bios updated caused windows to deactivate

[eqalidan]

anyone know what to do or is this a contact microsoft and hope they don't screw me issue?

[Andrius227]

Just re enter your key? That worked for me when my windows deactivated once. I have one copy of windows 10 that i have been using for years. On multiple builds too. No problems

[eqalidan]

Messaggio originale di Andrius227:

Just re enter your key? That worked for me when my windows deactivated once. I have one copy of windows 10 that i have been using for years. On multiple builds too. No problems

if you bought a retail version of 10, they have several activation's worth of uses, I think they publicly say 3, but I think they go up to 10 sometimes in the past.

what he bought was either an oem key or a retail key where the person in question only needed 1 key and sold the other uses.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Was a bare key purchased? Or you purchased a physical copy of Win10 w/ COA sticker?

[eqalidan]

Messaggio originale di Bad 💀 Motha:

Was a bare key purchased? Or you purchased a physical copy of Win10 w/ COA sticker?

bare key, im not sure what he did but apparently he got it working again without any activator... he is now dealing with hdd issues that weren't there prior to bios update... im throwing my hands in the air at this point as to what the issues are.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

There was not anything special to do; just re-enter of the key is all you usually have to do.

What HDD issues?
Check it with CHKDSK and CrystalDiskInfo

[Viking2121]

I've had this happen before on a Asrock x370 board, but simply activating it online fixed it, I haven't ran into this problem on any other board or system.

[_I_]

or it was never activated, and windows just gave a nag screen on reboot

[eqalidan]

Messaggio originale di Bad 💀 Motha:

There was not anything special to do; just re-enter of the key is all you usually have to do.

What HDD issues?
Check it with CHKDSK and CrystalDiskInfo

it seems like the bios update make the ram unstable, to note it was ram on the boards validation list, we are now going without xmp,

as for the extra stuff, my brother is impatient and cant leave well enough alone.

for the hdds, we are currently thinking its 100% possible that loading 5-10gb into ram caused an error there, it would explain why half life could load but fallout 4 among others would not across a few different hdds,

the main issue that caused him to want to format was windows boot loader running off an old hdd and pointing to the nvme, another place I asked said this was a fairly common issue, he thought that this was causing windows to not be recognized as valid, and instead of waiting, decided formatting was called for.

right now we are running the built in windows ram test, and when he wakes up he is making a bootable version of mem test so we can enable xmp and roll back clock speeds till the ram doesn't toss errors, more or less what I had to do with my ryzen 1700.

after that we are looking at hdds, I do have a feeling that the issues were ram related though at this point as some other things that were happening also point to ram. kind of shocked how well windows 10 deals with ram errors, I know 7 wouldn't even start up when errors were being thrown, credit where credit is due in that regard.

Messaggio originale di _I_:

or it was never activated, and windows just gave a nag screen on reboot

it was activated for years, other place I went told me that bios update can temporarily stop activation but it should fix itself, this wasn't fixing itself, and every painless method for fixing it was not fixing it. I think the activation issue is somewhat solved for now, now its on to new and funner issues. thankfully my brother has resigned himself to the fact this is going to take days to fix if nothing goes wrong so he isn't rushing it anymore.

[UserNotFound]

I have reactivated Windows a few times after a complete system crash requiring an OS drive reformat, I think Windows prompt you to NOT key in your Windows key if all you're doing is a reformat. It would automatically register your key based on your Windows account IIRC. Never once did a BIOS update deactivate Windows, first time I'm seeing this issue.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Apply the XMP DRAM Profile; then slightly raise the DRAM Voltage by .01 - .05 increments until system is stable.

To test for stability, run Prime95 (small FFTs loop test) + MSI Kombuster (VRAM # GB amount) looped stress test; both at the same time for approx 30-60 mins

[eqalidan]

Messaggio originale di Bad 💀 Motha:

Apply the XMP DRAM Profile; then slightly raise the DRAM Voltage by .01 - .05 increments until system is stable.

To test for stability, run Prime95 (small FFTs loop test) + MSI Kombuster (VRAM # GB amount) looped stress test; both at the same time for approx 30-60 mins

im going to run memtest on a full range single pass/as many as it can take while he is at school or asleep and downclock the ram a bit, mine is technically a 3200 kit that runs at 2999 because of ryzen 1700, didn't want to screw with voltages because if i type something wrong or the motherboard decided to do something stupid there goes my ram, his is a 3600 kit, ill put it down to 3400 and see if thats stable. he wants to run it at a higher voltage to get the most speed, he can do that on his own.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

The values you can input in the BIOS for such things have a Min / Max range. It really won't allow you to input a "stupid" value so-to-speak. Try applying the DRAM XMP Profile, once that has been selected, manually change the DRAM Voltage to 1.3500 ~ If this is already selected due to the XMP Profile, then up it slightly to around 1.38-1.40

On many ASUS Boards I've used over the years; I for whatever reasons have always had to up many of the low voltages by around 0.0050 - 0.0055 for them to run at their correct and stable values.