Firstly, under the posting terms of this forum, here is my diagnostic :
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Diagnostic Report (1.7.0095.0):
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WGA Data-->
Validation Status: Not Activated
Validation Code: 1
Online Validation Code: N/A
Cached Validation Code: N/A
Windows Product Key: *****-*****-9RM8T-93BMD-PD39Q
Windows Product Key Hash: k8MTyDwd+JoRqx/YWxTs0rU859E=
Windows Product ID: 76477-OEM-2172351-55161
Windows Product ID Type: 3
Windows License Type: OEM System Builder
Windows OS version: 5.1.2600.2.00010300.3.0.hom
CSVLK Server: N/A
CSVLK PID: N/A
ID: {74FEC288-6F5E-42EA-98A3-1DF296A675E7}(3)
Is Admin: Yes
TestCab: 0x0
WGA Version: Registered, 1.7.69.2
Signed By: Microsoft
Product Name: N/A
Architecture: N/A
Build lab: N/A
TTS Error: N/A
Validation Diagnostic: 025D1FF3-171-1_025D1FF3-179-2_025D1FF3-199-3
Resolution Status: N/A
WgaER Data-->
ThreatID(s): N/A
Version: N/A
WGA Notifications Data-->
Cached Result: 1
File Exists: Yes
Version: 1.7.17.0
WgaTray.exe Signed By: Microsoft
WgaLogon.dll Signed By: Microsoft
OGA Notifications Data-->
Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
WGATray.exe Signed By: Microsoft
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: B4D0AA8B-543-80070002_025D1FF3-171-1_025D1FF3-179-2_025D1FF3-199-3
Browser Data-->
Proxy settings: N/A
User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Win32)
Default Browser: C:\Program Files\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>{74FEC288-6F5E-42EA-98A3-1DF296A675E7}</UGUID><Version>1.7.0095.0</Version><OS>5.1.2600.2.00010300.3.0.hom</OS><Architecture>x32</Architecture><PKey>*****-*****-*****-*****-PD39Q</PKey><PID>76477-OEM-2172351-55161</PID><PIDType>3</PIDType><SID>S-1-5-21-527237240-1767777339-839522115</SID><SYSTEM><Manufacturer>Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.</Manufacturer><Model>965P-DQ6</Model></SYSTEM><BIOS><Manufacturer>Award Software International, Inc.</Manufacturer><Version>F11</Version><SMBIOSVersion major="2" minor="4"/><Date>20070528000000.000000+000</Date></BIOS><HWID>D55533FF01847A7B</HWID><UserLCID>0809</UserLCID><SystemLCID>0409</SystemLCID><TimeZone>GMT Standard Time(GMT+00:00)</TimeZone><iJoin>0</iJoin><SBID><stat>3</stat><msppid></msppid><name></name><model></model></SBID><OEM/><BRT/></MachineData><Software><Office><Result>109</Result><Products/><Applications/></Office></Software></GenuineResults>
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OK, what happened yesterday was this :-
1. I switched on my computer.
2. I immediately opened the DVD drive door and took out a data DVD that had been left there, and closed the door.
3. The computer booted (into XP Home) and Validation failed. The message was that my hardware had changed. I've got three days left to activate apparently. Note that XP Home has been working quite happily on this machine since October 2006. No hardware has been changed in that time.
4. I collected the diagnostics and sent it off via email to Microsoft Support, and got a reply that my enquiry has been issued with
Support Request Number: 1077439540.
5. Since that time I've been casting around for ideas as to why this suddenly happened.
6. Today, on impulse I decided to look at the Event Log. There it is. On that morning, jraid.sys failed to load. It's a driver which supports the GIGABYTE GBB36X Controller on my motherboard. My motherboard has both Intel and Gigabyte SATA controllers - the hard disks are connected to the Intel, the DVD drive to the Gigabyte. So, opening the drive door most likely caused a spurious problem with the loading of the controller driver. That, in turn was detected by XP as a change to the hardware.
But now there's a problem. Once XP has got itself into this state it's going to be very difficult to reset it. Even though subsequent reboots have loaded jraid.sys normally, XP will not relent. It thinks (!) hardware has changed and that's an end to it.
I have a strategy I'd like to run by you.
I have a TrueImage copy of my drive which I can restore. It was taken before I applied SP3 about a fortnight ago, but anything that's happened on the computer since then I can recreate, as all my important data is not on the system drive. The only nagging issue on my mind is that somehow some record of this validation failure is held external to my computer (on the internet, by Microsoft), so the first thing a restored computer is going to do is contact Microsoft on the internet and re-invalidate itself.
So that's the question I'm asking. Will this strategy work ?
Basjoe
ps. Another factor I have to consider is that I am going abroad for my annual holidays in three days time, and I don't think MS Tech Support are going to be able to help in this timescale.
