# New Motherboard Windows 10 Invalid?



## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

Hi Rob
I bought a windows 8.0 pro which I upgraded to 8.1 and then to windows 10.
Several days later my computer crashed. My hard disk was damaged. I bought a new HD, and the service guy told me he installed my 8 again and then migrated to windows 10. However, windows 10 keeps telling me that I cannot activate. The computer is the same, so is the motherboard. The new Hd is placed in port zero precisely as the last one. I've called Microsoft and the attendant went through a complex procedure. She told me to run "slui 4". I huge number came up and she said that the number was recognized. So I had to run slui 3 and insert my original 8.0 pro product key. I did it. She told me that it matched. So everything was okay.
However. it came up an error message. She could not tell me why.
So here I am with the activate windows message and I don't know what to do. Have I called the wrong number?
I copied the number that came up when I ran "slui 4". I think it must be a confidential number, but it is definitely the result of a check that Windows did in my system. Any idea? Thanks


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

The Microsoft number to call is the one on the activation screen.

In your first post you said you upgraded your motherboard, now you say hard drive. Which is it?

If its the same motherboard that Windows 10 was upgraded too on already then you can install Windows 10 directly without starting with Windows 8 or 8.1. You just need to make the installation disc or USB stick from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10


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## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

Hi, Rob, I'm not ClearHorizon who started the thread. I am Jacob2015 and my motherboard is the same, just the HD changed. I tried your solution.

Booting with the usb, Windows asks if I wish to repair or install. I've tried repair and it does not work; it's not the case. Then I went to the install route. It asks the product key and, of course, I wrote the one I have (windows 8 pro which I bought and then migrated to 8.1 and then to windows 10 pro). It rejected it. 

The system said to remove the usb and restart the system; but as soon as I removed the usb , it came up a new installation page again. Re-starting took me to my windows 10 non activated. I've not tried to re-start the sequence again because, by the message, it was clearly the same path that took me nowhere. Thanks


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

This is precisely why we ask users to start their own thread rather than hijack other people's thread. It's too easy to not notice that a new person has jumped in. I've split your posts into a new thread.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

So which version are you trying to install now? Windows 8, 8.1, or 10? The Windows 8 key you have is only good for Windows 8, it will nor work for an 8.1 or 10 install. You must also be using the correct version, a Home key will not work with a Pro installation, some installations give you a choice and you must choose the correct one.


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## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

Is this the new thread or the old one? I am confused. If it is the new, it should be called "Activation issues". I've stayed almost two hours with Microsoft technical support on the phone and could not resolve my problem. 
I wish to stay with my Windows 10 which had been working okay before the computer crashed. I came to the conclusion that, not even with Microsoft support, Windows 10 is capable of identifying that I have a legal version (which had been upgraded from 8.0 via 8.1) just because it sits in another HD despite the same motherboard. 
So I came to the conclusion that I have to go back to 8.0 and star*t *all over again. However, since that was exactly what the technician said he did when he fixed my computer power problem, I am afraid that I will not be able to upgrade again to windows 10 after I downgrade. Maybe I lost my chance to do it. I will keep heading to the same issue which seems to be a Windows 10 activation bug. What should I do?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

This is the new thread, hence no messages from the other poster called ClearHorizon.

Who knows what the technician actually did, maybe he used his own copy of Windows or even a pirated copy to do the reinstall. So this Windows 8 Pro that you bought, when did you buy it? And from where?

If everything matches to the previous install it should activate and you do not need to enter in a product key at all. Do you know if your Windows 8 and then 10 were activated before the drive failure? If not then this won't work.

But you may indeed have to start over with Windows 8 and then re-update to Windows 10.


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## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

My windows 8 PRO was bought in Best Buy, Miami, few months after windows 8 was announced (remember, it came in a black box?). I kept working with Windows 7 because I liked it. I did not install the 8.

But my two new notebooks came with Windows 8.1 and I decided to install Windows 8 on my desktop too, without getting rid of the windows 7. So right away I upgraded to 8.1, but I kept working mostly with my windows 7. I had a one tb hd split in two, one partition with 7, the other with 8.1. I was not really working with the 8.1, just some stuff. Dual booth of course.

Then my desktop crashed. I did not have backups, so , when fixed, I decided to concentrate on the windows 8, and upgraded it to 10. Windows 10 became my major system, except in regards to old applications that I had not moved yet to 10. I was progressively implementing my 50 sotwares in the windows 10. 

Then my desktop crashed again, and that time the new maintenance guy said that the hd was useful, in the future, but data was fully corrupted. I had nothing except my files in external drives (back up and sync).

So I bought a new 2 TB HD, installed it in port zero, the same where the old Hd was installed, and told him to forget the windows 7 for now,. and to just install the windows 10. (My future plan in to install Raid with a second 2 TB HD and reinstall windows 7 in another partition in the future. The 1 TB HD was kept for future usage). 

Then, Windows 10 started to complain that it is not activated. And Microsoft is telling me that they can't understand why it does not activate since the motherboard is the same, the port is the same, the windows 8 is legal and the huge code that comes up when I run slui 4 is correct in accordance to their records.


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## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

And by the way, the windows 10 is running well. That is the only operating system I have in operation, but the message to activate windows is eating up my heart and my useful time.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

I'd probably bite the bullet and do a clean install of Windows 8, make sure it's activated, then upgrade to 8.1, verify it's still activated and then do the final upgrade to Windows 10 and see if its remains activated.


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## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

I'm coming to the conclusion that the free upgrade to windows 10 is a trap and a danger to the user mental health. If I go through the whole process again I will never go back to windows 10 again - I 'll stay with windows 8.1. until I move to Apple. 

Going back to Windows 10 is a high risk. If any computer problem (or a malware before it is removed) corrupts the system, dozens of programs that I'll have installed in the Windows 10 will be dead and I'll have to install one by one plus update them one by one. Many times - it happened to me- the restore does not work; what saves me is an external backup and a windows 7 repair. This does not work with the 10 because it blocks the activation from then on. 

Calling Microsoft is a nightmare. As I said, despite the fact that the slui 4 identified the right motherboard, and the windows 8 product key matched the slui 3, somehow, maybe because there is something corrupt, the activation is rejected. This is a high risk to the user. 

Trying to repair the system with the Windows 10 installation boot drive is not accepted. Nor trying to reinstall the windows 10 with the boot disk. If I go into the system and read the product key (you know that this is not difficult), I bet it will be rejected. Should I try anyway? I don't think so.

I don't want to risk running into the same problems again. So thanks for your attention; yes I'll go back to 8.1 until enough funds allow me to move my installations to Mac. It's not your fault, you tried to help, I thank you, but do not consider this thread solved. Better Business Bureau should talk to Microsoft.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Windows 10 activation in general works perfectly fine, just in your case something went wrong, and it could be something from the installation the tech did, possibly a missing activation somewhere in the process or who knows what.

FYI Windows 10 has very good Refresh and Reset options for recovery, options that Windows 7 didn't have, as well as a backup similar to Windows 7, and they do work without breaking activation most of the time.

If you are looking to switch to Apple then that's fine, Apple is not without it's problems either.


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## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

Have you noticed that your wrote "without breaking activation *most of the time? *I think Microsoft is responsible for finding a way to solve my problem instead of having to go back to windows 8. Tech support, whom I talked to, knows that my motherboard is linked to my windows 8 product key! The command they told me to enter made it quite clear. There is no way it is some sort of a gimmick. Nobody else has used my product key, just me and only in this motherboard! What is my guarantee that they will not do it again? None!


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Nothing will ever be 100% hence the "most of the time". We have yet to achieve perfection in anything.


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## jacob2015 (Oct 22, 2015)

FYI Rob (thanks to you for your effort in examining my case for so many replies) and whoever is reading this thread, I wish to register here the wonderful response of Microsoft to my issue. I let Microsoft work remotely inside my computer and the support had the opportunity to check that my system was legitimate. So a got a new Windows 10 product key. Therefore yes, in my case Microsoft achieved perfection.


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