Community Newsletter: Q&A forum: 8/25/06 Help! Windows Genuine Advantage issue

More and More I think everyone should start contacting lawyers and see If any of them would like to take on M S over the W G A and these other issues..

Sorry to hear of your problem. I was just writing to commiserate.

Heres my story;

I flashed my BIOS and it just never came back up, rendering my motherboard useless. I ordered a new motherboard, but after installing it when I launched the machine I got a pop-up stating I needed to register my copy of Windows.

No problem, I thought. My machine was approximately 1 year old and I thought that since I bought it that it was my machine with a legitimate copy of XP on the HARD DRIVE. But after calling Microsoft, I was told that since Id replaced the motherboard I had a new machine and that I should contact the manufacturer.

OK, eMachines should understand, so I give them a call. No go. They spouted a bunch of rhetoric that it was Microsoft preventing them from reissuing me my own license! What a load of BS! I screamed, I kicked, but all to no avail.

What I did in the end, although not quite honest, worked in my favor. I called Microsoft back, this time speaking to a different rep. This time I told them that my system failed and the included restore disk was asking for a valid license. This time they provided me the replacement license.

Anyway, I wont be buying from eMachines or any company that doesnt provide my own PHYSICAL disk of Windows. I have also since built my own system and obtained a legal copy of XPSP2 that is MINE, all mine. LOL

Dell desktop XP home system where we did not have the original system restore disk. Dell could not figure it out, even in India, Canada, and Texas. The user himself had previously talked to Dell to get the problem fixed, they extended his on-site maintenance contract, and I was ultimately able to use this with Dell to get US Austin based senior as well as on-site personnel involved.

To make a long story short, they ended up supplying their current copies of the system/support CD's, finally replaced each and every component of the system (not including the case, monitor & keyboard/mouse--all with Overnite delivery and on site support), and the problem was still not solved. By then, my consulting bill for a home user was way above what the system was worth--and with pressure, I was able to escalate with Dell to replace the whole system, with an on-site installer to make sure everything worked.

The user got the now current model of the system he had originally bought, the old hard disk data could be brought forward, and ultimately the user was back in business-Minus my cut rate fees that would have bought a new system, and many hours of agnst on everyone's part.

I later got agreement from the Austin tech folk that the problem was probably (lol at my suggestion) that the user bought the system at the end of a product cycle and it was propogated with XP Home basic version. MS issued a mandatory update to SP1, and Dell (believe it or not) discontinued all media supporting the original OS release and only had SP1 support available. Since they could not support the original OS (MS sure doesn't support it) they finally agreed to deliver the new system and ensure it was working as advertised.

The moral, if the seller/manufacturer cannot immediately diagnose and fix the problem, demand that they replace the system with something that works and makes the user whole (assuming the user is under some type of warranty). Don't waste anymore time or dollars.

If you or the user are still unsatisfied, cut your losses, salvage the usable parts or the system, shop carefully and verify warranty and service coverage, and buy the core parts of the system you need to make it work. If you are not techinically inclined, you might want to consider a local independent computer store that will stand behind their work. This should be well below the cost of a new system, and you will be well ahead of of the dollars curve with a more current configuration.

I had a worse problem several months ago. It was resolved at the last moment. Don't EVEN get me started ! Resultant from that fiasco, I made certain to have several copies of both the product key, and the product ID. Sure enough, about a month ago I hit the same problem as is being addressed. I could not update, the Microsoft Update site would not let me update.

Anticipating that very very soon I would next get the ''You have X days remaining to validate...'' message, I beat them to the punch. The machine was running 2x 1GB of PC 2100 RAM and a 250GB hard drive (C: ). I pulled one of the RAM sticks (it's running much better now) and added a spare 15GB hard drive (F: ). The moment I powered back up, the validation reminder popped up.

Entering the numbers did no good, so I called Microsoft. Believe it or not, the Microsoft employee was very easy to understand. (no accent) It was a very short and direct call. I explained that I had removed some RAM and added a second hard drive. He gave me the new numbers, I entered them, and was good to go. I then went back to Microsoft Updates, and had no problems at all.

The entire experience was infuriating, but until Linux can replace Windows I'm stuck. [I use a 1440x900 resolution monitor, and Abit Guru only does XP] It would have been much worse if I hadn't separately save the information from the previous misadventure.

To recap, I would try making radical changes to the system, call Microsoft, and revalidate the installation. If you don't have the previously mentioned numbers, you can download (free) Aida32 install it, and use it to get the numbers. It worked for me. It might work for you.

This is the first answer that has made sense yet.

I have been using linux for my day to day work for a couple of years now.

I switched my kids PC's to linux also. I have had zero virus on all of my linux machines for 2 years.

Just think of the money I have saved on virus protection alone!

I tried the live distros first to see if I thought I could use linux.

To see the latest linux distro's look here: www.distrowatch.com

I agree that Linux doesn't have the application support that Windows does, but for most people it's irrelevant. Think about your non-techie friends. Unless they play the newest 3d accelerated video games, they probably don't use any programs that don't have equivalents in the open source Linux distros.

I, personally, use Linux only in my DVR currently. I did use Linux as my only OS for a year, in 2000. It worked well, and I was quite happy with it. Now, I use Windows because of some of the programs I use but also because of the pain of configuring WiFi in Linux (don't blather about NDISWrapper, I don't have time for that sort of stuff any longer).

If I were using my computer on a hard-wired network, I'd at least have a dual-boot configuration with Windows as the non-default. Looking at the details emerging about Vista, I may not use any newer version of Windows beyond XP.

For those who use email, web browser, a little word processing, and maybe manage simple home finances, free software can replace 100% of their proprietary needs. Don't write off open source, but don't assume it's a panacea either.

My notebooks are both dual-boot, and I haven't booted windoze in months... The new VMware Server (free) eliminates the need, entirely...

Linksys makes wonderful wifi cards, some of the most reliable and well-supported around. Except in Linux. If you could name one wifi card with out-of-the-box Linux support (not via patches and such, but plug and play), I'd be glad to hear of it. Not that I'd buy new hardware to replace the perfectly good hardware I have, but it's nice to hear things steadily improve.

The person received a license to a manufacturer's OEM copy of Windows, which not only has software modifications but a different EULA as well. It is not the same as a retail copy of Windows. Thus, this falls under the same category as giving someone who purchased XP Home a copy of XP Professional...it's illegal.

John

I misunderstood what you said previously. However, there's still a potential problem since each manufacturer customizes their OS for the specific model and changes the third party software. Thus, you'd have to match the CD with the model intended.

John

And I had the original OEM installation discs, but for some odd reason, the updates and WGA just would not work. Tech ended up having to call Microsoft for a new activation key. And even if the computers had dodgy OS on them to begin with, the owners had brought legit XP install discs, and when that is installed it should overwrite the old information (especially if you rename the Windows\System\ directory).
I think calling MS for an assist on this is going to be your best bet.

I recently switched from using Windows/Microsoft Update to using Shavlik's NetChk Protect patch management software. Why? Because of the asinine WGA. I don't want that crap on my PC and laptop, which are running valid copies of Windows XP.

NetChk Protect is free for one year and I haven't had any problems with it as of yet. In addition to providing updates for Windows and Office, the software will search for and install updates for a number of other software programs. You can download the software from: http://www.shavlik.com/netchk-protect.aspx

ok for home users or is this a networking/corporate type of software?

According to Siteadvisor, the site at http://www.firewallleaktester.com/removewga.htm gives downloads that include such items as trojans and spyware, and should be avoided completely.

DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE WGA REMOVER

Siteadvisor is a very useful tool that tells you if a site is safe or not to visit or download things from. Get it at www.siteadvisor.com , for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

Check out MS artical Q918342