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    Acer Vista upgrade.

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by eddiebelfast, Aug 5, 2013.

  1. eddiebelfast

    eddiebelfast Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, I have bought a used Acer Aspire 5633. It didn't have a hard drive and the seller made up for this by including an unused Acer Vista upgrade disk. It was a full installation disk with the COA sticker attached to the envelope. I noticed that the surface of the disc was not perfect ( it had been in the envelope with an Acer driver disc ) and was concerned as to whether it would install correctly, so I ran the install without entering the number. My concern was unwarranted as the install went perfectly.
    I then went online to activate it but when I entered the number on the sticker I got the message that it didn't appear to be a valid Vista number. I tried several times altering the "G" and the "6" as they occur several times and look very similiar but to no avail.
    I can only think that maybe there was a time limit on the disk ?
    I would appreciate any thoughts on this.
    cheers,
    Eddie.
     
  2. C0182

    C0182 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've never heard of a timelimit on a Vista key.

    But what you say, you say it's an upgrade disk? Well then the key is for an upgrade. It sounds like you just did a full install on a blank harddrive. That's why the key isn't working for you.

    There are some ways around this. One way is to re-install vista as an upgrade on top of the current full installation of vista that you have on there now. Then the key might work.
     
  3. eddiebelfast

    eddiebelfast Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, Thank you for your reply. You are correct in what you say. I have spent several hours searching this prob on a couple of other Vista forums and someone came back with the same answer as you. I was advised to search, Vista MediaBootInstall which when read states that if the Upgrade option is not used during installation then the " Invalid " message will appear.
    again thank you for your assistance,
    cheers,
    Eddie.
     
  4. garyjr

    garyjr Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have the Key on the bottom of my Acer Laptop! Check your bottom and use that KEY!!!, If all fails whey you call MS. tell them you had a hard drive failure and reinstalled vista and give them the number on the bottom of the laptop and that should work! I had a Desktop that I had to do that too. But my key worked on the desktop. Please keep us up to date.