After five years revalidation required?

[JBruyet]

Hey all, a friend of mine had his computer (AMajorBrand <-- I don't want to say what the brand is) quit working and when he called AMajorBrand support he was told that since his license is more than five years old he's going to need to buy a license update (he's the original owner). I've never heard of this. I asked him if maybe he called a number off of a website and he said the number he called came off of the AMajorBrand documentation that came with his computer. Has anyone else had an experience like this?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[rclarke250]

nope, never, but I only repair "AMajorBrand" computers, I don't use any of them, I build my own. But I would start with maybe actually reading the EULA that came with the computer, it should state if the license is only good for 5 years.

 

[vacunita]

Are you sure it was a License and not a Warranty?

Warranties expire, and can be renewed to keep receiving support.

Licenses on computers make absolutely no sense. As they are not licensing (authorizing) you to do anything. They sell you a piece of equipment and that's it. Heck even Windows Licenses don't expire in that manner.



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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[JBruyet]

rclarke250, good idea. I'll ask him if he still has his EULA. Hopefully he doesn't toss them like I do.

vacunita, yeah it was the license because his computer won't run now but it COULD have been a warranty issue too. He was told that they could sell him another license that would enable his computer to run again (he even went to a local shop that agreed with the licensing issue and they said they could help him out for about twice what the AMajorBrand guys said). That was when I asked him where he got the phone number--I thought it was some kind of malware redirection but he said the number came off of the original documentation.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[vacunita]

That does not make sense at all. It just suddenly stopped running?

What OS was/is on it?

And what happens when he tries to run it?


----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[JBruyet]

vacunita, the computer has XP Pro installed and yeah it just quit running. I wasn't paying close enough attention to what he was saying because I was dumbfounded that he was told a couple of times that his license had expired. I will talk to him and try to get some more specifics about what happened (and I'll pay attention this time).

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[strongm]

I think there's some crossed wires here.

What happened as I recall back at the beginning of 2005 was that Microsoft withdrew Internet activation for OEM Windows XP - so, in other words, a copy of pre-installed OEM XP older than 5 years cannot be reactivated over the internet. It would require a call to Microsoft instead. However the System Recovery disk normally provided by the OEM does not require activation.

I am unaware of any other time limit on XP licenses

 

[linney]

If you have access to the operating system, perhaps via Safe Mode if not in Normal Mode, see if running the Microsoft Genuine Advantage tool throws up any irregularities?

MGA Diagnostic Tool Reports blocked key

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/...p/thread/4fb024bd-7d42-47af-827d-620f568fd783

Whilst I have seen Activation and Validation problems occur, messages stating that a License has expired are not that common.


"Error Code: 0x80070002" Error Message Cites License-Checking Issue After Upgrade on Dell Computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q310794

Try reregestering these two License Dll's from Start Run.

regsvr32.exe regwizc.dll
Enter
regsvr32.exe licdll.dll
Enter