Microsoft Vista Restore Not Accepting Product Key

I recently had a client whose Toshiba A205 laptop had a hard drive failure.  After replacing the hard drive and running a system restore from the DVDs, Windows Vista would not accept the system key, regardless if the laptop was hooked up to the internet or not.  It just kept saying that the system key appeared to be invalid.

After doing some research, I found KB articles from Microsoft which talked about the need to have Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed in similar cases.  Sure enough, once SP1 was installed and the system was rebooted, Windows accepted the system key and the system was validated.

I’m also guessing that this probably only applies to restore media that may have been issued prior to SP1.  For example, I know that if you purchase replacement restore media from HP, they include many updates that have been released since the system was first released.

I’m hopeful that Microsoft has corrected this problem in Windows 7 so that a fresh install doesn’t require consumers to hire a computer technican to complete a system restore.

Acer Restore Type Mismatch Error

Recently I’ve been working on quite a few Acer desktop PCs with hard drive failures.  The specific model, AM5641, has a quirk when it comes to the restore media working, in that unless the hard drive is partitioned as an NTFS volume, the restore process gives a ‘type mismatch’ error right after making a language selection.

To complete the restore process, I’ve been using Partition Commander, which is a great tool when it comes to quickly formatting and converting a volume to NTFS. 

Misbehaving Computer Opportunity to Backup Data

When it comes to a misbehaving computer, take advantage of the moment and backup important data!

While there may be various reasons why a computer is misbehaving or acting funny, such as an infected computer or the start of a hard drive failure, I always tell clients that this is an opportune time to back up data if you don’t already have a process in place, especially before the situation gets worse.

I cannot tell you how many times I have had to replace a hard drive and the horror on a client’s face when they find out they have lost everything.  I just can’t say it enough.  Backup, backup, backup.  And when I say backup, I’m mainly talking about all the content that did not come with your computer, such as pictures, music, video, and documents.

Personally, I try to use the 3-2-1 backup rule, which is basically keeping 3 copies of files on 2 different media types with 1 copy offsite.   The offsite part of the rule used to be tricky, but online backups have made this much easier now.

In fact, I recently became a Carbonite customer, which is an online or ‘in the cloud’ solution.  So far I’ve been extremely happy. I’m not trying to make this a Carbonite commercial.  There are a few other solutions out there too, such as mozy, ibackup, and idrive. I mainly tried Carbonite because I hear them mentioned on many of the podcasts I listen to.

And if you’re not sure you need a backup solution, just think about what value you would put on your data.  If you’re like me, I can’t when it comes to family videos and photographs.

So no matter what type of backup solution you decide to implement (external hard drive, flash drive, online, or a combination of all), don’t take the chance of losing data, especially when your computer starts giving signs that something is awry.

Restoring vs. Cleaning Computer after Infected by Virus

I’ve noticed for quite some time that many of the local Bakersfield computer techs (and I’m sure elsewhere) have been pushing to ‘clean’ Windows-based computers of viruses.  What I find interesting is few technicians focus on restoring a computer back to its original state.

In my opinion and experience, cleaning a computer should be the last option, while restoring a computer should be the first option.  Hopefully this article will give you some insight and advice as to the differences. Read more

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  My name is Mike Pilley. I'm a Bakersfield technologist who is committed to bringing more technology to Kern County. In other words, I'm a technician on a mission.

• Recent Posts

  • Blu-Ray Player Updates Equals Fail
  • Microsoft Vista Restore Not Accepting Product Key
  • Acer Restore Type Mismatch Error
  • Misbehaving Computer Opportunity to Backup Data
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