I have been building my own machines since 1980. Over the years, probably 40 to 50 of them. Since about 1990, I have purchased the components at Fry's Electronics, most recently in Roseville CA. In December, I started converting to Windows 7. Over a period of six months, I have purchased the parts for and have built seven machines based upon the i7 quad and hex core processors, and have acquired the seven operating systems from Fry's. The three oldest ones, done mainly in November, did not have SP1 on the distribution DVDs, but those systems were upgraded to it using Microsoft Upgrade. These DVDs are marked as OEM versions, although I never specifically requested such a version.
In the last two weeks, three of the machines have been displaying a message stating:
"This pre-release version of Windows 7 will expire in n (now 3) days. To keep using Windows, back up your files, and then install any edition of Windows 7 Professional." The message appears only on the earliest three of my seven machines. I asked the manager at Fry's about it, and he informed me that Fry's isn't responsible for software after 30 days. After a $59 trouble call to Microsoft, they have agreed to replace one DVD with a retail version. I don't know if the registry will survive the transition. This may need a disk wipe and reinstall to fix it, I won't know until I try it tomorrow. Fry's disclaims all responsibility.
Bill Graves
In the last two weeks, three of the machines have been displaying a message stating:
"This pre-release version of Windows 7 will expire in n (now 3) days. To keep using Windows, back up your files, and then install any edition of Windows 7 Professional." The message appears only on the earliest three of my seven machines. I asked the manager at Fry's about it, and he informed me that Fry's isn't responsible for software after 30 days. After a $59 trouble call to Microsoft, they have agreed to replace one DVD with a retail version. I don't know if the registry will survive the transition. This may need a disk wipe and reinstall to fix it, I won't know until I try it tomorrow. Fry's disclaims all responsibility.
Bill Graves
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