I replaced my hard drive with a new WD Black drive. Everything is working fine. It even seems faster. But now (its been 2 weeks) and I can’t do a Windows Update. It gives me an error message saying that I should reboot. I have done so, but I still get the same error.
Is there anything special I need to do after replacing a hard drive? Is it possible that now Microsoft “thinks” I’m not running genuine software? I am since I bought the system new from HP 2 years ago then the drive started to have problems. So before it really died, I decided to replace the drive. I used the WD/Acronis True Image software. to copy every, at least I think I did.
If you think that there is a issue with Windows thinking your not running genuine software, you can open the Control Panel then click on System (or in Windows 7, you can also click on the Orb, right click on Computer, select Properties), you should see “Windows activation / Windows is activated” .
I had already tried the link you provided. That didn’t resolve the issue. It said that an “unexpected error” occurred.
I also looked at System and it said that Windows is activated along with a product ID.
Every few hours a pop-up appears that says that I am not running Genuine Windows. When I try to do a Windows Update it says I am not running a genuine copy.
I called MS support yesterday and spent about 2 hours on the phone with them, trying many things remotely but to no avail. They then escalated it to Level 2 support. They should be calling me today to see what they can do.
Its so annoying. I thought the hard drive replacement went so smooth until now.
Now after spending 6 hours with MS level 2 tech support from India, and them being unable to resolve the issue, I now have 2 choices:
A) live with the annoying (every 2-3 hours) pop ups that say I am not running genuine windows even though they say I am, and also being unable to ever get windows updates.
Or
B) allow MS to do a free clean Windows install, thus requiring me to re-install all my programs/applications.
Both my kids say to choose a third option, get a Mac.
I’m surprised Microsoft couldn’t resolve it. They claim that the third party clone software (WD Acronis True Image) corrupted the new image. I thought I did a clone so I wouldn’t have to re-install my programs and now I’m at square 1.
Oh well. I thought you folks would like to know.
Steve
Check the time in your bios to make sure it’s correct, you could have a failing battery.
If the time is not correct it can really mess up the system because it thinks the update was already done on the old
drive, you cloned a new drive and it looks spoofed since updates can’t go back in time.
I’ve made acronis clones and put aside the spare for 6 months then I swapped them, fired up the computer and updated it and then put it away without any issues.
Hi cloning a drive does work most times but there are times when the clone image will just not work right. If the system has been used for 2 years it has a build up of many registry entries and left overs from uninstalled programs. Best solution use your HP recovery media that you wrote when you got your PC and reinstall then reinstall your program’s just make sure you backup your important stuff first. You will get a much better running system by reinstalling. When you called MS they should have been able to activate it with you over the phone but since it was already activated they could not. So it seems the clone did not go well. Also for windows update to work there are services that need to be running this link will tell you the services so you can check and make sure they are running. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/windows-update-error-80070424#1TC=windows-7
