Windows 7 changed to non-activated

G'day.

I've just returned from work and booted my home computer, to find out my Windows 7 believes it self not to be activated. These are the pop-ups presented to me as shown below, as well as the MGADIAG report at the time:

Code:

Diagnostic Report (1.9.0027.0):
-----------------------------------------
Windows Validation Data-->

Validation Code: 50
Cached Online Validation Code: N/A, hr = 0xc004f012
Windows Product Key: *****-*****-*****-*****-BF27K
Windows Product Key Hash: YHY1WXsmUUgAIYpIntrweGWUAOY=
Windows Product ID: 00426-967-4518656-85850
Windows Product ID Type: 5
Windows License Type: Retail
Windows OS version: 6.1.7601.2.00010100.1.0.001
ID: {4551D82F-3B48-4147-B370-B7DB4BEE41E8}(3)
Is Admin: Yes
TestCab: 0x0
LegitcheckControl ActiveX: Registered, 1.9.42.0
Signed By: Microsoft
Product Name: Windows 7 Ultimate
Architecture: 0x00000009
Build lab: 7601.win7sp1_gdr.120305-1505
TTS Error: T:20120417183410377-
Validation Diagnostic: 
Resolution Status: N/A

Vista WgaER Data-->
ThreatID(s): N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002

Windows XP Notifications Data-->
Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
File Exists: No
Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
WgaTray.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
WgaLogon.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002

OGA Notifications Data-->
Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
OGAExec.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
OGAAddin.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002

OGA Data-->
Office Status: 109 N/A
OGA Version: N/A, 0x80070002
Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Office Diagnostics:  025D1FF3-364-80041010_025D1FF3-229-80041010_025D1FF3-230-1_025D1FF3-517-80040154_025D1FF3-237-80040154_025D1FF3-238-2_025D1FF3-244-80070002_025D1FF3-258-3

Browser Data-->
Proxy settings: N/A
User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Win32)
Default Browser: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt
Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disabled
Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Allowed
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disabled
Allow scripting of Internet Explorer Webbrowser control: Disabled
Active scripting: Allowed
Script ActiveX controls marked as safe for scripting: Allowed

File Scan Data-->

Other data-->
Office Details:  <GenuineResults><MachineData><UGUID>{4551D82F-3B48-4147-B370-B7DB4BEE41E8}</UGUID><Version>1.9.0027.0</Version><OS>6.1.7601.2.00010100.1.0.001</OS><Architecture>x64</Architecture><PKey>*****-*****-*****-*****-BF27K</PKey><PID>00426-967-4518656-85850</PID><PIDType>5</PIDType><SID>S-1-5-21-529546221-1445753059-3880572656</SID><SYSTEM><Manufacturer>Gigabyte  Technology Co.,  Ltd.</Manufacturer><Model>P55A-UD3R</Model></SYSTEM><BIOS><Manufacturer>Award  Software International,  Inc.</Manufacturer><Version>F13</Version><SMBIOSVersion  major="2"  minor="4"/><Date>20100917000000.000000+000</Date></BIOS><HWID>BB3A3407018400FE</HWID><UserLCID>0C09</UserLCID><SystemLCID>0409</SystemLCID><TimeZone>Cen.  Australia Standard  Time(GMT+09:30)</TimeZone><iJoin>0</iJoin><SBID><stat>3</stat><msppid></msppid><name></name><model></model></SBID><OEM/><GANotification/></MachineData><Software><Office><Result>109</Result><Products/><Applications/></Office></Software></GenuineResults>   

Spsys.log Content:  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

Licensing Data-->
Software licensing service version: 6.1.7601.17514
Error: product key not found.

Windows Activation Technologies-->
HrOffline: 0x00000000
HrOnline: 0x00000000
HealthStatus: 0x0000000000000000
Event Time Stamp: 3:16:2012 19:15
ActiveX: Registered, Version: 7.1.7600.16395
Admin Service: Registered, Version: 7.1.7600.16395
HealthStatus Bitmask Output:


HWID Data-->
HWID Hash Current: OgAAAAAABgABAAEAAgABAAAAAwABAAEAHKK42Zyf+gGSPHTEwtIoC/YP6GHQHHyHkOFAqXKKvkF2Vg==

OEM Activation 1.0 Data-->
N/A

OEM Activation 2.0 Data-->
BIOS valid for OA 2.0: yes, but no SLIC table
Windows marker version: N/A
OEMID and OEMTableID Consistent: N/A
BIOS Information: 
  ACPI Table Name    OEMID Value    OEMTableID Value
  APIC            GBT           GBTUACPI
  FACP            GBT           GBTUACPI
  HPET            GBT           GBTUACPI
  MCFG            GBT           GBTUACPI
  EUDS            GBT           
  TAMG            GBT           GBT   B0
  SSDT            INTEL        PPM RCM

I re-activated on-line with the original product key and happily everything is now OK.

The only changes I made to my system were to add the path to the 7zip command line executable in the PATH environement varaible so as to access 7za.exe from a cmd window. SFC reports no violations. Could editing the PATH environment variable have caused this issue?

Regards,
Golden

Changing the Path Environment Variable should not cause this issue, indeed, although rare these days is still a valid, supported, procedure and is still used by some software.

More that likely one of those strange coincidences, that Windows performs every so often to keep us on our toes

I wouldn't expect any impact from modifying the path statements, unless they start to exceed the allowed length.

The Product Key Not Found error isn't too common, although I have seen a couple recently that stumped me.
It's always possible that this was a race condition - did you try a reboot or two before re-applying the Key?

Thanks Noel + Nigel.

I forgot to add that of course I copied 7za.exe (the command executable for 7ZIP) directly into the usual 7ZIP installation directory (C:\Program Files\7ZIP)....perhaps Windows didn't like that, although it didn't complain at the time.

This is my PATH environment variable (the bit I added is shown in bold):

Code:

C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\7-Zip

Nope, I didn't reboot after the notification - I proceeded straight to gathering the MGADIAG information, and then whilst doing that thought to try an activation just to see, and happily it all went well.

Perhaps one of those little gremlins eh?

Regards,
Golden

Unless 7Zip is a 64-bit executable, then it should be in the (x86) folder, rather than the one you've put it in :)
Even that shouldn't have caused the error

Ahhhh. Good pickup Noel - my standard 7ZIP is 64-bit, hence installed to \Program Files...........but the standalone command line 7za.exe ONLY comes in 32 bit flavour. I just decided to dump it into the single 7ZIP installation location.

Who knows? Gremlins! :)