Vista Ultimate deactivated after BIOS and drivers update

I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD, ATI
Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it to
Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would trouble
with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed the
BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a notice
that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I tried
reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared telling me
that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to proceed
with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune for
a new product key. Thanks.

You can get started with phone activation by typing "slui.exe 4"
(w/o the quotes) in the Start Search box in the Start Menu and pressing
Enter.
The phone activation process takes about 6 minutes.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"racesurg" wrote:

I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD, ATI
Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it to
Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would trouble
with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed the
BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a notice
that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I tried
reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared telling me
that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to proceed
with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune for
a new product key. Thanks.

"racesurg" <> wrote in message
news:93625B99-BCF4-40F6-8C47-...
>I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD,
>ATI
> Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it
> to
> Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would
> trouble
> with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
> update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed
> the
> BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
> drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a notice
> that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I
> tried
> reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared telling
> me
> that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to
> proceed
> with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune
> for
> a new product key. Thanks.

Interesting. Where did you get your computer from?

ss.

"Synapse Syndrome" <> wrote in message
news:u%...
> "racesurg" <> wrote in message
> news:93625B99-BCF4-40F6-8C47-...
>>I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD,
>>ATI
>> Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it
>> to
>> Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would
>> trouble
>> with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
>> update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed
>> the
>> BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
>> drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a
>> notice
>> that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I
>> tried
>> reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared
>> telling me
>> that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to
>> proceed
>> with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune
>> for
>> a new product key. Thanks.
>
> Interesting. Where did you get your computer from?
>

Forget that, I realised that you got your Ultimate key from the update
thingy.

ss.

Thanks. I'll do that.
- racesurg

"Carey Frisch [MVP]" wrote:

> You can get started with phone activation by typing "slui.exe 4"
> (w/o the quotes) in the Start Search box in the Start Menu and pressing
> Enter.
> The phone activation process takes about 6 minutes.
>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Shell/User
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "racesurg" wrote:
>
> I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD, ATI
> Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it to
> Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would trouble
> with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
> update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed the
> BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
> drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a notice
> that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I tried
> reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared telling me
> that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to proceed
> with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune for
> a new product key. Thanks.
>

i got my laptop from a friend who bought it from a store in the Philippines,
with OEM XP Home Premium. Perhaps the BIOS change allowed Vista to install
the correct drivers for several drivers that make them seem like new hardware.

"Synapse Syndrome" wrote:

> "racesurg" <> wrote in message
> news:93625B99-BCF4-40F6-8C47-...
> >I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD,
> >ATI
> > Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it
> > to
> > Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would
> > trouble
> > with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
> > update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed
> > the
> > BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
> > drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a notice
> > that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I
> > tried
> > reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared telling
> > me
> > that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to
> > proceed
> > with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune
> > for
> > a new product key. Thanks.
>
> Interesting. Where did you get your computer from?
>
> ss.
>
>
>

Guess what, I uninstalled the last driver that I updated which was the
Silicon Image Serial ATA Controller, and voila I'm activated again. That was
one buggy driver, and to think it's from Windows Update. Thanks anyway.

"Synapse Syndrome" wrote:

> "Synapse Syndrome" <> wrote in message
> news:u%...
> > "racesurg" <> wrote in message
> > news:93625B99-BCF4-40F6-8C47-...
> >>I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD,
> >>ATI
> >> Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it
> >> to
> >> Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would
> >> trouble
> >> with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
> >> update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed
> >> the
> >> BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
> >> drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a
> >> notice
> >> that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I
> >> tried
> >> reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared
> >> telling me
> >> that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to
> >> proceed
> >> with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune
> >> for
> >> a new product key. Thanks.
> >
> > Interesting. Where did you get your computer from?
> >
>
> Forget that, I realised that you got your Ultimate key from the update
> thingy.
>
> ss.
>
>
>

Dear Carey,
I suspected that the culprit was the last driver I updated, which was ATI
4379 Serial ATA Controller from Silicon Image, which I got thru Windows
Update. Guess what, I unistalled and deleted the driver, and voila!!! I'm
activated again after reboot. Kindly advice tech staff to either delete or
update that driver because it probably made my hardware look really
different. Thanks.

racesurg


"Carey Frisch [MVP]" wrote:

> You can get started with phone activation by typing "slui.exe 4"
> (w/o the quotes) in the Start Search box in the Start Menu and pressing
> Enter.
> The phone activation process takes about 6 minutes.
>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Shell/User
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "racesurg" wrote:
>
> I have an MSI S420 Core2Duo 1.83Ghz laptop w/ 1gig DDR2, 80gig SATA HDD, ATI
> Radeon Xpress 200M, and originally came w/ XP Home Premium. I updated it to
> Vista Ultimate and activated it online, only to find out that I would trouble
> with the Radeon and the SATA HDD drivers. MSI Tech Support advised me to
> update my BIOS by flashing with newer one on their site so I did. Indeed the
> BIOS update corrected my driver problems, and I was also able to update
> drivers thru Windows update. But later I was surprised to receive a notice
> that I have to reactivate Windows because my "hardware has changed". I tried
> reactivating online and was really troubled when a window appeared telling me
> that my product key is already in use. Whoa! What's the best way to proceed
> with this problem. I certainly do not want to spend another small fortune for
> a new product key. Thanks.
>