Vista deactivation due to hardware change

Straight forward cowboys and indians here :p

If delhi dont ask they dont get, i have called after a bios update and a ram upgrade and the first human words spoken were

"Hi sir what is your re-activation number"

Result - Cowboys win :cool:

If microsoft expect us to obey and understand OEM they should at least do us the courtesy of having someone on the end of the phone who knows it inside out?

you busy burnsy?? ;)
 
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If you have to reactivate over the phone and later have to do a reinstall, does the origanal key work or should you keep a note of the code given over the phone?
 
gizmoy2k said:
Straight forward cowboys and indians here :p

If delhi dont ask they dont get, i have called after a bios update and a ram upgrade and the first human words spoken were

"Hi sir what is your re-activation number"

Result - Cowboys win :cool:

If microsoft expect us to obey and understand OEM they should at least do us the courtesy of having someone on the end of the phone who knows it inside out?

you busy burnsy?? ;)
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What if they offer free ring-dings?

:D
 
philhoole said:
In that case why not make it all so simple and easy.

1. OEM is locked to the motherboard - All other hardware changes are irellevant and so no reactivation required.

2. Retail again locks to the motherboard BUT with the ability to transfer to a new motherboard. The original system is no longer licensed.

I guess it's their OS and they can enforce what they like but surely the above is less irritating to end users and they still sell as many licenses?

The other option is that they stop end users being able to purchase OEM licenses.

BTW - Is there anywhere where MS state the exact reacivation trigger rules?
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There are many issues with what you've suggested. Firstly, how would you lock it to the motherboard? Large OEMs can do this with small BIOS programs, but small system builders don't have the facility to do this. And why would MS want to limit sales of legitimate OEM licences?

Burnsy
 
Burnsy2023 said:
There are many issues with what you've suggested. Firstly, how would you lock it to the motherboard? Large OEMs can do this with small BIOS programs, but small system builders don't have the facility to do this. And why would MS want to limit sales of legitimate OEM licences?

Burnsy
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As I understood it, each BIOS has a unique serial number which in conjunction with the make and model could be used to create a unique hash number for activation. Is this not the case ? A bit like the MAC number of a NIC. I have other software which I 've purchased where the license is locked to this.
 
longshanks said:
Well, my mate has replaced his mobo several times while using Vista OEM (Not through RMA's) and Microsoft didn't stop him from activating it again and again. As for the arguement that it is 'Not Licensed / Legal' if they activate it because you lied, well, how many people are going to lose sleep over that? All most if not all people want is to get the version activated again. How many people actually read the EULA? How many people actually care about the EULA?

As was metioned earlier, i think Microsoft are not bothered about the average guy who has bought his version of Vista be it OEM or Retail and ringing up to get it re-activated. I think they are more concerned with the pirate people out there.
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It's not just Microsoft losing revenue though, it's companies like Overclockers.

The Microsoft (and other publishers to be fair) licensing system is based to a large degree on trust. At the end of the day no matter what the excuses it just comes down to your own morals and if you are happy to be dishonest or not. /shrug

As with most things, just because you are unlikely to get caught doing something doesn't make it right.
 
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Just had to do this myself

Tried to upgrade the memory to 4GB - turned out to be faulty - so went back to 2GB. Updated the BIOS too and promptly needed to re-activate on the phone.

Should have I written down the code I was given? Would that work in the future? Just wondering as I haven't but when the new memory arrives and I'll upgrade to 4GB it might ask me to activate again (and fail online again). Frustrating!

I didn't have these issues with XP x64 OEM
 
ajgoodfellow said:
Should have I written down the code I was given? Would that work in the future? Just wondering as I haven't but when the new memory arrives and I'll upgrade to 4GB it might ask me to activate again (and fail online again).
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Na, AFAIK it will always be different :)
 
metalmackey said:
I cant say where I got the PC from, but no it wasnt a big well known supplier. Even 1 from OC with XP Pro didnt ask me though.
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All OEMs that sell Windows to an end user must use the preinstallation kit. If they do not they are in violation of the System Builder licence. The preinstallation kit WILL ask you to accept the EULA.

Burnsy
 
Well I promise you it didn't. It came activated, up-to-date. All I did is turn it on and put a password on my user account. I have the CD in a plastic DVD case thing.
 
vista is more "strict" than XP with hardware changes and with reactivation- on XP it is 7+ votes = no deactivate, and a NIC is 3, so assuming the motherboard is the same, basically 4 other things needed to stay the same for no deactivation, and the if it doesnt deactivate in a period of 120 days but a piece of hardware changes, the "ID" of all the hardware resets so only very big or fairly close to eachother upgrades deactivate - ive seen afew articles about how vista considers driver updates a hardware change, i can MAYBE understand bios/firmware upgrades but not driver updates.
 
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