Adding RAM caused Vista to "de-activate"
I went from 2 gigs ram to 4 gigs in my Alienware laptop today (see sig), and Vista Ultimate 64 bit (System builders, OEM, version from New Egg) "deactivated" and gave me that "You have 3 days to activate windows or it will stop working..." error message.
So, of course, I click Activate Windows, use the on line option, and I get another error message saying "This version of windows has already been activated on another PC... click here to buy a new copy of Windows". Can you believe that crap??!!
So, I try several more times, get the same error, and then I try the "activate with the telephone option", in lieu of calling customer support for 59 bucks.
A screen pops up with a 1-800 number to call, and a long code of numbers generated. I call the number, and was routed to somewhere in India. The woman asked me for the numbers on my screen, which i read, and she then said that my product key has already been activated on another computer. I said, "no, it is my same computer, I just added more ram." Finally, she reads me a string of numbers to input into the window, and then wala, my Vista Ultimate 64 bit activated again.
What a joke. Suppose I want to benchmark my computer with 2 gigs vs 4 gigs. Am I going to have to go through this each time? Suppose my laptop gets banged around a bit, and one ram dimm comes loose, so the next time I boot it, it has 2 gigs instead of 4. Same freaking hassle. Microsoft really needs to loosen this s h I T up.
And they wonder why guys have the nerve to pirate and hack their OS...
Sorry for the rant.
So, of course, I click Activate Windows, use the on line option, and I get another error message saying "This version of windows has already been activated on another PC... click here to buy a new copy of Windows". Can you believe that crap??!!
So, I try several more times, get the same error, and then I try the "activate with the telephone option", in lieu of calling customer support for 59 bucks.
A screen pops up with a 1-800 number to call, and a long code of numbers generated. I call the number, and was routed to somewhere in India. The woman asked me for the numbers on my screen, which i read, and she then said that my product key has already been activated on another computer. I said, "no, it is my same computer, I just added more ram." Finally, she reads me a string of numbers to input into the window, and then wala, my Vista Ultimate 64 bit activated again.
What a joke. Suppose I want to benchmark my computer with 2 gigs vs 4 gigs. Am I going to have to go through this each time? Suppose my laptop gets banged around a bit, and one ram dimm comes loose, so the next time I boot it, it has 2 gigs instead of 4. Same freaking hassle. Microsoft really needs to loosen this s h I T up.
And they wonder why guys have the nerve to pirate and hack their OS...
Sorry for the rant.
Comments
This also effectively prevents you from running a Bootcamp partition under Parallels or VMWare as every time you tweak any VM setting or even boot directly into Windows the machine is considered different and the activation terminates.
Adding RAM caused Vista to "de-activate"
That's all I have to say.