Win 2003 wants to activate again

[Jennifer]

Hello

After happily fileserving since before I can remember, my Win2003 server has
decided it needs to be activated again.

There have been no hardware changes. Every day or so for the last week, it
won't let me logon until I activate. Sometimes it activates successfully;
sometimes it says it is already activated, which, of course, it is.

It frequently refuses to let me logon via remote desktop, although I can
browse the file system.I have to reboot the machine to allow remote desktop.
Then I get the activation thingy. Could the probs be related?

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Jen

 

[Dusko Savatovic]

Re: Win 2003 wants to activate again

Sometimes if you get problems with a Real Time Clock (RTC) in BIOS you can
get this symptoms. This is usualy related with a dead batery on the
motherboard. The batery usualy needs replacing.

Also check for problems related to time synchronization if you synchronize
time between computers in your network.


"Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4D7E3DA6-F924-4626-8513-FDA3568D5A51@microsoft.com...
> Hello
>
> After happily fileserving since before I can remember, my Win2003 server
> has
> decided it needs to be activated again.
>
> There have been no hardware changes. Every day or so for the last week, it
> won't let me logon until I activate. Sometimes it activates successfully;
> sometimes it says it is already activated, which, of course, it is.
>
> It frequently refuses to let me logon via remote desktop, although I can
> browse the file system.I have to reboot the machine to allow remote
> desktop.
> Then I get the activation thingy. Could the probs be related?
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts?
>
> Jen

 

[Jennifer]

Re: Win 2003 wants to activate again

Thank you for that Dusko. The machine does not seem to be losing the
date/time. We do not have a network time server. The server time
synchronises with time.microsoft .com

Could it still be the CMOS battery, do you think, or might there be another
cause?

Jen

"Dusko Savatovic" wrote:

> Sometimes if you get problems with a Real Time Clock (RTC) in BIOS you can
> get this symptoms. This is usualy related with a dead batery on the
> motherboard. The batery usualy needs replacing.
>
> Also check for problems related to time synchronization if you synchronize
> time between computers in your network.
>
>
> "Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:4D7E3DA6-F924-4626-8513-FDA3568D5A51@microsoft.com...
> > Hello
> >
> > After happily fileserving since before I can remember, my Win2003 server
> > has
> > decided it needs to be activated again.
> >
> > There have been no hardware changes. Every day or so for the last week, it
> > won't let me logon until I activate. Sometimes it activates successfully;
> > sometimes it says it is already activated, which, of course, it is.
> >
> > It frequently refuses to let me logon via remote desktop, although I can
> > browse the file system.I have to reboot the machine to allow remote
> > desktop.
> > Then I get the activation thingy. Could the probs be related?
> >
> > Does anyone have any thoughts?
> >
> > Jen
>
>

 

[Dusko Savatovic]

Re: Win 2003 wants to activate again

Ehm, if you're not seeing anything suspicious regarding your config when
booting your PC, then it's not likely the battery.
I've seen similar problem to yours this summer after I returned to work from
holiday. A couple of my PC's at work were shut down for a while (two weeks).
When I returned, the PC's wanted to activate. I let them do it over the
Internet. They did it successfuly and at the end of the process I received a
message that Microsoft is apologizing for the inconvenience.


"Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9C9E8BE7-D0B4-43B9-8717-48D36FEC3AB8@microsoft.com...
> Thank you for that Dusko. The machine does not seem to be losing the
> date/time. We do not have a network time server. The server time
> synchronises with time.microsoft .com
>
> Could it still be the CMOS battery, do you think, or might there be
> another
> cause?
>
> Jen
>
> "Dusko Savatovic" wrote:
>
>> Sometimes if you get problems with a Real Time Clock (RTC) in BIOS you
>> can
>> get this symptoms. This is usualy related with a dead batery on the
>> motherboard. The batery usualy needs replacing.
>>
>> Also check for problems related to time synchronization if you
>> synchronize
>> time between computers in your network.
>>
>>
>> "Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:4D7E3DA6-F924-4626-8513-FDA3568D5A51@microsoft.com...
>> > Hello
>> >
>> > After happily fileserving since before I can remember, my Win2003
>> > server
>> > has
>> > decided it needs to be activated again.
>> >
>> > There have been no hardware changes. Every day or so for the last week,
>> > it
>> > won't let me logon until I activate. Sometimes it activates
>> > successfully;
>> > sometimes it says it is already activated, which, of course, it is.
>> >
>> > It frequently refuses to let me logon via remote desktop, although I
>> > can
>> > browse the file system.I have to reboot the machine to allow remote
>> > desktop.
>> > Then I get the activation thingy. Could the probs be related?
>> >
>> > Does anyone have any thoughts?
>> >
>> > Jen
>>
>>

 

[Jennifer]

Re: Win 2003 wants to activate again

Thank you once again Dusko. It needs to be reactivated almost every morning.
Like most servers it runs continuously, but overnight it has less activity.
The process isn't always the same though ... I follow the process of
reactivating over the internet; sometimes it activates successfully, but
sometimes when it says it needs to be activated, it then says it is already
activated.

Sometimes it won't let me logon at all. Each time I logon, it loads personal
settings then returns to the logon prompt ... without issuing any error. The
only way out seems to be to turn the machine off.

I think there is a limit to the number of times you can activate. I am
worried I am going to run out of activations and have to pay for a new server
license.

Jen

"Dusko Savatovic" wrote:

> Ehm, if you're not seeing anything suspicious regarding your config when
> booting your PC, then it's not likely the battery.
> I've seen similar problem to yours this summer after I returned to work from
> holiday. A couple of my PC's at work were shut down for a while (two weeks).
> When I returned, the PC's wanted to activate. I let them do it over the
> Internet. They did it successfuly and at the end of the process I received a
> message that Microsoft is apologizing for the inconvenience.
>
>
> "Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:9C9E8BE7-D0B4-43B9-8717-48D36FEC3AB8@microsoft.com...
> > Thank you for that Dusko. The machine does not seem to be losing the
> > date/time. We do not have a network time server. The server time
> > synchronises with time.microsoft .com
> >
> > Could it still be the CMOS battery, do you think, or might there be
> > another
> > cause?
> >
> > Jen
> >
> > "Dusko Savatovic" wrote:
> >
> >> Sometimes if you get problems with a Real Time Clock (RTC) in BIOS you
> >> can
> >> get this symptoms. This is usualy related with a dead batery on the
> >> motherboard. The batery usualy needs replacing.
> >>
> >> Also check for problems related to time synchronization if you
> >> synchronize
> >> time between computers in your network.
> >>
> >>
> >> "Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:4D7E3DA6-F924-4626-8513-FDA3568D5A51@microsoft.com...
> >> > Hello
> >> >
> >> > After happily fileserving since before I can remember, my Win2003
> >> > server
> >> > has
> >> > decided it needs to be activated again.
> >> >
> >> > There have been no hardware changes. Every day or so for the last week,
> >> > it
> >> > won't let me logon until I activate. Sometimes it activates
> >> > successfully;
> >> > sometimes it says it is already activated, which, of course, it is.
> >> >
> >> > It frequently refuses to let me logon via remote desktop, although I
> >> > can
> >> > browse the file system.I have to reboot the machine to allow remote
> >> > desktop.
> >> > Then I get the activation thingy. Could the probs be related?
> >> >
> >> > Does anyone have any thoughts?
> >> >
> >> > Jen
> >>
> >>
>
>

 

[Dusko Savatovic]

Re: Win 2003 wants to activate again

"Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
<snip>
> I think there is a limit to the number of times you can activate. I am
> worried I am going to run out of activations and have to pay for a new
> server
> license.

The number of allowed activations of the Server is larger than the number
for the XP/Vista.
Also, I've been told, that generated hash is reused, so if you are
activating the same computer, this should not waste your number of
activation attempts. When you run out of activations on the Internet, you
can use a phone. In my country they are quite helpful, but in some other
countries I've heard some horror stories.

I've also been told (but haven't tested it) that with the latest service
pack the unactivated state is not so restrictive as before, ie you get full
functionality, but the desktop wallpaper is black with a note at the bottom
right corner that the copy of Windows is not genuine.

Anyway, something is wrong with your server. Can you ask for a hardware
check. I would look for some hardware faults. Is there a chance of restoring
from a known good backup?

 

[Jennifer]

Re: Win 2003 wants to activate again

I think you have given me the answer I need Dusko ... I really should replace
my 10yo server (blush). The new server will definitely be another HP!

Thank you once again for your help

Jen

"Dusko Savatovic" wrote:

> "Jennifer" <Jennifer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> <snip>
> > I think there is a limit to the number of times you can activate. I am
> > worried I am going to run out of activations and have to pay for a new
> > server
> > license.
>
> The number of allowed activations of the Server is larger than the number
> for the XP/Vista.
> Also, I've been told, that generated hash is reused, so if you are
> activating the same computer, this should not waste your number of
> activation attempts. When you run out of activations on the Internet, you
> can use a phone. In my country they are quite helpful, but in some other
> countries I've heard some horror stories.
>
> I've also been told (but haven't tested it) that with the latest service
> pack the unactivated state is not so restrictive as before, ie you get full
> functionality, but the desktop wallpaper is black with a note at the bottom
> right corner that the copy of Windows is not genuine.
>
> Anyway, something is wrong with your server. Can you ask for a hardware
> check. I would look for some hardware faults. Is there a chance of restoring
> from a known good backup?
>
>