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Well hello all!
I'm having a strange issue with a laptop I'm trying to get back up and running. It's a Toshiba laptop that came with Windows 8 with it, obviously UEFI and an embedded key. The person that was using it said it started to act up a week before it fully crashed. Afterwards, it wouldn't boot up, it would either BSOD with an error code I found pertaining to a graphics driver error, or stay on a blue screen with nothing on it and then restart and go through an endless Automatic Repair loop with no success. I check the logs and Windows checked EVERYTHING but couldn't find the issue why it wasn't booting. Did chkdsk, bootrec repair, offline sfc scan, STD scan, tried refresh/reset but the drive was apparently locked, couldn't do a system restore as there weren't any restore points, tried doing startup repair four times; nothing worked.
So I decided it would have to be wiped and reinstalled with 8.1. Thought it would be an easy process. I used the vbs script to show the OEM key to activate Windows once I was up and running with 8.1. OK, but for some reason the key looked familiar. Keyed in the key, it didn't work. So I wiped that hard drive with Windows 8.0, ran the vbs script, SAME key of Windows 8 Pro as before. Odd. I already tried converting the 8.1 Core OEM I previously installed to 8.1 Pro and tried that key, still nothing.
Then I checked the key on the interwebs, XKY4K-2NRWR-8F6P2-448RF-CRYQH, the reason why it looked so familiar is because it's a generic install key for Windows 8/8.1! This isn't the OEM key at all!
I deploy Windows with a custom 8.1 .wim image and have used this several times already and I THINK I might have that key used originally to install Windows into my virtual machine I have going for it. My thinking was that I might have used sysprep one too many times, but that doesn't explain why even with the plain Windows 8 AND 8.1 Core images why the key that's being detected is a generic install key.
So this is potentially a major problem and haven't even encountered this issue at all. I can't find a lick of information about something like this anywhere.
Any suggestions or advice are appreciated as always!
I'm having a strange issue with a laptop I'm trying to get back up and running. It's a Toshiba laptop that came with Windows 8 with it, obviously UEFI and an embedded key. The person that was using it said it started to act up a week before it fully crashed. Afterwards, it wouldn't boot up, it would either BSOD with an error code I found pertaining to a graphics driver error, or stay on a blue screen with nothing on it and then restart and go through an endless Automatic Repair loop with no success. I check the logs and Windows checked EVERYTHING but couldn't find the issue why it wasn't booting. Did chkdsk, bootrec repair, offline sfc scan, STD scan, tried refresh/reset but the drive was apparently locked, couldn't do a system restore as there weren't any restore points, tried doing startup repair four times; nothing worked.
So I decided it would have to be wiped and reinstalled with 8.1. Thought it would be an easy process. I used the vbs script to show the OEM key to activate Windows once I was up and running with 8.1. OK, but for some reason the key looked familiar. Keyed in the key, it didn't work. So I wiped that hard drive with Windows 8.0, ran the vbs script, SAME key of Windows 8 Pro as before. Odd. I already tried converting the 8.1 Core OEM I previously installed to 8.1 Pro and tried that key, still nothing.
Then I checked the key on the interwebs, XKY4K-2NRWR-8F6P2-448RF-CRYQH, the reason why it looked so familiar is because it's a generic install key for Windows 8/8.1! This isn't the OEM key at all!
I deploy Windows with a custom 8.1 .wim image and have used this several times already and I THINK I might have that key used originally to install Windows into my virtual machine I have going for it. My thinking was that I might have used sysprep one too many times, but that doesn't explain why even with the plain Windows 8 AND 8.1 Core images why the key that's being detected is a generic install key.
So this is potentially a major problem and haven't even encountered this issue at all. I can't find a lick of information about something like this anywhere.
Any suggestions or advice are appreciated as always!
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8.1 Pro
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- System Manufacturer/Model
- ASUS
- CPU
- AMD FX 8320
- Motherboard
- Crosshair V Formula-Z
- Memory
- 16 gig DDR3
- Graphics Card(s)
- ASUS R9 270
- Screen Resolution
- 1440x900
- Hard Drives
- 1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
x2 3 TB Toshibas
Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
- PSU
- OCZ 500 watt
- Case
- A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
- Cooling
- Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
- Keyboard
- Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
- Mouse
- Microsoft Touch Mouse
- Browser
- Internet Explorer 11
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014