Swapped my motherboard with Vista OEM

[shaithis]

just thought I'd share the info....

I have had my Ultimate x64 OEM reactivated 4 times so far:

1 - BIOS update
2 - Upgrade from 2 to 4 GB RAM
3 - Reinstalled Windows
4 - Changed gfx card and disk configuration

Each time the auto phone service could not help and I had to talk to someone.

Last night I swapped my P5W64 WS Pro motherboard for an Asus Blitz Formula. Expecting the worst I got myself a story together and rang the activation number.......To my surprise, for the first time, the auto service just gave me another number to reactivate, I didn't even need to talk to anyone!

Starting to think Bill doesn't care that much, as long as you buy a licence

[Agent]

They are probably just trying to get people to actually use Vista at the moment; they can worry about the licences later

[ikonia]

with respect to shaithis, its his own decision on if he decides to break the license agreement, but is posting it on a technical board appropriate.

[shaithis]

A techinal board where this very topic has been brought up many times, yet I had not seen a definitive answer to it....So after testing it myself, I have posted the answer.

If people don't want to risk it of they deem it unappropriate, then they can always buy retail or a new OEM for each motherboard they upgrade.

Forums are about sharing information.

[Dreaming]

just thought I'd share the info....

I have had my Ultimate x64 OEM reactivated 4 times so far:

1 - BIOS update
2 - Upgrade from 2 to 4 GB RAM
3 - Reinstalled Windows
4 - Changed gfx card and disk configuration

Each time the auto phone service could not help and I had to talk to someone.

Last night I swapped my P5W64 WS Pro motherboard for an Asus Blitz Formula. Expecting the worst I got myself a story together and rang the activation number.......To my surprise, for the first time, the auto service just gave me another number to reactivate, I didn't even need to talk to anyone!

Starting to think Bill doesn't care that much, as long as you buy a licence

I changed motherboard, they don't even ask why, simply I gave them my old number and they gave me a new one!

(though I thought the first board was dead, so it was a repair rather than a new pc)

[ikonia]

apologies if I didn't make myself clear.

I'm not calling you for doing it - thats your own business.

The license is very clear though. Change your motherboard for anything other than a failure and you need a new copy.

Thats the rules.

The clarification I was looking for is based on if its appropriate for a technical forum like hexus to post information stating that breaking the license or telling a lie to the activation person on the phone is something they want to be doing.

If this isn't a problem for hexus - then fine, please discuss.

I agree this topic comes up, but informing everyone "hey you can break the license quite easy" seems a little "warez"-ish

[this_is_gav]

Not "warez"-ish. It is warez. Pure and simple. These topics annoy me. Some of us have actually gone and done it properly with a retail license, not taken the 'oh well, it's better than no license' approach.

If you don't like it, there's plenty of freely available Linux distributions to choose from.

[dangel]

Well obviously he's been unlucky with motherboard failures - poor chap Anyway, licence police aside thanks for posting

[2Cold Scorpio]

It oughta be: you bought it, you can install it on *one* machine at a time. If I change lots of parts inside my PC or simply buy/build a new one, I should be able to install the OS I bought, provided I uninstall it off any previous system it was installed on (I can understand the need for that).

Steam does it right: you buy it (a game), its tied to *you*, not your machine. I can easily ove purchases to a new machine, or temporarily install them on another that I intend to play on, so long as i remove them later (or not, seeing as my login would be required to make them work...).

Its because of freakin' pirates we pay outlandish costs and put up with asinine EUAs and licensing agreements that are nearly as complex as the U.S. Tax Code. Will I use Vista on my next machine? Definitely; it looks to be a great OS. And the poicy doesn't affect me directly; I do a minumal amount of hardware upgrades (I've primarily used laptops for 6 years now). But I preach in principle of the ordeal. I'd rather go through Microsoft's licensing headaches than mess with Linux or OS X again. I like actually having software and games available for my OS, thanks. But we need to go back to the licensing terms of, say, Win98. There was still flexibility back then...

[Agent]

It oughta be: you bought it, you can install it on *one* machine at a time. If I change lots of parts inside my PC or simply buy/build a new one, I should be able to install the OS I bought, provided I uninstall it off any previous system it was installed on (I can understand the need for that).

You can - Its called a retail copy.
You buy the cheaper OEM and get more restrictions with it. Don't see what all the fuss is about?

[Clunk]

Or buy the EDU version for less than the price of the OEM version and do the double install and get a retail license.

Or dont buy Vista at all, and stick to XP and have a relatively trouble free, relatively unbloated, relatively stable, relatively well supported and cheaper O/S.

Or if you see anyone, or hear of anyone, including family or friends that might have changed their motherboard whilst using Vista OEM, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, and remember that these crimes are few and far between, so dont have nightmares.

[dangel]

Or if you see anyone, or hear of anyone, including family or friends that might have changed their motherboard whilst using Vista OEM, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, and remember that these crimes are few and far between, so dont have nightmares.

[iranu]

Or dont buy Vista at all, and stick to XP and have a relatively trouble free, relatively unbloated, relatively stable, relatively well supported and cheaper O/S.

I'm also of the position that I cannot recommend what I don't use.

Or if you see anyone, or hear of anyone, including family or friends that might have changed their motherboard whilst using Vista OEM, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, ...

- for no other reason than I haven't used that smilie.

[shaithis]

Hehe, I would love to see a crime stoppers report on people "swapping their motherboard and reactivating vista against the eula"

Although, my motherboard was getting a bit flaky....honest gov!

[iranu]

Gotta love the Apple itunes and iphone EULA.

You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.

[dave87]

Doomsday Device. Designed on Apple.

New Advertising Slogan ^^