HP Pavilion dv7 Startup Error Message > "Product Information not Valid" - Bizarre!

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bambiboom

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HP Pavilion dv7 Startup Error Message > "Product Information not Valid"

Gentlemen?,

A friend handed over her HP dv7-3160us laptop (2010), complaining of poor performance- it was almost unusable. The Blue ball would just sit and spin for almost everything- and almost forever.

Task Manager told an interesting story too- there were 135 Processes running and I saw CPU use at up to 90% and memory use up to 60% with the laptop sitting there idling!

I fussed with it a bit- deleting a few odd, unused programs, turned off and unpinned, descheduled, non-auto'd updated, and so on. I left, and when I restarted, before Windows 7 Pro started, there was a black screen "Product Information not Valid" and that the computer didn't have the correct serial number, product number, and so on. There was an option to continue and doing, so, Windows would complete loading and ran normally.

As it was running normally I continued in trying to get a smooth operation >Disk Clean removed 600MB of various files, I emptied the TEMP folder of 450MB, it hadn't been defraged since February 2012, and there were a number of superfluous programs.

But still, the "Product information not valid". I went onto forums and saw this was amazingly common. Some people had it happen when the computer was only days old. There were waning though not to try and use the system recovery in the partition because the computer information- which I saw in Setup was changed to "0123456789", would not match the numbers in the recovery image and it would think someone was trying to use the OEM software on another computer.

Bleaghh !

I've downloaded the latest BIOS, but haven't installed it. Some posters on this subject said that when they loaded a later BIOS, the startup began saying that the copy of Windows is illegal- I suppose because of the loss of the original product information no longer matches the Windows key.

Someone mentioned that the only way to reset the information was to use HP DMI tool 4.0, but poking around, it appears to have to do with identifying devices on a network or some such. I don't have a clue as to what that is or how to use.

Others reloaded everything from zero and the same Product Info not valid screen recurred,..

Does anyone have an idea on this?

Thanks!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 


Hi :)

Try and REACTIVATE it...

All the best Brett :)
 

house70

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Apr 21, 2010
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Reactivate what? The OS? It's already activated, and the problem is not with the OS, it occurs before the OS launches.
 


Hi :)

Just try it....

All the best Brett :)
 

bambiboom

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Mates,

After further googleyeing, it seems that the only answer is to use the HP DMI editor. Here is a post from 2009 on the subject >

>""Default DMI Boot CD for Award-AMI-Intel BIOS (Add SLP1.0 w/o modding)

This is the original cd as posted here..credit goes to Suicide Solution..

Quote Originally Posted by Suicide Solution View Post

Here is a bootable CD ISO I threw together that will tattoo most all Award-AMI-Intel bios with the Hewlett-Packard string. It has a menu with options and shows keys needed with each HP Windows version. Can also exit to DOS so it can be ran manually if needed.

Manual Commands are:

DMI /SM "STRING HERE"

INTEL /SM "STRING HERE"

I have added the core8 AMI bios tools and DMI tools. DMICFG is included in this cd. It is bootable and can be used to insert any string valid in the dmi area, as well as change manufacturer strings, serials, asset tags, version numbers, model type, etc. It can be an extremely viable alternative to flashing a mod. I have actually never had it not work.

To see how the DMI utility works..hit "4" on boot to escape the tattoo program, then type dmi at the prompt. The options will be shown..

ScanCode made a SATA happy version here...http://forums.mydigitallife.info/showthread.php?t=14443 For USB sticks..very strong work!!!!

Bootable CD = http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/8/...attoo_AMI8.iso

mirror = http://hostfile.org/HewlettTattoo_AMI8.iso

Contains AMI DMIEDIT.exe and dmicfg.exe for DOS...

thread for changer-----http://forums.mydigitallife.info/showthread.php?t=6077 ""<

Which outlines the fix for this problem which is loss of the product information. The DMI editor, "can be used to insert any string valid in the dmi area, as well as change manufacturer strings, serials, asset tags, version numbers, model type, etc."

Whether I'm brave enough to try it is my next question. It worries me that the DMI editor was created by someone called "Suicide Solution",..

Thanks for the replies.

Cheers,

BambiBoom
 
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