Activation problem

[CALocklin]

I've had some computer problems recently and had to re-install windows (and replace a motherboard, 3 hard drives, a mouse, and a graphics board - but it was only a minor issue) and now I can't activate versions 9, 10, or 11. (I think that's the right 3) The earlier versions apparently already had the activation file included in my backup but not these.

I have no problem with internet access but these versions can't access Alpha's "secure.alphaonline.<something>" server to get activated.

Anyone have any ideas? Or can anyone confirm that the Alpha server is working - thus the problem would be on my end. (The way everything else has been going lately, it's probably something on my end but I have no way to be sure.)

[Ted Giles]

Re: Activation problem.

http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...l=1#post622906

See Post#4

[CALocklin]

Re: Activation problem.

I saw that. But it's a little hard to restore something I don't have. I have backups of all my data but saw no reason to backup the "C:\User" files since re-installing my programs will also re-install the User files.

I really, really hope you're not trying to tell me they won't activate A5v11 anymore. If so, they will go out of business in about one day.


Something is very strange here. Even with my security setting on None and the firewall deactivated, I still get the attached message.

A bit later:

Oh MAN! I really love computers! After typing the above, I went to get the screenshot of the warning message and things changed again! This time A5v11 activated with no problem but A5v9 and A5v10 still won't activate.

[Ted Giles]

Re: Activation problem.

Have you wiped the old drives ?
With what you have replaced, in the UK it would be easier and cheaper to build a new unit.
I have 1tb drive which I load important info onto - including backups and installation files.
When I have had issues before, Alpha can usually resolve them, but not over a weekend.

I'll PM you about the activation key.

[CALocklin]

Re: Activation problem.

Can't wipe the old drives. They don't work anymore. Can't even reformat them.

Yeah, basically I have built a new unit. The only things that weren't replaced were the box itself, the power supply, the DVD drive, the On/Off button, and the front USB/sound ports. Oh, and the new eSATA board I bought about 2 weeks ago. If I would have known where this would end up, I would have just bought a new computer. Unfortunately, it started with one item and cascaded down hill rapidly.

At this point, I think the only choice I have is to laugh. Oh well, at least I still have a few Gb of unused storage available even if it is only 4579 Gb kicking_n_laffing.gif (that sounds bigger then a measley 4.579 when expressed in Tb) and I didn't have to buy a new copy of Win7.

[CALocklin]

Re: Activation problem.

Can it get any worse???

Since I was having so much trouble I decided to re-install A5v10. Now....
- I can't get the About dialog to open.
- I can't get the Request an Activation dialog to open. (So I can't even see the "request an activation on line" button.)
- The "Recent Databases" list doesn't show any recent databases and can't be edited.
- The Database Properties settings do nothing.

I'm starting to think there is some kind of access/security issue involved here but can't figure out what it is. I already turned off the firewall and the UAC.

[Ted Giles]

Re: Activation problem.

Suggestions. Apologies if you have done all this but just to be sure;

The new computer and the one you junked are the same name?
Install V10 in a folder outside of the Program Folders, and when you run the install, right click and choose Run as Administrator
When the install is complete, you may well get a message saying it didn't install properly. Ignore it.

If you try to run it now, you may get a message to say that the application cannot be used on this operating system, so;

The Alpha Icon should apprea on your desktop. Right click and Check Compatability. Follow the instructions and you should not need to make any changes - just accept the suggestions.
If this works, you can add the last V10 patch.

If this doesn't work, then you may need to remove the original V10 and delete the Registry items for it and try again.

Last option. I have a small 80 gig drive - in a case - which is really just a laptop disc which is run through a USB cable.
Your PC guy should be able to make you up a wiring harness to get the data off the old drives but if not, he should be able to plug the drive in at his shop and get the data you need off it.
Unless it's completely wrecked which is unusual.

[CALocklin]

Re: Activation problem.

Tried it all. Even deleted all the v10 CLSID keys in the registry. And the hard drives are dead and gone - unreadable and even unformattable. I suspect all the crashes I was having originally caused the heads to damage the drives themselves.

The activation issue I could sort of understand. The idea that things like "Recent Databases" and the "About" dialog don't work now seems ridiculous. They worked when I originally just copied the A5 files to the new hard drive, registered the dll and ocx files, and ran A5. After actually running the A5 install routine, the other stuff quit working as well. I even removed all the registry entries I could find again and just copied the files over. Things still don't work. Makes no sense to me.

[Esio Trot]

Re: Activation problem.

Things still don't work. Makes no sense to me.

Thanks for posting about this Cal.

I can't offer you even a suggestion, but - despite your experience and knowledge you regularly share with those of us that are more limited - hearing about the problems even someone like you can face will make me feel I am not alone when next I am close to pulling my hair out where what I want to do doesn't bear much resemblance to what actually happens.

As an aside, we moved offices and re-instated the same network using the same machines and same router. For some unfathomable reason, our newest machine at the time (Vista) refused to acknowledge the existence of the server or other machines (all XP). Even had a techie guy phone in remotely with all sorts of analytical software to sort it, and after 2 hours nothing worked and he gave up. In the end, having looked a the time and disruption this was causing us, decided it would be cheaper to buy a new machine as a replacement, Windows 7 being out by then. Took the Vista machine home to replace my ageing one, and it instantly recognised my home network - despite it being all XP! Go figure.

Here's hoping you get it sorted.

David

[aschone]

Re: Activation problem.

Please update us on which versions are not activating. If I followed this correctly version 9 and 10 cannot activate. Version 11 did activate.

For version 9 and 10 uninstall using the add/remove programs option in the control panel
Download CCleaner, install it, then run it. Choose the registry cleaning/fix tool keep running that until no more registry errors are found.

Install version 9. Open the folder where you installed version 9. Right click on the version 9 alpha5.exe select properties, Compatibility tab, Check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and then select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)" Click Ok to close the dialog box.

Right click the version Alpha5.exe and select "Run as Administrator". Hopefully you will get your activation prompt and be able to activate.

Let us know what happens.

[DaveM]

Re: Activation problem.

Only two small suggestions.

1. if you have a phone line connected to a modem, make sure there is a suppressor on it. I have repaired way too many computers where the surge came in through the phone line and modem. That was what happened to me this time. Modem, MB, ( i did the case for the power supply), 1 hard drive(of 2), memory

2. with so much damage, replace the power supply or case and power supply. better thirty to sixty or so dollars than so much(again)

Now, if the computer is named the same as the old one and you are having problems not resolved here. Call alpha. I had to do the same a few months ago and there was no delay getting it covered with a phone call. Of course, it was on a tuedsday in the daytime.

[CALocklin]

Re: Activation problem.

RESULTS:

Apparently my problems originated with the graphics board. It was causing the computer to shut down instantly - as though someone had pulled the plug. The first time it happened I thought it was just a fluke. Then it started happening once every 2-3 days, then once a day, then multiple times a day as I was waiting for the new motherboard to arrive. (The local computer store told the the motherboard was bad.) I think the multiple shutdowns are what destroyed the hard drive(s?). The second drive was an older drive from a previous computer that was basically just a "backup of the old stuff just in case" and was seldom used. It may have been bad before all these issues started or may have died during one of the first "instantaneous shutdowns" without me being aware of it.

Activation:

I finally found an old backup that had my activation keys. Once I installed those activation keys, EVERYTHING started working correctly again. The 'About' box works now, the list of 'Previously Opened Databases' works now, and the 'Database Property' settings work now. I can't tell if the 'Request an Activation' button works because it's not there anymore.

I contacted Alpha and they said they could provide activation numbers for A5v7 and later but weren't sure they could provide them for A5v5 or A5v6.
I don't know of anybody that is still using A5v6 (just out of curiosity I'd be interested to know if anyone is) but I do have one customer of my own that is still in A5v5 and I still use a few v5 apps myself (my password/registration info and a computer 'how to' db) because they open so fast. Also, many of the customer lists for my addon routines are still in v5 but they are slowly being converted to a newer v10 app (that probably works fine in v11 also).

[DaveM]

Re: Activation problem.

Cal,

Just for the record:

Many years ago, an attorney asked me to retrieve data from a drive that was not working(no one else would try). I GUESSED it was the electronics on the drive. I got another exact same drive and swapped the disks to it and it worked long enough for me to get the data off. It was , but worth it to him(and me).

[CALocklin]

Re: Activation problem

Thanks Dave. That's a good thing for people to be aware of.

Unfortunately, in an attempt to keep from getting too wordy, I didn't mention that the 3rd hard drive failure was one that was in the old RAID drive all my data was on. Consequently, I didn't actuallly lose any data - I just had to install the new drive and let the RAID system rebuild itself. Only Windows and my other programs had to be re-installed and that would have been necessary even if data had to be recovered from a hard drive.

(For those like me who aren't familiar with RAID, I was able to continue working even with the one bad drive. If a second drive in the 4-drive RAID system had failed, I would have lost data. As it was, I was able to keep working with the bad drive. And after installing the new drive, I was still able to keep working while the RAID system was rebuilding. The rebuild took about 3-4 hours even though the actual data was only about 140 GB. The new drive itself was 1.5 TB and the total RAID size is 4 TB. FWIW, my RAID drive says it's hot-swappable but I didn't take any chances - I shut down, replaced the drive, and restarted.)

I don't think the hard drive crash in the RAID had anything to do with the rest of the issues. The RAID drives are not new and the drive that failed may even have failed before the other issues started. All I know for sure is that I noticed the red light on the drive shortly after the first "instant shutdown" occurred. At that point I didn't even know if the shutdown was just a fluke.

I know there are other methods that could be tried to retrieve data from a hard drive. But, since the data itself wasn't lost, the only issue was activating the older versions of A5 and it wouldn't have been worth the expense of trying the other methods.

[Stephen Williams]

Re: Activation problem

Can someone spell out how to activate version 7 for me. I have been through a few machines with no problems, but now I get the same error message Cal has posted - "cannot contact the server". My last hard drive crashed so I have a new hard drive and am trying to get all my software active again.

All I have is my license number, and the link to download the version 7 from Alphasoftware (which was "contacted" just fine, downloaded very easily).

It was an upgrade from version 5, maybe I got version 6 with a free upgrade to 7 if I recall - it's been a while.

And no, I don't need version anything else - every time I upgrade I have to rewrite stuff and I really don't want to do that - I don't get paid to do that. I just use the app to run my business and it works great as it is.

I did send an email yesterday asking Alphasoftware how to proceed, but so far all I hear is crickets. So I thought I would ask here seeing this forum was always so active.

I do not have any way to access old activation keys. All I have is my emailed receipt with the license number.

And yes - I have the same machine name. I know about this, changed it before I even downloaded the install file. Also that would cause a different error message if I recall.