u haven't changed your hardware or if u format your pc after every 120days then xp will reactivate over the internet.

rare said:
I have never had to do this, even with XP!

I will just phone the number vista gives you and try that. I was a bit worried when it told me my key was already in use. You dont say !! Im using it!!

no need to worry just call microsoft and they'll activate it without any problems..

Supercow · 23 Feb 2007 at 14:24

I reset my Bios, and I needed to re-activate

deadite66 · 8 Mar 2007 at 10:02

i had this today.
added an extra 1gb and had to speak to someone in india to reactivate.
what a pain.

caister · 8 Mar 2007 at 10:28

I reinstalled vista yesterday due to a self inflicted problem that I couldnt be hassled with solving. I did a total format and it activated fine. I also added 2Gb of ram after I had already activated the first time and it never questioned it.

barnettgs · 8 Mar 2007 at 10:35

Wow...that is a lot worse than XP! You don't need to re-activate XP if you changed RAM etc. How about testing your friend's RAM?

I don't think I would bother with Vista unless Microsoft sort this stupid activation out!

bikes · 8 Mar 2007 at 10:48

barnettgs said:
I don't think I would bother with Vista unless Microsoft sort this stupid activation out!

I dont see why you see it as a big deal :confused:

I couldnt care less if I had to activate a hundred times. As long as you have a proper license, why worry.

barnettgs · 8 Mar 2007 at 11:10

bikes said:
I dont see why you see it as a big deal

I couldnt care less if I had to activate a hundred times. As long as you have a proper license, why worry.

Well, automatic activation is fine but a phone call to Microsoft is a time consuming if you did a ram change or a slight fiddling with system!