Driver Update Can Cause Vista Deactivation
 

After weeks of grueling troubleshooting, I've finally had it confirmed by Microsoft Australia and USA — something as small as swapping the video card or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation. Put simply, your copy of Windows will stop working with very little notice (three days) and your PC will go into "reduced functionality" mode, where you can't do anything but use the web browser for half an hour.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/23/1255235

This looks/sounds exactly like what I had happen on my second Vista install. Except the OS wasn't actually "deactivated", it was just locked down like it was. Manually starting the failed-to-start software licensing service then slapping on all the patches seemed to fix it... I've not swapped GPU's since though, just drivers.

I'm actually starting to think that having Vista on this Acer is a good thing... since I can't swap out hardware:p

Swapping memory several times; different size and brand, taken out HDD also, so far I did not have the problem.

I didn't have a problem the first time I installed Vista either, but then again I never activated to preserve the key. The only difference I can recall with the 2nd install was I did not input the product key at all, and after installing mainboard drivers/rebooting Vista claimed my time limit had expired. So I had to activate it... later I got this lockdown issue. Simply enough fix to just start the stopped service, but for those that don't know about it it can be a royal pain.

No activation needed if you have an OEM Vista |D . Vista checks your bios if you have a OEM computer and then decides whether activation is needed or not. It's actualy pretty easy to fool Vista, there are some drivers around that let vista believe you have a OEM laptop that doesn't require activation :D

Last I heard that required some custom BIOS modifications... since I'm constantly updating and reseting the BIOS that's not something I want to hassle with. Much easier to pay $29 for Vista Ultimate 32-bit through my University, just wish it was 64bit. Or they would let me buy more than one. :)

custom OEM bios is not hardware mod; it loads before the OS.

and 32 >> 64-bit for few more years for sure