Playing game in full screen mode my PC froze. I could not get back to desktop using alt-tab. After 45 minutes of inactivity I powered down PC and restarted. After the user selection menu and entering my password I got a dialog box entitled
'Windows Product Activation'
The text inside was
'a problem is preventing windows from accurately checking the license for this computer. error code 0x8007005'
Clicking on OK takes me back to the user menu, selecting either user, one password protected and one not gives the same error.
No new software or hardware.
Genuine Windows XP Home Edition fully up to date.
Had PC from new - TINY Pentium4 3GHz.
Everything is on motherboard apart from Video Card which is a NVIDIA GeForce 5200FX which has been fitted and working for 2 years. Problem also occurs if this is removed.
Optional Information:
Computer OS: Windows XP Home
Browser: IE
Microsoft Knowledge base does not list this error number.
Starting in Safe Mode works sometimes and everything on the drive appears accessible.
Starting in Safe Mode with networking requires windows license to be registered and needs to reboot in Normal mode to register.
I removed the hard drive and placed in a second pc to retrieve all my documents so I could reload Windows. Chkdsk showed no fault and no virus was found.
I have tried the provided ‘Restore’ CD but cannot use it as I get an error message about BIOS Lock and to consult the manufacturer (TINY) who unfortunately ceased trading shortly after I bought the PC. Safe Mode sees this as a new disk with 0 bytes free.
When booting up (boot from CD) with the repair disk in the DVD drive.
Phoenix AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Copyright (C) 1984-2003
Version VYA18
IDE Channels 0 Master and 1 Slave show my HDD and DVD Drive respectively
After the PCI device listing and Verifying DMI Pool Data......
I noticed the following on screen
Boot from CD :
1. FD 1.44MB System Type-(0F)
then
Starting Windows Millenium Emergency Boot...
I briefly get the Reload screen to access disk functions, Repair, Restore Details etc..
This flashes onto the screen and then screen goes black with two lines of text.
First in yellow
‘This Software is licensed to your computer manufacturer’
Then in white
‘Unable to determine BIOS lock, please contact you system manufacturer’
(The 'you' is not a typo)
Pressing Esc gives a command prompt of A:\> (There is no floppy drive on the PC)
Trying to change drives as a DOS command results in ‘Invalid Drive Specification’
Checking the Directory of the 'disk' A:\> shows a list of files (see below) that are obviously not on the CD and must be a virtual disk on the motherboard to enable the message to be shown.
(Volume Serial Number (of disk) is 28F3-B8C1)
Directory of A:\
command.com
test.bmp
filelist
font.bmp
msg.txt
reload.exe
autoexec.bat
a total of 619,196 bytes
Trying to change drives results in the message
‘Invalid Drive Specification’
I can access the BIOS in the normal way and can change all settings.
I have tried removing the BIOS battery overnight with no success.
Moving the CMOS reset jumper stops the PC starting at all. When replaced in original position PC boots reporting CMOS Checksum Error – Reloading defaults. BIOS Lock problem still there.
I have tried putting the Reload CD in another PC which also sees it as a new disk with 0 bytes free.
Any help or suggestion gratefully received.
