Hello,

I bought my Medion PC about a year ago and it came with Vista preinstalled. Yesterday when i turned it on i was shown the above error message on a black background, with three options - 1. Access your computer with reduced functionality 2. Enter different product key 3. Contact Medion AG to help resolve this problem.
These are my only options, i have no access to deskstop, or start key etc. I have reentered my product key numerous times and also reentered a new product key given to me by microsoft customer support on the telephone but neither was accepted and i received the following error message with both product keys: Code 0xc004f050 . The people on the microsoft customer support number could not help me any more and refered me to Medion, who referred me back to microsoft!

I have not performed any updates to Vista or uninstalled any drivers etc.



Any help would be greatly appreciated as i have an important deadline looming,

thanks very much,

Graham

Hi Stoneys Nutz, thanks for your reply

I tried the following solution from the link you posted:
Step set #2

1) Open Internet Browser
2) Type %windir%\system32 into the browser address bar.
3) Find the file CMD.exe
4) Right-Click on CMD.exe and select Run as Administrator
5) Type: net stop slsvc (it may ask you if you are sure, select yes)
6) Type: cd %windir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SoftwareLicensing
7) Type: rename tokens.dat tokens.bar
8) Type: cd %windir%\system32
9) Type net start slsvc
10) Reboot Twice
11) Vista may require you to enter a Product Key (use the COA SLP key found on the sticker on the side or bottom of your computer) and Activate. Use the Activate by Phone method outlined below

I followed the instructions as far 10 but when i restarted the computer a screen appears saying that i 'must reinstall windows' to activate, and i have access to none of the three options i had earlier. My computer came with a couple of Vista Recovery Discs, if i reinstall from these will i loose all of my programmes and files, or is there anyway for me to backup without having access to windows?

sorry for all the questions, thanks for helping a complete novice

Hi richc46, do you have any idea if i can somehow use Windows Easy Transfer without having any access at all to windows? or if i can access my files in any other way? When i load up my computer i get a black background and a message saying Reinstall Windows, i cant get any further than that without reinstalling from recovery disc, thus risking all my files. any ideas? thanks a million

cheers lads, i managed to backup most of my important files onto an external hard drive. a norton anti virus message popped up and i was able to use that to transfer data to my external hard drive. i then installed the Recovery Disc that came with my computer, but that dosnt seem to have worked and now im stuck on a black screen (like safe mode) that says Windows Error Recovery. It gives me the option to start in safe mode, safe mode with networking, sake mode with command prompt, last known good configuration and start windows normally, but whichever i hit i choose i end up at the same screen! any ideas?

thanks for all your help with this so far

Alright so ive managed to reinstall vista from recovery disc with only minimal loss of files thanks you both, now i only have to figure out where my internet connection is gone to!

thanks for all your help, greatly appreciate it