Win 7 expired, validation required & possible Conficker contamination

Chappy · 02 Apr 2009

Sam said:

Well does Bkindtoall have the Conficker, since he didn't activate Windows he wouldn't of received the patch. Therefore making him a prime target of the worm. So is he in a double bind now that he can't visit the MS website to activate Windows.

And that's exactly why they need to reinstall clean, to both get rid of any possible infection ASAP and to get a clean working copy of W7 that can then be activated.

@NightHawk - My build 7000 (d'loaded from MS Connect) needed a beta key they provided to activate the install, and so has 7022, 7036, 7048, 7057, and now 7068 (none from MS..

) all needed my beta key to activate the install. The only thing I can think of why you don't is that you got a pre-activated copy from a P2P site. I personally would Never d'load a copy that someone has mucked around with...removed watermarks, activation cracks..etc. If they did that, what else did they do...
I make sure my d'loads match the MD5 or SHA of the original iso, which are easily found on tech blogs. If no match-ee, no install-ee

bkindtoall · 02 Apr 2009

Night hawk, I don't think I have Conficker, as I was able to get back to XP using my other HD (I had done a mirror copy months before but wasn't sure if it was any good.) But as for Win 7, I could not activate. The dvd I'm using is the one I downloaded initially to put win 7 on my laptop. Which has been working fine since installation. I tried as many ways to get activated as possible, and at this point have reloaded win 7 more than 4 times (so I don't think the 5 limit was exceeded at least initially when I began getting the error.) I've sent a feedback message to ms on this. My last idea is to create a boot disk, reformat, then install. I figure clearing the hd completely might clear whatever is triggering the failed activation. At this point I've almost got the 7000/32 activation code memorized! :) do you have any other ideas or pointers that could help? thx

Chappy · 02 Apr 2009

Hi

That's the first time we've actually heard you tell us that you DO have a key to activate the OS, so now we know that something killed your activation and that's info we need.
The limit is 5 machines and not 5 reinstallations so that's not the cause.
Let us know what happens after you reinstall and activate again, if the problem resurfaces.

Lordbob75 · 02 Apr 2009

Chappy said:

Hi

That's the first time we've actually heard you tell us that you DO have a key to activate the OS, so now we know that something killed your activation and that's info we need.
The limit is 5 machines and not 5 reinstallations so that's not the cause.
Let us know what happens after you reinstall and activate again, if the problem resurfaces.

That does indeed change things.

Definitely do a reinstall, and activate IMMEDIATELY. From there, keep note of EXACTLY what and when you install, and you will know what caused the dropped activation. If you were indeed infected, then problem solved. :)

~Lordbob

Night Hawk · 02 Apr 2009

Chappy said:

@NightHawk - My build 7000 (d'loaded from MS Connect) needed a beta key they provided to activate the install, and so has 7022, 7036, 7048, 7057, and now 7068 (none from MS..

) all needed my beta key to activate the install. The only thing I can think of why you don't is that you got a pre-activated copy from a P2P site. I personally would Never d'load a copy that someone has mucked around with...removed watermarks, activation cracks..etc. If they did that, what else did they do...
I make sure my d'loads match the MD5 or SHA of the original iso, which are easily found on tech blogs. If no match-ee, no install-ee

Your thinking is quite a bit off there since both the 32bit and 64bit 7000s came through the same download pages you reach when going to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...-download.aspx obviously only seeing the two product keys one for each since 2/12/09.

The Home Premium 32/64 and Server 2008 builds were later downloaded from Connect where you can still get the Ultimate as well if already signed for testing. I highly doubt any of those were preactivated.

The only possible reason for not seeing it simply hang up would be from not regularly booting into that install other then to make sure it was running, see the necessary device drivers installed, and try a few programs out on it to see if those would run like tuner card software and still no picture.

Lordbob75 · 02 Apr 2009

Night Hawk said:

Your thinking is quite a bit off there since both the 32bit and 64bit 7000s came through the same download pages you reach when going to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...-download.aspx obviously only seeing the two product keys one for each since 2/12/09.

The Home Premium 32/64 and Server 2008 builds were later downloaded from Connect where you can still get the Ultimate as well if already signed for testing. I highly doubt any of those were preactivated.

The only possible reason for not seeing it simply hang up would be from not regularly booting into that install other then to make sure it was running, see the necessary device drivers installed, and try a few programs out on it to see if those would run like tuner card software and still no picture.

He never said he got them from anywhere else.... Also, there are only like 6 different beta keys (or something like that) out there. From M$ anyways. He said that they all needed to be activated as well..... What are you reading??

~Lordbob

Night Hawk · 02 Apr 2009

Lordbob75 said:

He never said he got them from anywhere else.... Also, there are only like 6 different beta keys (or something like that) out there. From M$ anyways. He said that they all needed to be activated as well..... What are you reading??

~Lordbob

Simply the mention of downloading any "preactivated" 7? The 7000 builds(32bit, 64bit) came directly from the MS public download page being the Ultimate downloads. The 32bit was able to connect online using the existing dsl connection to see that activated with the 32bit key still seen at...

Need your key?

We're sorry, Windows 7 Beta downloads are no longer available. If you've got a copy of the Beta and need a key, here's where to look.
Find your product key

Later someone pointed out the connect download page still saw the 7000 builds available at connect. You can only activate the Ultimate edition however. The dozen total keys(32bit=6, 64bit=6) saw 6 tried out on the Home Premium and Business installs for a no go on those.

The list of 6 numbers for 32bit and 64bit include those found there while having apparently been provided to regular testers not just those who signed for the 7000s back in January.

bkindtoall · 06 Apr 2009

I was able to resolve this. And it was ridiculously simple. First I manually reformated the hd and did a clean install. It didn't work. Same problem. So I went and did some more research and found that when it validates, it also essentially sends out a hardware signature. I assume that my 'hardware signature' had been tagged as expired. I then tried to install win 7 without it connecting to the internet, but it doesn't give you a choice. So finally I disconnected my jack from the pc and did an install. And low and behold, it worked! I am now the happy tester of a second machine running win 7. Bizarre but true!!

petrossa · 06 Apr 2009

Night Hawk said:

The screen you see above is from the January installation still on and running 3 months later without activation. I'm presently waiting to see it actually reach that part when I can finally get online with any 64bit OS to start with by changing the ISP here.

your screenshot shows TimerNuke has been installed on your os.
When TimerNuke deactivates the software protection service windows always displays: this copy is not genuine.

Night Hawk · 06 Apr 2009

petrossa said:

your screenshot shows TimerNuke has been installed on your os.
When TimerNuke deactivates the software protection service windows always displays: this copy is not genuine.

That wouldn't explain the "past allowed time for activation" message that suddenly started appearing when booting into it more. Now all the clean install just seen is would be a working online connection since everything else seems to be doing well.

That now includes seeing a picture along with the sound for the tv tuner card. That won't be good for some however.