Ah, Vista Vista Vista...

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MrE

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So, I finally got around to updating my eVGA motherboard BIOS tonight, only to be greeted by Vista telling me that there were major hardware changes to the system, and I had 3 days to re-activate my license. A BIOS update did this? WTF?!! I'm not sure how the Vendor ID and Vendor subsystem ID changed that radically with a BIOS update, but I digress. I was using my MSDN key and it wouldn't re-activate.

Good thing I had a full version copy of Vista Ultimate that I bought off of a buddy of mine that works at Microsoft. One thing that was interesting about the ordeal was the fact that it allowed me to go from MSDN to Full retail. This is something new as MSDN used to get flagged as OEM software and not full retail Therefore, the keys weren't interchangeable.

Anyways, just wanted to let people know that a BIOS update, at least on my EVGA 680i board, may trigger a re-activation for Vista users.
 
MrE said:
So, I finally got around to updating my eVGA motherboard BIOS tonight, only to be greeted by Vista telling me that there were major hardware changes to the system, and I had 3 days to re-activate my license. A BIOS update did this? WTF?!! I'm not sure how the Vendor ID and Vendor subsystem ID changed that radically with a BIOS update, but I digress. I was using my MSDN key and it wouldn't re-activate.

Good thing I had a full version copy of Vista Ultimate that I bought off of a buddy of mine that works at Microsoft. One thing that was interesting about the ordeal was the fact that it allowed me to go from MSDN to Full retail. This is something new as MSDN used to get flagged as OEM software and not full retail Therefore, the keys weren't interchangeable.

Anyways, just wanted to let people know that a BIOS update, at least on my EVGA 680i board, may trigger a re-activation for Vista users.
Click to expand...

It changes your MAC address I believe.
 
Look at it from your OS's perspective - you updated your BIOS which appears to change your:

Chipset (northbridge/southbridge)
-Memory controller
-IDE/SATA Controller
Onboard Video (possibly)
Ethernet
Sound

Basically, it looks like a new computer :)

But activating over the phone only takes about 2 minutes.

Also, thread title is inaccurate. This happens with XP as well.
 
calebb said:
Look at it from your OS's perspective - you updated your BIOS which appears to change your:

Chipset (northbridge/southbridge)
-Memory controller
-IDE/SATA Controller
Onboard Video (possibly)
Ethernet
Sound

Basically, it looks like a new computer :)

But activating over the phone only takes about 2 minutes.

Also, thread title is inaccurate. This happens with XP as well.
Click to expand...


No, it doesn't change any of those. Each piece of hardware gets a Vendor ID and a subsystem Vendor ID. Those are static ID's for the OS and drivers to identify. Changing my MAC address makes more sense.

As far as XP doing this, I've never had a point of updating my BIOS cause a trigger for re-activation with WinXP. So, I think the title of my thread is pretty accurate.
 
I've updated the bios on my motherboard many times and it never triggered XP activation. Activation is broke and always has been. I've had re-activation trigger on me a few times for no apparent reason, well ok, Starforce caused it is my suspicion.
 
It's more accurate to say:

"Vista is more watchful over BIOS updates because Vista uses an activation scheme that is tied into the BIOS and ACPI systems on current motherboards more so than XP ever was. Vista's activation routines, especially where OEM hardware and machines are concerned, becomes directly relative towards activation and not only hardware changes but BIOS upgrades as well, especially in light of all the BIOS emulation activation workarounds that now flood the Internet on a regular basis."

'Nuff typed.
 
MrE said:
..Anyways, just wanted to let people know that a BIOS update, at least on my EVGA 680i board, may trigger a re-activation for Vista users.
...

..No, it doesn't change any of those. Each piece of hardware gets a Vendor ID and a subsystem Vendor ID. Those are static ID's for the OS and drivers to identify. Changing my MAC address makes more sense.
Click to expand...

Yep it could well trigger reactivation more easily than activation under XP was triggered. Bear in mind, though, that as well as a MAC address change a BIOS update will often reset CMOS, enabling some onboard features which were previously disabled in BIOS, and thus creating a genuine 'hardware has changed' circumstance. In other words, despite the lack of actually physically removing or fitting components, component changes have been made to occur.
 
Thought you guys were saying Vista is more tolerant about re-activation a few months back? That's what I seem to remember reading here. Seems you have changed your tune now.
 
montypythizzle said:
It changes your MAC address I believe.
Click to expand...


Incorrect. MAC addresses are hardcoded onto every NIC and are not updated or changed during a BIOS flash. They are like SSNs and would be like saying everytime you changed your clothes you got a new SSN? No. There is some schema that M$ uses to determine what changes are made during a BIOS upgrade that will cause you to reactivate your OS.

I have gone through 8 different BIOS revisions on my Mobo. 5 with XP and 3 using Vista Ultimate and it never asked me to reactivate. I am also using MSDN keys.
 
Gatticus said:
Thought you guys were saying Vista is more tolerant about re-activation a few months back? That's what I seem to remember reading here. Seems you have changed your tune now.
Click to expand...

Link please.
 
Gatticus said:
Thought you guys were saying Vista is more tolerant about re-activation a few months back? That's what I seem to remember reading here. Seems you have changed your tune now.
Click to expand...
If the comments you refer to are the ones I think they are then you have misunderstood them.

Microsoft has become more tolerant toward reactivation. They will now not only allow but make rather straightforward reactivation scenarios which were very problemmatic under XP. The OEM 'motherboard change' for starters. Microsoft has now formally acknowledged the circumstance of owner/builders, who are effectively their own support service. They've explicitly stated that they don't intend to make life impossible for such people. There's an acknowledgement there that, in the event of a motherboard dying, it likely won't be replaced by the exact same make and model of motherboard. Owner/builders aren't in the position of holding stocks of components against the event of repairs and replacements. Just as large OEM assemblers do, home builders can designate what board is going to be the 'suitable replacement component'.

The activation centre procedures have been simplified. You now basically only get asked one or two questions. It ain't like it was in earlier days.


Whether it goes tjhrough as automatic online activation or instead requires a telephone activation is a different consideration. If the machine fails to automatically activate that doesn't mean that activation itself has somehow been 'blocked'. Not at all.

Nowadays you are more likely to easily achieve activation. If you're also more likely to be doing that activation over the telephone then so what?

Far as I recall, those earlier discussions you mention didn't carry claims that automatic activation would go through more often than before.
 
Funny but I had to re-activate earlier this week due to updating my ATI Drivers. Simple though just click re-activate and she was done. Not sure if it was a coincidence that I just updated the drivers or if that is some strange 6 months after install BS! Did not happen on my laptop or wife's laptop, only difference is the PC has 64 bit on it. All Vista Business.
 
The other thing that people really need to get over is the silliness in the reponses to "Key is already in use" messages.

Goodness! I've even seen people carrying on with tales of woe about being "told to by=uy a new key" in response to those!

That's silly. It's only an error message giving a generic reason why automatic activation has been blocked. Of course the key is in use. You've used it, the first time you activated. Whatever the 'changes' were which triggered re-activation, they've made the install look like it's on a different machine. Automatic activation isn't going through because YOUR key is being protected!

A phone call quickly sorts it out.
 
Catweazle said:
The other thing that people really need to get over is the silliness in the reponses to "Key is already in use" messages.

Goodness! I've even seen people carrying on with tales of woe about being "told to by=uy a new key" in response to those!

That's silly. It's only an error message giving a generic reason why automatic activation has been blocked. Of course the key is in use. You've used it, the first time you activated. Whatever the 'changes' were which triggered re-activation, they've made the install look like it's on a different machine. Automatic activation isn't going through because YOUR key is being protected!

A phone call quickly sorts it out.
Click to expand...

Anyone can make the phone call, now how exactly does that protect the key? :D
 
MrE said:
As far as XP doing this, I've never had a point of updating my BIOS cause a trigger for re-activation with WinXP. So, I think the title of my thread is pretty accurate.
Click to expand...

It still does happen in XP. I've been prompted for it twice.
 
sKiDmArK said:
It still does happen in XP. I've been prompted for it twice.
Click to expand...

I find that interesting. I used to admin a test lab with 150 machines I was in charge of. It required OS images on each machine, hardware updates, BIOS, etc... In each case I had to do BIOS updates, I never received a trigger for re-activation. Physical hardware changes, yes and is totally understandable, but not for BIOS.

I know that Microsoft creates a Hash index of your key components (controller, NIC, graphics, CPU), and after reading what changed from my BIOS P23 to P28, it looks as if the CPU OP code in the BIOS changed to fix some timing issues that caused certain memory manufacturer's modules to fail to detect depending on CPU type. Maybe that was my trigger. Anyways, thanks guys.
 
djnes said:
For that many machines, one would hope that a VLK license was used, in which there's never any activation to be done.
Click to expand...

For a test lab though, one would want to have the exact configuration, including OS licensing, that would be use implemented once the system (or whatever was being test) moved beyond test lab. So a VLK may not have been an option in his situation.
 
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