Weird boot up- Win 7 now pirated?

[choco]

Booted my system today. Win boots up and indicates that is is a pirated copy. I have the original CD, a gift from my nephew-in-law, last year.

What do I do? Do I have to completely reinstall?

Has anyone ever had this happen to them?

 

[gregrocker]

What is the exact error message?

What does it say next to the Activation link at Computer>Properties? What if you reinstall the Product Key there?

 

[Lordbob75]

Just reactivate it and call MS.

~Lordbob

 

[karlsnooks]

WIN Pause/Break key combo

In the lower right-hand corner, there is either a prompt/msg for activating or an icon indicating that you have genuine microsoft. Click on the msg saying that your copy needs to be validated or something to that effect.

Getting that msg is not all that unusual. I don't have a list showing all the possible causes for it, but I've seen it a couple of times myself.

 

[choco]

Thanks all! entering the product key worked. it was scary for a while. Any idea what causes this action?

 

[Mellon Head]

Thanks all! entering the product key worked. it was scary for a while. Any idea what causes this action?

It could have been a Windows Genuine Advantage (or what ever it's called now) false positive.

 

[choco]

Thanks, All fine now. It was scary for a while.