More RAM? DEEENIED | The Coffeehouse

Rowan
Look, no errors.

OK. Vista threatened to "stop working" after I doubled my RAM from 1GB to 2GB. "OK then no worries, I'll just use the automated phone system" I thought to myself.

"Please dial the code on the screen..."

I enter all the numbers as instructed...

Phone's response: "This copy of Windows is already activated on another computer, if you believe this is in error please press one to talk to a representative."

Presses 1...

"Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep bee... silence."

Hmm, no answer. Great service there, guys... hello..? Expressionless

Try again two days later, same deal. "Windows will stop working TODAY, if you don't activate".

I remove one stick (1GB) of DDR RAM...

"Windows is activated" Perplexed

Now did I waste my money on the RAM or Vista?

Oh yeah, I added an extra hard drive a few weeks earlier, what am I supposed to do if I'm running out of space and need slightly better performance?

DoomBringer
Doom!

How many times have you changed the config before? Honestly, changing the RAM shouldn't trigger this.

Massif
aim stupidly high, expect to fail often.

DoomBringer wrote:
How many times have you changed the config before? Honestly, changing the RAM shouldn't trigger this.

Quite, I added RAM to both desktop and tablet machines and vista hasn't demanded activation. I believe I've even added hard disks to the desktop since originally installing vista. (Could be that i just enabled them though.)

Curiouser and curiouser.

Rowan
Look, no errors.

DoomBringer wrote:
How many times have you changed the config before? Honestly, changing the RAM shouldn't trigger this.

I just looked through all of my invoices from computer shops and the only things I've bought since Windows Vista Home Premium is a hard drive, 1GB of RAM and a case.

Silly question, would a new case have anything to do with this? Tongue Out

DoomBringer
Doom!

Rowan wrote:

DoomBringer wrote: How many times have you changed the config before? Honestly, changing the RAM shouldn't trigger this.

I just looked through all of my invoices from computer shops and the only things I've bought since Windows Vista Home Premium is a hard drive, 1GB of RAM and a case.

Silly question, would a new case have anything to do with this?

Depends on how fancy the case is. (Any extra controllers that the OS can see might count).

That case doesn't look like it though.

BlackTiger
If you stumbled and fell down, it doesn't mean yet, that you're going in the wrong direction.

It looks like motherboard BIOS bug. Some crapy MBs can change some kind of "system id" on any hardware change.

SlackmasterK
I write my OWN blogging engines

That's odd, I added a third gig to mine and the system and activation were unaffected.

AndyC

Rowan wrote:

I just looked through all of my invoices from computer shops and the only things I've bought since Windows Vista Home Premium is a hard drive, 1GB of RAM and a case.

I've a sneaking suspicion you might get this if Windows didn't initially recognize all the hardware but did manage to activate. Then, after visiting Windows Update, decided a whole new bunch of hardware changes had occured when it finally found drivers. Adding the ram and hard disk might just have been enough to push it over the edge.

Of course that doesn't really help much if there isn't anyone answering the activation hotline when you need it. [C]

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

AndyC wrote:
I've a sneaking suspicion you might get this if Windows didn't initially recognize all the hardware but did manage to activate. Then, after visiting Windows Update, decided a whole new bunch of hardware changes had occured when it finally found drivers.

As far as I know, adding new hardware doesn't do anything. Just changing required system components should invoke the reactivation, and it should not revalidate Windows, if you change the components back to their original state.

AndyC

Dodo wrote:
As far as I know, adding new hardware doesn't do anything. Just changing required system components should invoke the reactivation, and it should not revalidate Windows, if you change the components back to their original state.

It shouldn't, but a change in motherboard drivers does appear to occasionally confuse things.

Koogle
I'm a Terminator - Astalavista, Vis7a!

Rowan wrote:

Now did I waste my money on the RAM or Vista?

Yup sounds like.. money+time was totally wasted on Vista.. and then the RAM oh and the stupid phone calls..

damn that sure makes me want to bother with Vista.

PaoloM
Hypermediocrity

Koogle wrote:
damn that sure makes me want to bother with Vista.

Then don't. XP is a perfectly fine OS. Vista is better, but XP is not bad at all...

Minh
WOOH! WOOH!

PaoloM wrote:

Koogle wrote:damn that sure makes me want to bother with Vista.

Then don't. XP is a perfectly fine OS. Vista is better, but XP is not bad at all...

I gotta tell you, I restored my tablet's OEM XP, and it's faster than Vista on startup --- hella faster on waking up. And now with the nifty Zune brooding luna theme, I'm procrastinating putting Vista back on there...

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

PaoloM wrote:
XP is a perfectly fine OS. Vista is better, but XP is not bad at all...

Yep, for those computers that can't run Vista (for example because you won't hell be able to put in more than 320MB RAM, like with one of my old notebooks Big Smile

) XP does perfectly fine. Smiley

magicalclick

The only case I have is I got my motherboard driver updated. I believe it is the SATA controller, thus, they think I have different hard drive. But no, I have also upgrade from 1GB RAM to 2GB RAM too, no need to validate again.

Also you can do it for 3 times before they say no. And yes, I have tried the phone system already because I indeed reinstalled my OS many times for personal reasons. I finish the phone thing really smooth, fast, and easy.

Try it again I guess.