Vista - Locked out, "vista not genuine"

Hi all, I have a friends laptop that has been locked out following a false
positive on a WGA check.
I assume he has left it too long before trying to do anything about it.
firstly - I know it is a genuine license, preinstalled and purchased from a
large well known uk retailer.
All we have is a plain green screen with the following in the bottom right
hand corner. "windows vista (tm), build 6001, this copy of windows is not
genuine".
I have searched the web for a solution but none seem to have been locked out
as much as this one.
I cannot run anything including internet explorer, so am not able to get to
a command prompt to use SLMGR
Safe mode is equally locked.
i can use a universal boot disk to edit the registry - if anyone knows if a
registry edit will help.
If i can just get it to run the activation wizard, that would be enough for
me to speak to microsoft about the genuine key.
thanks for your help.

Try putting the clock back a week or so (ie to within the 30 days) via the
bios

--
Jon


"Martmcd >" wrote in message news:uL7Cynl$JHA.5780@xxxxxx

Martmcd wrote:Best to just ignore that troll. He is not here to help anyone. Just keep
going on and on like a broken record about an OS no one here wants and
has no use for.

"milt" <theatreguy_dunspam_@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OL7qcam$JHA.3432@xxxxxxI had noticed from his other posts, i didn't intend to start the old worn
out argument.
for the record i have no intention of changing the operating system, when i
am finished it will be running windows vista not windows 7, ubunto or xp or
any of the other available operating systems.

Great idea, one thing i hadn't tried before coming here(?)
unfortunately it didn't work same blank screen.

"Jon" <Email_Address@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:es9WKql$JHA.4376@xxxxxx

"Martmcd >" wrote in message news:%23Z2B9An$JHA.1336@xxxxxx
The only other thing I can think of trying is the 'Last known good
configuration' from the f8 advanced boot menu (tap f8 on startup to reach
it)

--
Jon

Thanks Jon, tried that already, may have to give in and reinstall
"Jon" <Email_Address@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23lSE9sn$JHA.5092@xxxxxx

"Martmcd >" wrote in message news:%23cQvK0n$JHA.4336@xxxxxx
According to the file 'C:\Windows\System32\SLUI\phone.inf' it's

GBR,,,%United_Kingdom%,0800 018 8354,+44 870 2411963,%not_available%

ie probably the first of those embedded numbers 0800 018 8354

--
Jon

Re-installing looks like the best alternative.

Out of curiosity, I did a little looking around. The WGA bit looks like more
of a symptom than a cause. It's not supposed to lock the PC to anywhere near
that extent, no matter how long your friend might have ignored a warning.
(He/she may not have ignored it for long - something appears to have
seriously damaged Windows.) I'm not a fan of WGA, if only because of its
name. (The main "advantage" is to Microsoft. Most advantages to consumers
are indirect at best.) However, its not supposed to be so draconian as to
completely disable Windows and make a fresh install the only way to recover.

I hope that you have drive imaging software that can be run from a CD. (I
use Acronis True Image.) That may permit you to rescue your friend's data
files, even if the patition ultimately has to be reformatted.

If you ever find out what caused this, I'd appreciate it if you posted that.
No one likes the possibility that an OS could blow up at any moment. (No,
I'm not planning to switch to Linux, BSD, Solaris, or any of the other *nix
variants that can run on a PC. I'd consider Max OSX, if only Mr. Jobs would
allow me to do that without buying Apple hardware. They make nice hardware,
but I'd rather roll my own.)

"Martmcd>" wrote in message news:uBkjYxn$JHA.4336@xxxxxx

"Jon" <Email_Address@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23z0$E$n$JHA.1336@xxxxxxThanks jon, the first number as you suggested is for the activation, they
were at least able to give me another number - 08706010100 option 0 - i got
through to an unusualy helpful microsoft employee in Asia, after rebooting
into safe mode 3 times we were able to get to system restore. restoring to a
point before this happened we were faced with warnings about victim of
piracy, activate now etc.
microsoft provided (free off charge) a new product license key and activated
it in the same conversation.
the problem is aparently caused by HPs license expiring, and should be
resolved by HP however, according to the chap i was talking with, if the
machine is out of warranty HP are telling customers it is a microsoft
problem.

Thanks to those that offered possible solutions, especially Jon. To those
that argued about alternatives - thanks for the entertainment.
Martin