COA dammage from heat

I was testing a couple of games to see if my T60p would run them. They ran fine, but the bottom of the computer got a little hot. Well, it got a little hotter than I thought. The next time I turned the computer over I noticed a hole burned through my COA


Anyone else encounter this?

 

It's like in Mission Impossible.. after you receive your computer the label self-destructs so nobody can steal your code..

 

O, man!!!!
Can you post a picture?

 

You sure?

The COAs all have a rouged edged hole in the middle of them now with the reflective hologram stripe over the top. It is not a neat whole either, so it could be mistaken for burned.

 

yeah... i think the hole is supposed to be there. i can definitely see why you thought it got burned though

 

I've recently learned that at least with Vista the COA means absolutely nothing, the key on it is never used, and is in fact invalid to use when activating. I'm gonna take mine off because it looks bad anyways.

Vista is actually activated by reading a value from a table stored in the bios, you also need a lenovo license file. I managed to get Vista Ultimate up and activated from someone else's OEM DVD by re mastering it with the right files.

I'm not gonna share how because I'm sure Microsoft would hate for a former MVP to share it

 

I did a google image search on vista coa, and yes they are made that way. But, I'm thinking...man, my computer's on fire! and I've got this mental image of a plastic meltdown inside.


So, is it somebodys job to stand on an assembly line with a match and burn a hole in each COA as it passes by? ;>)

 

Thats how mainstream machines have been for years, even XP machines were done like this from the bigger companies that preload it. That does not make your key useless though, your key is your private registration for Vista and thus your ownership of the license to use it on your one PC that the license is put on.

People forget it is not all just about the key, the key is your registration and what you have bought that says you can lawfully use the software.

 

I guess but if you never have to deal with microsoft, it is completely useless. An OEM copy of Vista will activate without an internet connection and without the key. It would serve to reason that I own the software because my laptop can activate itself, that information is stored somewhere and its the same on every lenovo laptop.

It makes me wonder if a lenovo laptop with XP or a lesser edition of Vista would activate ultimate. I'm guessing it would.

 

You obviously have no idea how it works then...the OS is not automatically activated when you install it on your PC. Lenovo installs a special "key" file of sorts that works with the special individual license code in your bios to activate the OS that was provided with the laptop. It will only activate that version of the OS and only when done in a special way (you do not just install a fresh copy and it is activated).

Here is the guide to do the "special way" with a thinkpad and to activate the same version of the OS that it originally came with:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=119587

 

Sorry Mr. High Horse, I do know how it works.

I used an OEM copy of Vista Ultimate that should have come with my laptop in the first place (it was from a dell), I replaced the OEM files with lenovo branded files, and the xml key. I then removed all of the useless Vista features (UAC, Sidebar, etc), put a known Lenovo Ultimate key in an unattended install file.. and yes it activated itself. On first boot it said windows is activated, it didn't even pop up a little bubble to say it. This was without any internet connection, making the key on the outside of the device completely dumb. Its more of a lie than anything else.

My only confusion was if the BIOS is actually flashed for each version of windows that could be installed at the factory.

 

Well you just changed the tables from what you said before...and I do not need to be called Mr. High Horse for you not sharing the whole story...

If you take an Ultimate Key from another place obviously it is going to activate ultimate....but if you take the key from your install (which is what is legal and outlined in the link I gave you) you will only be able to install the same version you had originally.

Unless you had purchased Ultimate or had the Ultimate COA, what you did was illegal by finding the key somewhere else and installing it on your machine since the purchase was not there.

The keys companies use are mass keys that work with the bios key (each machine has an individual one that will work with any OS edition) to activate the copy of windows. The key on the outside is your personal key and signifies you purchased the said copy of the OS. If you want, you can activate windows with that key you just have to call MS. It is not meaningless because it signifies your single license of the OS even if the company used a mass install method to get it to you.

The company will also have to buy the COAs because they are what signify the number of copies they have sold. Each COA is one copy/install of the OS.

It has been done this way for years and I know a lot about it since it was the exact division I worked in for a company...making preloads for machines that are bios activated.