Lately I've noticed something weird going on with my system. I'm pretty certain it started after the latest slew of updates that MS started releasing. First and foremost, I'm running W7 Ultimate x64, activated through BIOS mod with a Dell SLIC, cert, and key. I think this occurs after every restart. I noticed that I get the "this copy of windows 7 is not genuine" watermark in the corner of the screen. I open up computer properties to check if this is true, and as soon as that window opens up, the watermark disappears. What causes this? It sounds like a bug rather than an actual deactivation/patch attempt by MS. Anyone else have this and/or a solution? Thanks in advance. Also, sorry if this has been brought up by anyone else.
Haven't noticed that per se, but I got the same "no genuine" thing popping up after an update. It's gone away permanently after changing keys.
could you please provide full system specs to see if others will have that problem. Might be a good threat to watch. Could it be a bad bios flash or mod?
It may be an obvious question but were you using a l****r before you did the bios mod ? If so did you completely uninstall it ?
If your cert does not match all of the SLIC 2.1 info then it will not activate. There is a tool called PubKeyCompare that will validate that your cert matches the SLIC 2.1 info if you have the bin file. If not you could use the SLIC dump tool to get the info and hand check it.
no loaders ever used, a bios mod prior to install of W7. The bios file was created by one of the guys in the bios requests forum, and it's solid. Like I said it's a Dell SLIC, Dell cert, and Dell key. Also, just realized it doesn't come on right after restart. It just appeared now in the corner of my screen. System - Asus Maximus Formula (with rampage BIOS) Q6600 8 gig Corsair DDR2 GTX285 3 hard drives, W7 located on 150gig raptor the rest is unimportant I think.
Try changing the key? Like you said, I don't think that this is a deactivating attempt by MS, otherwise we would've certainly heard more people mention this problem.
If it is happening after wake up from standby, then run the SLIC dump tool that displays the SLIC info in memory. If it is not present, then it is not getting saved/refreshed during wakeup. I have a desktop that loses SLIC info after standby.
no my computer never sleeps, I usually keep it on for days. I can't pinpoint what causes it or how much time elapses between the watermark showing up. the reason I necroposted this though - I got fed up with the stupid watermark problem, so I patched my own BIOS with an ASUS SLIC, got an ASUS cert, and an ASUS OEM key, and yet the problem is still present! WTF?!? What could it be about my machine that causes this? Like stated before, this only started happening a few weeks ago. I still have no idea what caused it or why it keeps reoccurring. It's not inhibiting my computer usage in any way, nor is it enough to make me want to reinstall and go to professional, but damn it's annoying. Anyone else have any thoughts about how to fix it? EDIT: on a side note, would downloading and running WGA/WAT or whatever it is nowadays fix this issue? that is, if a bios-mod activated PC is even capable of passing those checks.
so im not the only one i thought it was just me having issues with my key cert branding tool but if you get the same thing i do. then i have no clue im on win 7 ultimate 32 bit with a hp slic. i get the stupid thing after every reboot now starting yesterday morning. even with my msdn keys...
had similar issue but it was always after starting a video with media player. so far after changing key i have not seen it again
wait you get it with msdn keys? so you have a legit system and it still does it for you? or you are hacktivating as well? EDIT: thinking about this a little more. If I had to guess as to what might have caused this to start happening, I would assume it would be the only major change I've made to my system recently, which was attempting to install a hackintosh snow leopard on one of my other drives. Perhaps something about the mac file system or the presence of an apple bootloader on that disk makes W7 angry?
a reg cleaner (ccleaner) wouldnt do it. it has never done it before and it will not do it in the future... i figured out the reason on my machine it was the stupid office send a smile crap.
I had to reply, as my system is using a genuine MSDN key and I have had this a few times but is very very random. my bios is modded and I have never run any loaders or anything.
This is really weird. There has to be some common thread but I can't see what it is. What mobos are you guys all using? Any dual booting with other OSes besides windows?