'Too Many Activation Attempts'

[Crocalu]

So my Dark Souls 2 collector's edition arrived. I tried entering the code that came with it into Steam before putting the CD in. Apparently I was SUPPOSED to put the CD in first and then enter the code instead of just downloading the game from the Steam servers.
Now the code thingy says that my account has made too many failed activation attempts. I've waited over 30 minutes now, still it says it. I don't know if trying to enter the code resets the cooldown timer? I don't even know how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ long I'm supposed to wait. This is ridiculous.

[Crocalu]

Sitting here with the art book, soundtrack cd, game cd's, that figurine I didn't even want, and steam still tells me I'm some kind of fraud trying to fish for activation codes.

[Crocalu]

Finally could enter it again, gheez

[Kickin' Chicken]

Originally posted by Crocalu:

Finally could enter it again, gheez

Don't blame Steam because you couldn't follow instructions, gheez.

[irpaC]

how long did it take until steam accepted the code? having the same problem

[Crocalu]

It's 45 minutes tops

[sirius_black9999]

Originally posted by KickinChicken:

Originally posted by Crocalu:

Finally could enter it again, gheez

Don't blame Steam because you couldn't follow instructions, gheez.

i have the same issue with indie bundles, apparently the lockout counter is 6 failed attempts, and a duplicate copy also counts as a failed attempt
i apologize for not knowing each and every one of the 223 games i have in my steam library by heart, and frankly i am offended by the fact that i'm treated like a hacker for this fact(since the lockout is normally intended to block brute force), it's also rather bothersome that steam doesn't document this 5 failed attempts lockout anywhere, and therefore also has no record on how long this lockout takes.
common practice for lockouts is multiple consecutive failed attempts, this is also not the case, it was 6 failed attempts over the course of about 12 redemptions(#2, #3, #4 and #5, then #7 and #9 were duplicates, i got locked out for #10) which was mainly caused by my not expecting duplicates to be considered failures, because another common practice is that "invalid keys" are considered failures, rather than ANY kind of failures, because all of the keys entered were valid

i believe i have been waiting for closer to an hour at this point, and i am still locked out

[Valkor]

Stupid Steam, even if you're trying to activate a game you already have - it blocks you!

[TirithRR]

I have 680something games. I just do a search in my library before activating a game to make sure I don't already own it. If I do I give the key away to a friend before trying to activate it.

[Austen™ Colossus™√]

I am actually on the same page as TirithRR here. I have 700+ games right now, and i get more all the time from bundles and what not. I always search for the game before activating just in case. However, i don't think the problem lies in where everyone thinks it does. It's not that you already own some of the games. I actually have hit this limit as well. I have done some research across multiple threads on here and it seems that it isn't that you already own some games, or that you actually entered anything unsuccessfully. It would seem it is a bug brought up by the most recent version of steam.

I believe there has always been a limit of 25 "Unsuccessful" attempts when attempting to activate cd keys, but i believe what is happening here might actually be a bug with the newest steam version. I believe steam might be reading every key you type in as counting toward your "Unsuccessful" attempt count, and once you hit that 25 mark, it locks you out. I don't believe that they intentionally are locking you out from too many successful attempts because of the way the error message is worded. 'tis but a bug.

[Crocalu]

Makes sense!

[shi - 2frunk2ｄｕｃｋ]

I think Colossus is right, I just activated a bunch of games, each one succesful, for each one I searched and checked I'd not already redeemed on my account, and am now locked out due to "unsuccesful" attempts.

[Planetdune]

Ran into the same problem just now... activating lots of keys from bundles... none are "wrong" .. all are either stuff that gets added or stuff I already own (but sometimes it unlocks dlc etc so I check to be sure) .... this is annoying...

[shi - 2frunk2ｄｕｃｋ]

Well stuff you already own counts towards the erronous activation attempts limit, but in my experience, you'll hit the limit even if you only activate not previously owned titles.

[TirithRR]

Apparently the lock out is only 45-60 minutes or so.

[shi - 2frunk2ｄｕｃｋ]

Yeah, around an hour. It's not optimal if you have a bunch of keys, but not a huge issue and the limit is actually pretty reasonable.
I just wish Steam would explain about the limit in a clear manner when activating products, so users wouldn't have to search the forums for answers when they hit the limit. But currently there's no mention of it when activating.
(Well, it could technically be part of the 7k+ word subscriber agreement one has to accept on every single activation, but a cursory search for "activation", "retail", "hour" and "minute" sure didn't find any mention of any activation rate limits)