BleepingComputer.com: Microsoft Windows XP Reactivation: Epic Fail - What can I do?

Our laptop wanted to reactivate but we tried and tried and now the three-day deadline has ended and Microsoft can't help, I guess. I talked to them and couldn't get anywhere. It wants to download this actshell.htm file for firefox but it won't allow me to do anything with it once it's downloaded. During the three-day period it gave us to reactivate, we had this "limited or no connectivity" problem and we stopped being able to get online since then, even in safemode with networking (we can only log on under safe mode without being forced to log out automatically). It refuses to run a lot of things and when not in safe mode it logs us off when the actshell and reactivation fails. I wouldn't really mind wiping out the whole thing on the computer and reinstalling windows if I knew how, there's nothing on it that any of us need to use. Any thoughts on this? How to force it to reactivate, why it's going wrong, if it's the connectivity issue? When we tried to fix that connectivity issue, it said couldn't renew the IP address. I don't know if the connectivity caused the reactivation not to work or if the reactivation troubles are causing the connectivity trouble. I've never had a computer prompt me to "reactivate" it. Thanks in advance for any takers on this one. All three of our family computers have gone haywire lately. The one I'm on right now is the only one I can get online with and use and its trouble is being worked on in another thread.

Activation issues for any Windows version...are the province of Microsoft and/or designated agents.

If you cannot resolve such via that channel, I don't think there is anything anyone here can suggest.

As for reinstalling Windows...what is the system manufacturer and model (e.g., Toshiba Satellite 123, Pavilion 456, etc.)?

What media/means do you have for doing a clean install or recovery/restore on that system?

Louis

Did you try calling them up via the numbers listed?

This was never resolved exactly, I had to take the computer to a shop and they reinstalled windows and everything but could never find any viruses or anything that would cause the problem and couldn't do anything else about it.

You didn't indicate what the system is (or I just missed it) but I have seen activation problems on HP systems where something was obviously damaged on the installed HP software side. The result was a message that the system needed to be activated, but there was no way to activate it since the HP software would never allow recovery/restoration of the O/S.

Wiping the HP install and then doing a clean install (using a MS XP install CD and the HP license) resolved it.

Thanks for posting your resolution, happy computing .

Louis