Welcome to RCF - WHF

Bobby · Dec 31, 2004

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph06642&cc=us&lc= en&dlc=en&product=3339275&dlc=en&lang=en

I understood that there would be a slow learning curve involve with Vista and my horrible day is not related to that. I patiently went about exploring Vista nd learning all of the new and different nooks and crannys that needed to be explored. This whole day of frustration and grief involved a shortcoming on the part of Hewlett Packard. I soon found a paragraph that stated that Windows Vista had to be Activated within 30 days of purchase or it may cease to function. So I followed the instructions and went to the Activation page and entered the Product Code in the appropriate place. This was after Mrs. Bobby crawled around on the floor and read the Product Code to me. When I entered the code into the correct place and clicked on submit, I got a message tellin me that my Product Code was not a valid number. How could that be since HP was the one that put the Product Code on the PC case? This started my long odyssey through space and time talking to several support people. I first talked on the phone to Rahnjii the non-english speaking support person in India. Rahnjii had a volume control misfunction with his voice and I could only hear a small part of what he said. You would have thought that after me screaming histerically "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" that he would have raised his voice a little. But ........oh no. Not Ranjii! After one hour and fifteen minutes of the wasted time I hung up with a hateful goodbye.

Then I started with the HP online chat support guy, Rawleigh R. I had meticulously gathered all pertinent information beforehand and had it written down on my pad. After many detours away from our original task of finding out why HP's assigned Product Code would not work in the Activation box, Rawleigh R had me D/L a small utility that was supposed to solve my problem. I D/L it but when I tried to install it I was told that my system didn't have the mimimum requirements to run this small utility. Of course by then I had lost my contact with Rawleigh R. I opened up another online chat support session with Harry H. Before long I realized that Harry H was leading me toward the same small utility that Rawleigh R had sent me to. I explained to Harry H that this utility would not work. So the last thing that he left me with was a Recovery program that will completely wipe my HDD clean and attempt to reinstall Vista and all other factory-approved software. NOT1 NOT!

I have included the link above to what they say about Activation of Vista. Would you please read it and tell me if you think I need to Activate Vista or is it already taken care of? The part that made all of my torturous day worthwhile was when i got the inquiry from HP about how I would rate my experience with HP Support. I explained to them that I had to use profanity so that they would realize the full measure of my anger and frustration with their #$^^@$^&^** Support.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

You're asking US that don't even have Vista? LOL

I read this which seems to answer your question:

If you can still use the Windows Vista desktop, you can click Start , right-click Computer, and select Properties to view the status of Windows Activation. Scroll down on the System Properties window to view the status information.

I hope this is of some help, Bobby.

sunny

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

Bobby · Dec 31, 2004

I talked to the Computer section Manager at Walmart this morning. He seemed to think that my Vista equipped PC may already have been activated at the factory. He suggested that I just go on using it and if Vista did stop functioning after 30 days they would either take it back or attempt to correct it for me. He also offered to have me bring it back to them now and they would atempt to see if it needed activating and if so they would try to activate it.

I have decided to just do nothing and see what happens. One of the HP support people told me that Vista would not stop functioning because it was an OEM product. Whatever that means. For a backup PC this seems to be a pretty good machine. The memory is the only thing that I might be leery of. It has 512 MB. I don't guess that I would be lucky enpigh for the memory sticks in my old backup PC would work in this one. I'll look and see.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

OEM Products

OME = Original Equipment Manufacturer

What it Means to be an OEM Product

To put an OEM product in the simplest terms, it is a product from a manufacturer that is sold without the retail packaging to system integrators and retailers for purchase in or with a completed computer system. Often they are sold in larger lots or groups to help reduce the costs to the company using the parts for integration. What the OEM product will come with will vary depending upon the type of product being sold.

So, how does the product vary? Typically the component that is purchased as an OEM product lacks all retail packaging. Also missing might be cables or software that may have been included with the retail version. Finally, there may be no or reduced instructions included with the OEM version of the product.

A good example of these differences can be seen between an OEM and retail hard drive. The retail version is often referred to as a kit because it includes with it the drive cables, installation instructions, warranty cards and any software packages used to help configure or run the drive. The OEM version of the drive will only include the hard drive in a sealed anti-static bag with no other materials. Sometimes this will be referred to as a "bare drive".

More at the site.

sunny

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

I had a problem typing in a long code with my router because there was so many zeros and o's. I looked in magnifying glass, then typed, then lost where I was or put a o where the 0 was. Then I read in fine print, "no letters past J" or something so there was no o's at all, they were all zeros.

Good luck bobby.