Q: The title says it all. I have windows running for anything less than a month after a fresh format. No significant changes since then until today when I get a new DVD burner installed to replace my old broken one.
After I finish restarting, it asks me to restart Windows to activate it, because I have made “significant changes” to my hardware. Whats going on? I thought I could make up to 9 hardware changes before I have to reactivate, and this change is causing problems?
Anybody any idea what causes this? The last time I was a single stick of ram as it happened well.
Cliffs:
1) Install the new DVD burner (only made hardware change)
2), Windows asks me again due to significant hardware change.
3) WTF?
Best Answer: Sounds like that is exactly what you got..a trial version. Call HP or email them immidiately and scream at them (politley)
See if they will provide you the info as to whether the vista was indeed a trial version. I am sure onc ehtey deny it they will then tell you to call Microsoft. There, they will ask for your model number ans serial of your PC and they should be able to provide you with the appropriate activation code.
Re:All the facts about how activation works is on the web site.
What is not on that web site is one limitation of activation! That is that about 4 months after activation, the record of your system will be removed from the database that monitors activations. So, you will be able to activate like a new system.
That may be why you have been able to do all of that like many others without having to re-activate. But, re-activation is required if all those conditions (as described) are true if you do not wait 4 months!
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Installing a new DVD drive can very well require re-activation if it is the master optical drive that you are changing and if you have changed other components since you first activated. So can installing more RAM (changing the RAM size), again if you have changed other components since you first activated.
But, if that is the only thing you have changed since you first activated, it makes no sense!
You can run xpinfo to see which components have changed on your computer since the first activation.
http://www.licenturion.com/xp/
You can read about what is monitored by XP to figure out if re-activation is required here.
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/activation_faq.mspx
From that page:
"How does product activation determine tolerance? In other words, how many components of the PC must change before I am required to reactivate?
Common changes to hardware such as upgrading a video card, adding a second hard disk drive, adding RAM or upgrading a CD-ROM device will not require the system to be reactivated.
Specifically, product activation determines tolerance through a voting mechanism. There are 10 hardware characteristics used in creating the hardware hash. Each characteristic is worth one vote, except the network card which is worth three votes. When thinking of tolerance, it's easiest to think about what has not changed instead of what has changed. When the current hardware hash is compared to the original hardware hash, there must be 7 or more matching points for the two hardware hashes to be considered in tolerance. If the network card is the same, then only 4 additional characteristics must match (because the network card is worth 3, for a total of 7). If the network card is not the same, then a total of 7 characteristics other than the network card must be the same. If the device is a laptop (specifically a dockable device), additional tolerance is allotted and there need be only 4 or more matching points. Therefore, if the device is dockable and the network card is the same, only one other characteristic must be the same for a total vote of 4. If the device is dockable and the network card is not the same, then a total of 4 characteristics other than the network card must be the same".
"What are the 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware hash?
The 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware hash are: Display Adapter, SCSI Adapter, IDE Adapter, Network Adapter MAC Address, RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc), Processor Type, Processor Serial Number, Hard Drive Device, Hard Drive Volume Serial Number, CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM".
I done all those things and never had to reactivte my XP Pro. Weird glitch, maybe you are a victim of hardware profiling. 
Re:Installing a new DVD drive can very well require re-activation if it is the master optical drive that you are changing and if you have changed other components since you first activated. So can installing more RAM (changing the RAM size), again if you have changed other components since you first activated.
But, if that is the only thing you have changed since you first activated, it makes no sense!
You can run xpinfo to see which components have changed on your computer since the first activation.
http://www.licenturion.com/xp/
You can read about what is monitored by XP to figure out if re-activation is required here.
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/activation_faq.mspx
From that page:
"How does product activation determine tolerance? In other words, how many components of the PC must change before I am required to reactivate?
Common changes to hardware such as upgrading a video card, adding a second hard disk drive, adding RAM or upgrading a CD-ROM device will not require the system to be reactivated.
Specifically, product activation determines tolerance through a voting mechanism. There are 10 hardware characteristics used in creating the hardware hash. Each characteristic is worth one vote, except the network card which is worth three votes. When thinking of tolerance, it's easiest to think about what has not changed instead of what has changed. When the current hardware hash is compared to the original hardware hash, there must be 7 or more matching points for the two hardware hashes to be considered in tolerance. If the network card is the same, then only 4 additional characteristics must match (because the network card is worth 3, for a total of 7). If the network card is not the same, then a total of 7 characteristics other than the network card must be the same. If the device is a laptop (specifically a dockable device), additional tolerance is allotted and there need be only 4 or more matching points. Therefore, if the device is dockable and the network card is the same, only one other characteristic must be the same for a total vote of 4. If the device is dockable and the network card is not the same, then a total of 4 characteristics other than the network card must be the same".
"What are the 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware hash?
The 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware hash are: Display Adapter, SCSI Adapter, IDE Adapter, Network Adapter MAC Address, RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc), Processor Type, Processor Serial Number, Hard Drive Device, Hard Drive Volume Serial Number, CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM".
Re:I agree with guy, this seems to be a glitch. I've never had to reactivate for minor changes.
Re:Has nothing to do with the NUMBER of hardware changes. Activation is triggered when a certain number of key hardware changes are made after rebooting.
However installing a new DVD drive alone should not have triggered a reactivation. Adding a stick of ram shouldn't either. I do computer repair work and I upgrade drives and memory all the time. I'd say you experienced some kind of glitch.
Irregardless you shouldn't have had any problem re-activating.
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