Win 7 activation fails with OEM disks

[glasair]

Quick question: I recently reinstalled Win 7 ultimate on my W500 using IBM recovery disks. Everything went smoothly, I checked the activation and it said it was activated.

After installing SP1 and the updates, at some point I checked the activation and it then said that Windows needed activation. OK, no problem, I put in the key...except that Windows would not activate. Reported back with an error, and gave me a choice of calling IBM. Which I did. An hour later, all they could offer was new recovery disks, which I don't need.

What's the fastest way to get the installation activated? It seems my options are:

Try the install all over again
Try Middleton's bios(?) will it even work on a W500 (?)
Buy a fresh copy of the recovery media from Lenovo
Buy a key from someone

Any guidance would be appreciated. If you have a legit key to sell feel free to let me know.

Thanks !

[theterminator93]

The BIOS probably doesn't have the SLIC2.1 code in it, which is what the OEM recovery disks activate against. Is the COA for Windows 7?

[glasair]

The BIOS probably doesn't have the SLIC2.1 code in it, which is what the OEM recovery disks activate against. Is the COA for Windows 7?

The COA is for Vista I believe. From reading the boards, though I thought that should not matter.

How do I get the SLIC2.1 code into the bios? I've added the Middleton bios to a T61, but not to a W500. Is there a version of SLIC2.1 for a W500?

and thanks for the help, btw.

[theterminator93]

Exactly - with a VB COA you've got SLIC2.0 in the BIOS, hence Windows 7's failure to activate seamlessly.

I'm sure there's a SLIC 2.1 mod for the W500 - I found this: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread- ... -Whitelist which may be useful. Based on a couple replies it seems to have the desired results on T500 and W500 models.

[glasair]

Updating the bios with a modified SLIC 2.1 table worked well. Thanks for the help !