Εχω βγάλει μια ram 1 giga.
What hardware gets checked?
The WPA system checks ten categories of hardware:
- Display Adapter
- SCSI Adapter
- IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
- Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
- RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
- Processor Type
- Processor Serial Number
- Hard Drive Device
- Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
- CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM
It then calculates and records a number based on the first device of each type
that was found during setup, and stores this number on your hard drive.
Initially, this is sent to Microsoft in an automatic dial-up, together
with the Product ID number derived from the 25-character unique Product
Key used in setting up Windows.
If Service Pack 1 has been
installed, the entire Product Key is also transmitted: This can then be
checked against a list of known pirated keys
The hardware is checked each
time Windows boots, to ensure that it is still on the same machine.
Also, if you subsequently perform a complete format and reinstall of
Windows, Microsoft’s activation center will have to be contacted again
because the information held on the machine itself (the number
previously written to your hard drive) will have been wiped out by
reformatting the hard drive. If your hardware is substantially the
same, this will be done by an automated call without your needing to
talk to anyone.
What does ‘substantially the same’ mean?
WPA asks for ‘votes’ from each of these ten categories: ‘Is the same
device still around, or has there never been one?’ Seven Yes votes
means all is well — and a NIC, present originally and not changed,
counts for three yes votes! Minor cards, like sound cards, don’t come
into the mix at all. If you keep the motherboard, with the same amount
of RAM and processor, and an always present cheap NIC (available for
$10 or less), you can change everything else as much as you like.
If you change the device in any
category, you have lost that Yes vote — but will not lose it any more
thereafter if you make changes in that category again. So, for example,
you can install a new video display card every month for as long as you
like.
Note that it appears that if you
boot with a device disabled (disabled — not removed), the device is not
found in the enumeration — so if, say, you disable a network
connection which uses the NIC and then reboot, you may be missing its
three votes and find that a new activation is needed. If you are doing
such
things, take the Hint 3 in What about formatting a hard disk? below, and restore the files concerned once the NIC is back in service.
What if I make too many changes?
If, on Windows startup, there
are not the required seven Yes votes, the system will, in the original
version of Windows XP, only boot to Safe Mode. You will be required to
reactivate by a phone call to Microsoft. You will have to write down a
50-digit number, call into the activation center on a toll-free number
that will be given to you, read and check back the number you recorded
— and explain the circumstances. In exchange, you will be given a
42-digit number to type in. This will reactivate your copy of Windows.
This is made easier if Windows
XP Service Pack 1 has been installed: The system will continue to boot
normally for three days, during which time you will be able to contact
the activation center via the net. If the extra changes have been
removed, or if 120 days have passed since the original activation, you
will be able to use the automatic process once more
ΤΟ ΤΗΛΕΦΩΝΟ ΤΗΣ MICROSOFT ΕΧΕΙ ΑΛΛΆΞΕΙ 800 11 43100