Re: activation issue

From: Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\) (user_at_#notme.com)
Date: 06/08/04 

Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 16:07:58 -0700

We haven't been alerted to anything specific by Microsoft. But, it's
certainly reasonable to make such a check if the system starts acting in the
way you describe. It doesn't surprise me that some users may be having
issues as a result of malware on their system, even problems with
activation. It's certainly something I'll start advising users to check
when I see this issue in the future, if for no other reason than to rule it
out. 

-- 
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
"Jerry" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:0904462E-7C3B-4268-A58A-E441C506B752@microsoft.com...
> Back on the original machine.
>
> Update: tried a repair/reinstall from the CD and took the "activate later" 
> option. After logging on, got the following message:
> "A problem has prevented windows from checking the status of the license 
> for this computer. to proceed, you copy of windows must be activated with 
> microsoft. do you want to activate windows now?" I clicked on Yes and 
> activated it via phone (no NIC on this machine). After activating, it got 
> to the desktop and displayed the "you are using msconfig" msg. After 
> reviewing that all was as I left it in msconfig startup (just Norton, 
> StarOffice startup, etc loading) I did a restart from the shutdown menu 
> and it got to the desktop after logging on.
>
> During my google searches, I see that a number of other folks are having 
> similar issues with the activation, with various 0x8... error codes, after 
> the product had initally been activated. In the two cases I've seen, some 
> kind of scumware may have been involved. One of them was connected to the 
> internet via DSL and its problems started after it spontaneously rebooted. 
> The virus scan for blaster/sasser was negative, and on that one the repair 
> reinstall and the recovery console procedure did not resolve the problem.
>
> What I'm getting around to asking... is Microsoft aware of any problems 
> with scumware upsetting the activation checking mechanism?
>
> Jerry
>
>
>
>
>
>     ----- Michael Solomon (MS-MVP Windows Shell/Us wrote: -----
>
>     When you have this issue, is it still slaved on the other machine or 
> is it
>     back on the original machine?
>
>     -- 
>     Michael Solomon MS-MVP
>     Windows Shell/User
>     Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
>     DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
>
>     "Jerry" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>     news:D6A8D601-1431-432C-9766-9B953E15AA34@microsoft.com...
>     >A customer's xp home machine would not boot to the logon screen (even 
> in
>     >safe mode), so after slaving the hard drive on another machine and 
> manually
>     >cleaning off the scumware (no viruses found by Norton) I finally got 
> it to
>     >boot, but shortly after logging on, got a message claiming that 
> windows
>     >needs to be activated, do you want to activate now? When I clicked on 
> yes,
>     >it said that there were insufficient resources and kicked back to the 
> logon
>     >screen. After using the recovery console procedure in kb306081, I got 
> it to
>     >go to the activation screen after logging on, got it activated and 
> all
>     >appeared to be well. I disabled one more piece of scumware in 
> msconfig,
>     >rebooted, and now it is back in the activation loop again, even after
>     >performing the procedure in kb306081 again. The difference is that 
> instead
>     >of telling you that it needs to be activated, I just get  a blank 
> dialog
>     >screen with a red X in it and an ok button. Same thing happens in 
> safe
>     >mode.
>     >> Not knowing what else to try before trying a repair reinstall, I 
> did the
>     > kb306081 procedure again, booted in safe mode, logged on the 
> administrator
>     > account, and now it acts like it is going to go to the desktop, but 
> then
>     > goes back to the logon screen without getting to the desktop.
>     >> Apart from the question as to why the activation mechanism is so 
> fragile
>     > (this is the second machine we've seen doing this in the past 
> month), does
>     > anyone know how to resolve this? In the previous case, a full format 
> of
>     > the hard drive and reinstall "fixed it" but it would be nice to have
>     > another option.
>     >> Jerry
>
>
>