I do apologize if this topic has been handled back in the mists of time, and I did carry out brief search in the archives before deciding to go ahead and ask my question in a new post.My FS9 computer's motherboard, a Gigabyte P.Ga-P35-DS3L stoped working a couple of weeks back without warning. When the diagnosis came in I wasn't really worried because I had made a complete backup of my FS9 hard-drive contents, on a separate drive that was left UN-connected so as to avert damage to that backup drive in the event of a system breakdown.The computer repairman who helps keep my system running was unable to find the exact same model as the motherboard that went bad, so he purchased a Gigabyte EP41-UD3L motherboard as a replacement. Next he tried the REPAIR procedure on my registered copy of the Vista OS, but was informed by a system message that a NEW Vista install would be needed, as opposed to the Vista "repair" approach that he found would not work.At one point the computer guy installed Windows7 on the new hard drive, followed by a re-install of FS9. Right off an "invalid license" message from PMDG prevented FS9 from even starting up. Oddly enough, installing an un-opened CD copy of the LevelD767 removed that error message from PMDG, and enabled FS9 to start up. But then, when I looked into the scenery and aircraft addon listings inside FS9, NONE of my extensive scenery and aircraft addons were visible or accessible in FS9.Over the years I have purchased and enjoyed flying the entire PMDG Boeing fleet, the PMDG MD11, the LevelD767, the Feelthere Embraer fleet, the Dreamfleet 727 and the Leonardo Maddog 80. Also before this disaster, my FS9 scenery list included many titles by UK2000, Fly Tampa, Aerosoft, FSDT/Cloud9, SimWings and Megascenery. With my computer still not yet set up right for FS9 use, I have now lost access to ALL of these addon aircraft and scenery products, many of which took HOURS to download from the net.As I speak, the computer tech is attempting to re-install my licensed Vista OS unto a NEW hard drive, after which he intends to try and move the Windows Game Folder, which contains FS9, along with all my previously registered addon scenery and aircraft, from my original, evidently undamaged drive from the old system, to the new drive.With the nightmare scenario of me ultimately having to re-install and re-register ALL my addon scenery and aircraft looming larger with every failed fix here, I would like to seek your learned opinions as to whether the corrective steps I have described above will allow me to once again use all my addon FS9 scenery when complete, or if, despite my precaution of backing up all my FS9-related files unto a physically separate drive, I will have to contact each addon vendor to commence that time-comsuming re-install and validation process all over again.Any answers that could set me on the right path would be greatly appreciated, folks. As it stands now I am effectively locked out from all the enhancements that made FS9 so magical for me, and becoming more depressed with each new corrective action that fails to reverse this situation. Apologies for the long-winded write up, but I felt that I needed to explain precisely what has been done so far, in the hopes someone on this forum might see a quick , no-hassle solution to it all.

My understanding is that PMDG does employ some what I would consider aggressive anti-piracy measures. I would ask in their support forum for help. I know a number of addons do employ configuration checks that prevent them from running on changed hardware, though often they have "phone home" modes that can re-initialize them up to a certain number of activations. In most cases AFAIK changing CPU or motherboard will definitely trigger an activation error. You can thank so-called pirates for that I guess.scott s..

I do apologize if this topic has been handled back in the mists of time, and I did carry out brief search in the archives before deciding to go ahead and ask my question in a new post.My FS9 computer's motherboard, a Gigabyte P.Ga-P35-DS3L stoped working a couple of weeks back without warning. When the diagnosis came in I wasn't really worried because I had made a complete backup of my FS9 hard-drive contents, on a separate drive that was left UN-connected so as to avert damage to that backup drive in the event of a system breakdown.The computer repairman who helps keep my system running was unable to find the exact same model as the motherboard that went bad, so he purchased a Gigabyte EP41-UD3L motherboard as a replacement. Next he tried the REPAIR procedure on my registered copy of the Vista OS, but was informed by a system message that a NEW Vista install would be needed, as opposed to the Vista "repair" approach that he found would not work.At one point the computer guy installed Windows7 on the new hard drive, followed by a re-install of FS9. Right off an "invalid license" message from PMDG prevented FS9 from even starting up. Oddly enough, installing an un-opened CD copy of the LevelD767 removed that error message from PMDG, and enabled FS9 to start up. But then, when I looked into the scenery and aircraft addon listings inside FS9, NONE of my extensive scenery and aircraft addons were visible or accessible in FS9.Over the years I have purchased and enjoyed flying the entire PMDG Boeing fleet, the PMDG MD11, the LevelD767, the Feelthere Embraer fleet, the Dreamfleet 727 and the Leonardo Maddog 80. Also before this disaster, my FS9 scenery list included many titles by UK2000, Fly Tampa, Aerosoft, FSDT/Cloud9, SimWings and Megascenery. With my computer still not yet set up right for FS9 use, I have now lost access to ALL of these addon aircraft and scenery products, many of which took HOURS to download from the net.As I speak, the computer tech is attempting to re-install my licensed Vista OS unto a NEW hard drive, after which he intends to try and move the Windows Game Folder, which contains FS9, along with all my previously registered addon scenery and aircraft, from my original, evidently undamaged drive from the old system, to the new drive.With the nightmare scenario of me ultimately having to re-install and re-register ALL my addon scenery and aircraft looming larger with every failed fix here, I would like to seek your learned opinions as to whether the corrective steps I have described above will allow me to once again use all my addon FS9 scenery when complete, or if, despite my precaution of backing up all my FS9-related files unto a physically separate drive, I will have to contact each addon vendor to commence that time-consuming re-install and validation process all over again.Any answers that could set me on the right path would be greatly appreciated, folks. As it stands now I am effectively locked out from all the enhancements that made FS9 so magical for me, and becoming more depressed with each new corrective action that fails to reverse this situation. Apologies for the long-winded write up, but I felt that I needed to explain precisely what has been done so far, in the hopes someone on this forum might see a quick , no-hassle solution to it all.

Hi FleaJump.Sorry to hear about your troubles. I don't have an answer that will solve your problems but as far as reinstalling addon aircraft goes I save my self a lot of work when it comes to re-installing by always keeping an up to date copy of my aircraft folder, Scenery, texture, gauges etc. It helps save be a lot of tedious jobs like installing Aircraft textures etc. after the anitial install of the payware aircraft its just a drag and drop job to getting back up and running, I hope you are up and at it again soon..............John

I appreciate the pointers, guys. Sounds like I might need to contact the vendors of all those addons individually to request re-validation. I will in the future take the precaution of creating a dedicated folder for all my addons as you advise, John, to cut down on the workload if this happens again.Thanks from Tony

Sounds like I might need to contact the vendors of all those addons individually to request re-validation.

It's this that makes me avoid like the plague addons that require licensing which is linked to my computer. Fortunately, I have CDs of Flight1's Cessna 172 and also Flight Environment which have a "universal" licence with them which means I was able to install them recently on my new PC without having to contact the vendor. And Carenado's wonderful Mooney M20J doesn't require re-licensing at all.I understand why "wrapper" type schemes exist and fully support anti-piracy but having to request re-validation and be restricted to a number of times you can do this before having to contact the vendor more specifically is a bit of a PITA for me.Maybe I'm lucky now I'm retired, on a reduced income which means I can't spent that much on my hobby, have all the addons I like most and run a flight sim for which very little that is new is now being sold !!!!David

I share your aversion for internet-only downloads and validation processes, David, and I always purchase CD versions of my addons if they are available. Now that the unexpected crash has occurred, I rummaged through my collection of un-opened backup CDs and was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few addon scenery and aircraft packages that I clean forgot having acquired, so I can stop pulling out my hair now, and calm down a bit.@Ryan, I have sent a PM to you moments ago. Standing by.Tony

Bump

Next he tried the REPAIR procedure on my registered copy of the Vista OS, but was informed by a system message that a NEW Vista install would be needed, as opposed to the Vista "repair" approach that he found would not work.

Why would one have to reinstall the OS after a motherboard switch? Reactivation, perhaps, but reinstall of everything? Surely there was more going on than a motherboard issue?:Thinking:Sounds like a mess. For future reference, a drive image of the FS9 folder alone is pretty pointless. It's good to keep a backup of say the Aircraft folder, but beyond that... It's more important to make a folder separate from FS and keep in it all installers and purchase details/license keys (and back up that folder regularly). A clean install is better than moving stuff back, which does not necessarily restore other install locations, such as the registry, which can cause all kinds of errors. And unless you exceed an activation limit or something, the reinstall process should largely be automated, provided you have your installers, updates, and license keys. It's gonna take time either way, but it's imperative you have some kind of strategy.:(

Why would one have to reinstall the OS after a motherboard switch? Reactivation, perhaps, but reinstall of everything? Surely there was more going on than a motherboard issue?:Thinking:Sounds like a mess. For future reference, a drive image of the FS9 folder alone is pretty pointless. It's good to keep a backup of say the Aircraft folder, but beyond that... It's more important to make a folder separate from FS and keep in it all installers and purchase details/license keys (and back up that folder regularly). A clean install is better than moving stuff back, which does not necessarily restore other install locations, such as the registry, which can cause all kinds of errors. And unless you exceed an activation limit or something, the reinstall process should largely be automated, provided you have your installers, updates, and license keys. It's gonna take time either way, but it's imperative you have some kind of strategy.:(

My computer skills are rudimentary, Mike, and that is why I assumed a hard drive crash was the only thing that could wreak havoc on my flight sim files. Boy was I wrong on that assumption. Anyways, I finally managed, with the help of a more computer-savvy person than I, to retrieve and re-activate all of my addon scenery and aircraft EXCEPT for my PMDG Boeings/MD11, and my FSDT scenery, which always entailed extremely convoluted download and activation procedures. As a stop-gap measure, I reluctantly broke out an un-opened boxed copy of the PMDG 737-600/700 on CD, so that I'm not left entirely out in the cold while I await an air-drop from PMDG that will hopefully revive the rest of my fleet. Definitely I need to establish a fail-safe backup approach here, and the ideas you mentioned above will be incorporated into the final FS worst-case scenario bomb shelter that I build for my computer.Thanks from Tony