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    My wife's Compaq PC was purchased less than 12 mos ago in a never opened box from a reputable retailer (MicroCenter). The copy of WindowsXP Media Center Edition 2005 was validated with no issue and has been used since. It was setup for automatic updates and the updates have happened since it was purchased with no issues.

    In the early morning hours of 7/18 it received updates, one of which (I assume) was the new WGA validation. When it was used for the first time on the afternoon of 7/18 the PC said that it was using a non-genuine version of Windows. That was obviously not true. I called HP and the support rep had me try three different times to recover to an older version of the OS... the first time 2 days previous, then when that failed, we tried 7/6 and then 7/9. All failed. The the PC began to reboot sporadically.

    I backed up all of the data that I could and then we had to attempt to do a system restore to take the machine back to when it was first purchased. That of course failed when we ran into blue screens. Now I've had to pay $18 for restore CDs (not provided for free by HP, a different issue) that will hopefully be able to restore the PC. If not, it will have to be sent in for repairs. All of this going back to the fact that the machine was identified by MS as not having a genuine OS... incorrectly. So all this spouting off about WGA working flawlessly is a load BS.

    All I can say is that I'm glad I sold off my MS stock because owning stock represents faith in the company and I don't have any in MS.

    Thursday, July 20, 2006 2:11 AM

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    Nokoon,

    Please follow these steps for assistance:

    Step 1 is to download and run the utility at this link http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012, then click the Windows tab, Copy to Clipboard, then paste the report into a new message in this section of the forum:  http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=442&SiteID=25.

    Step 2 is to look on the computer or with the materials you received with the computer or with Windows to see if you have a Certificate of Authenticty (COA).  If you have one, tell us about the COA.  Tell us:

    1.  What edition of Windows XP is it for, Home, Pro, or Media Center?

    2.  Does it read "OEM Software" or "OEM Product" in black lettering?

    3.  Or, does it have the computer manufacturer's name in black lettering?

    4.  DO NOT post the Product Key.

    Not sure what to look for?  See this page for reference:  http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/en/coa.mspx

    In hindsight, you would have been better off not doing anything so quickly and coming to this forum to test the waters.  Assuming that the installation of Media Center was the original out-of-the-box from Compaq, it's likely your problem would have been cleared up in a couple of postings with MS tech reps here on the forum.

    Doing two system restores and then an attempt to do an OS recovery no doubt has left your installation of XP in a shambles!  I am just wondering why the on-disk  OS recovery did not work for you.....

    Thursday, July 20, 2006 3:58 AM