Changing Hardware ID

Was for the Converter...

The computer had a new motherboard. Either because they replaced their motherboard, or their current motherboard is faulty and reporting a new value intermittently

Either way, the problem is on the customer's end. TurboActivate 4.0 would also correctly see it as a different computer.

The user is DEFINITELY not changing the motherboard. The guy is a complete idiot haha. And it happened over and over again. Still is happening.

I know he isn't. We talked on Skype and I was joking around that he was changing motherboards. It was a running joke. I'll check it out tomorrow.

And wouldn't 4.0 be incorrectly seeing it as a different computer? Because it's not. and he isn't changing hardware.

We have thousands of end users using our software and rely on LimeLM for years. LimeLM is sensitive to Windows 10 upgrades and a few hardware changes (i.e. network adapters). That is hopefully going to be fixed. Sometimes, a security software messes with the activation (but then it is a super exotic trash software), and we generally recommend signing is as an Admin. However, we have NEVER experienced constant Hardware ID changes unless the customer changed hardware (and network adapters being the false positive). We have thousands of copies in the market on Mac and Windows and VMs - and if LimeLM says its a different computer, it is (unless you updated Win 10 or have the network adapter issue). Customer opinion.And yes: end users often lie...

With all the respect in the world Jan, this is an issue for me. This user isn't lying. I've been assisting them for days (on Skype and screen share). It's just a regular latop with with Windows 7, no virtual drives, and nothing out of the ordinary that I can see.

This has been an issue from the start. Literally, hundreds of complaints about it. Thinking about switching.

I understand the complexity of activation software and how generating the ids works and could lead to issues. But at the same time, some users are having issues and they're not on a "different computer." They're just trying to use my $10 software on their regular laptops for more than a couple days without an "expired" message popping up.

I'll give you his Skype info directly and you can see for yourself. The user isn't ALWAYS at fault. Sure it's much more than likely his computer is doing something weird, and that is all I was inquiring about. But I'm just letting you know, 99% of my users aren't swapping laptop motherboards every day...

So when talking about v4.0 and saying that it would be functioning properly because he "swapped his motherboard" or was on a different computer is just false because he didn't.

And I too have thousands of users and I'm using the example software setups. I'm constantly battling activation issues with dozens of emails per day, instructions on various websites to check for virtual drives, video tutorials and so on. And I've been totally fine doing that because I too understand how activations work. That being said, there are cases where the USER isn't at fault. (Their computer.... Maybe) But not the user. I'm still trying to pinpoint this specific issue.

My software is Minecraft related. They're just kids, teens. I Skype screen share to help them with activation issues every day. Most barely know how to get to the control panel...

Looking at the Windows event logs I can see Time-Service errors. Event ID 129. Looking into it (see, the user wasn't on a diff computer or swapping mobos -_-)

May or may not be related. Looking into it

An old HomeGroup/network domain setting was throwing tons of errors. Unsure if it is related but I fixed that issue. Time will tell if that had an effect.

Wyatt and his team are awesome. And having been a customer for many years and dealing with all kinds of issues my customers have plus following the forum I can really say that whatever Wyatt and Sam say is correct in 99.5% of the cases (0.5% is some exotic user case for which they take their time then).

We also develop software, but the level of dedication they put into this software and the complexity this topic has is just beyond what I would be willing to do... Mac may be fine, but Windows and all these crap Firewalls and hidden crap settings is just a nightmare - but LimeLM works.

And in 99% of the cases all activation problems boil down to:1) Date/time/timezone settings are incorrect2) Firewall OR antivirus3) Incorrect license key4) Company network blocking the verification or bad internet connection

I think per 2000 activations, we get at most ONE problem we cannot resolve with licensing - and our software mainly aims towards people older than 45. Don't immediately blame Wyatt and his team, catch errors properly and rule out the most obvious problems right away.

Give your customer giving you headaches 5 activations, don't tell him and if these problems come back and he activates computers from different IPs you know the boy is trying to outsmart you. Otherwise he may just want to have another activation or two for free.

All I said was that Wyatt was wrong when he said that he replaced the mobo. I said a few times that I do think the issue is just this user's computer and NOT LimeLM, but just that this user wasn't replacing mobos every morning......

And in this instance, v4.0 WOULD have been wrong saying it was a different computer because it's not. I've been on teamviewer and skype with this user for 3 days now and I've seen it happen first hand. What is so hard to grasp about that concept that this user isn't lying omg.

And this is just ONE case btw. The rest HAVE been bugs and issues with the *user's computer* and I've had to go in Skype and figure out a solution with the user (I do this about once every week). I came here because this one instance is different and I needed more info on which hardware component was sending the wrong hardware id.

Call it what you want but as it stands now, it isn't as "hassle free" as I expected. I've been with LimeLM for a year and I am staying because they do always respond to support forum topics, but my point stands. Just because something somewhere is glitching out (Again, not saying LimeLM) that doesn't mean that hundreds of users with issues are liars. I've yet to come across any real liars. The people trying to take advantage of me just download the pirated versions (Apparently it's very easy to get around this system like any other system, but I do know 100% piracy prevention is impossible. So I deal with it). And DMCA takedowns only go so far and many sites don't even respond or care. And since Pirate Poacher is pretty much never gonna come out I've given up.

This is not about hating on LimeLM. I am still gonna send $150 a month. But I am also gonna keep making support topics when something isn't working as expected. And I'm going to keep inquiring about v4.0 because I was told this would reduce these issues significantly. Although the release dates seem to be arbitrary due to things that keep popping up. Whatever. I'm still gonna keep paying for it.

I never blamed Wyatt or his team.

AND you wanna know how else I know this user isn't just trying to scam me? Because of the activation issues, he's rebought my program 4 times...

If he bought your program 4 times and is a teenager - I suppose a license doesn't cost more than 10 USD? Refund him, apologize.

In software, nothing will work 100% of times. It's too complex, simply doesn't work. The question is: how much can you afford for quality. And with all due respect, but pages of erratic forum entries for ONE customer and a 10 USD license is a little bit insane.

You get an awful lot for the pricing of LimeLM. What do you think how long releasing TA 4 is going to take if Wyatt gets bombed with hundred of requests like these a day? I'm not saying it's not legit to ask - but you may rethink the way you handle customer inquiries. Ask and troubleshoot questions like a professional software developer. Wyatt and his team are human beings as well. Your erratic entries read like from a 16 year old, not like from a serious developer.

Software ain't 100% bug free and perfect. Learning to cope with that is a big lesson for every software developer... Learning to identify when its a bug (irrespective of whether its LimeLM or your software) versus a very computer specific problem is important if you want to scale and earn money. Just my two cents. After years of software development we have tremendous respect for what Wyatt and his team have achieved - and I think it's just professional and legit to ask showing some of that respect for their work (and time) in good communication. Good communication starts with exception handling in code.

Jan wrote:> If he bought your program 4 times and is a teenager - I suppose a license> doesn't cost more than 10 USD? Refund him, apologize. > > In software, nothing will work 100% of times. It's too complex, simply> doesn't work. The question is: how much can you afford for quality. And> with all due respect, but pages of erratic forum entries for ONE customer> and a 10 USD license is a little bit insane. > > You get an awful lot for the pricing of LimeLM. What do you think how long> releasing TA 4 is going to take if Wyatt gets bombed with hundred of> requests like these a day? I'm not saying it's not legit to ask - but you> may rethink the way you handle customer inquiries. Ask and troubleshoot> questions like a professional software developer. Wyatt and his team are> human beings as well. Your erratic entries read like from a 16 year old,> not like from a serious developer.> > Software ain't 100% bug free and perfect. Learning to cope with that is a> big lesson for every software developer... Learning to identify when its a> bug (irrespective of whether its LimeLM or your software) versus a very> computer specific problem is important if you want to scale and earn money.> Just my two cents. After years of software development we have tremendous> respect for what Wyatt and his team have achieved - and I think it's just> professional and legit to ask showing some of that respect for their work> (and time) in good communication. Good communication starts with exception> handling in code.

Yes I sent refunds and apologized. I have a complete FAQ, troubleshooting guide, and dozens of video tutorials. Going to Skype/TeamViewer are for more complex cases.

AGAIN, I never said LimeLM was at fault.

I only started this forum post because this was an issue I could not solve like the normal issues I get every day that I solve myself. I was out of solutions. My posts became "erratic" when you hopped in here calling my users liars and putting words in my mouth saying I was blaming Wyatt.

I already said I valued LimeLM and will keep paying. I'm only basing the 4.0 release dates off of what Wyatt told me himself numerous times. I even delayed my second program release 1 month because he estimated the release would be that month. It's now been 6 months later and the date keeps being pushed back. And I understand and didn't get mad or anything, I just keep asking every post I make.

In my opinion, I have very very good customer support beyond just activation. I have tons of tutorials, guides, I respond to every email almost instantly, and if I can't figure it out over the email, I don't just refund and say oh well, just 1 customer, I go on Skype and help them and work with them with whatever they need.

Please actually read my last post because I addressed pretty much everything you just said. I never blamed Wyatt, my users are not liars, and I never asked you to put words in my mouth. 👿

I'm just going to step in here and clarify my initial response in this topic. The problem is that the customer's motherboard is being reported as different. Is it because the customer installed a new motherboard and is lying to you? Maybe. Maybe not.

It might be a faulty motherboard.

It might be a "game motherboard" with 2 BIOSes, and one of the BIOSes is intermittently failing (thus booting into a separate bios with separate information). This might be the case if the customer has flashed one of the BIOSes with a "moded" BIOS, and that MOD is failing. This has happened before (on more that one occasion).

It might be that the customer overclocked their CPU and/or Motherboard, causing it to report bad values. You'd be surprised how often that happens.

Short answer: the problem is with the motherboard. What the actual problem is will require more information.

P.S. What's the plural or BIOS? BIOSes? BIOSi?

Thanks Wyatt, Yes to clarify more myself (for Jan mostly), I never started this post even thinking LimeLM was at fault. I knew it was the user's computer "Changing [the] Hardware ID" hence the title. So I contacted you with the key to see if you could tell me which hardware component was sending false positives. From there I was just confirming that this user wasn't replacing the motherboard, but something else was going on and I was "looking into it more." Jan took this wayyyy too far and yada yada yada. 😀

More info on this users computer, it's just a crappy 5 year old laptop with Windows 7 and no virtual network cards with correct date and time settings. And after reordering the bindings and trying all the usual tricks (over the course of several days and hours trying to figure out why) with no success I came here.

I found a bunch of windows system event warnings pertaining to the local network time service not working (after inquiring with the user this computer was his father's work computer that they had connected to their local server) I fixed that issue and said "time will tell" and left it at that.

That dual bios thing is interesting and might play a role since at times, one of my programs opens fine and the other would have issues with activation, and then they would switch on me. I'll keep testing.

Thanks Wyatt, and idk about the plural of BIOS 😉

Hi oPryzeLP,

I have a great deal of respect that you develop programs like that and earn some cool money with it on the side - kudos, I checked it out. So apologies from my side. We sell our product for Mac/Windows platform and have essentially zero problems with LimeLM (if you rule out the cases I mentioned, works wonders for us).

I don't want to make your life miserable - but if you constantly get problems with the activation, a few recommendations (again - it's just meant to make your life easier):- Exception handling for figuring out the root cause of the problem - for us, TA_FAIL, TA_INUSE and TA_INET helps us identify like 95% of the problems. If you have that already - perfect. In our case, the user sees the error message and can either read in the handbook how to solve it or we have the answer copy&paste ready- Showing different errors to the end user actually helped us reduce the support significantly- If the "standard solutions" don't help - we just refund him and apologize, but like I said that just happens like 1/2000 cases

So what my posts implied was:- Others (at least us) have very little support issues with customers regarding LimeLM - and can rule them out in the beginning already -> if you have many problems, check whether you can improve something in the documentation/your process upfront to make it less tedious for yourself- It's a hard learning: but you cannot spend a lot of time (15+ mins) on customer problems which are very specific, especially if your software is affordable. If 100 people run into the same problem, it's a bug and you need to sort it out. If its just one, you will spend a lot of time on solving problems that just affect one (or very few customers). Think about it: 10 USD -> at most, you should spend like 5 mins or so per incident... 20 USD -> 10 mins...- We have like literally 3 standard answers we just copy and paste one after another to nail possible issues. If they don't work, we know that its gonna cost us a day fixing it - and even if the software costs 200 USD it wouldn't be worth doing it.--> Spending a lot of time on these very specific individual problems costs you time which may be spent on improving the software or marketing/sales. Do something else with your time instead (we do that as well, so I am not giving advice I don't follow).

If you have problems more frequently, find the root cause and eliminate it (usually through exception handling). If its very unique, maybe it's not worth the hassle. Your time could be better spent on adding features, making some cool videos, promoting your software or enjoying yourself.

It's cool what you do - keep it up. CheersJan

PS: You may find the books by "Joel on Software" a good read or "Don't Just Roll The Dice - A usefully short guide to software pricing". Also: Crossing the Chasm ain't wrong.

And again, this user is pretty clueless. Just asked him, he doesnt even know what overclock means haha. I'll figure it out.

Appreciate it Jan,

Yes my program has everything you mentioned. Error checking with instructions for every case. This paired with a faq, forum page, 50+ tutorials, my friends helping, etc. These are kids. You have no idea how clueless my users are. I could give them a step by step tutorial and they still need help. It's sad really...

These is my first time selling software and it's my primary source of income. (Making more than my parents ever made so it's important to me that I retain every customer). It reflects on me as a YouTuber and for my future product sales. My comments section is littered with people that have activation issues and people that call me a scammer because it asks them for their key again after 30 days. I would be lying if I said it was hassle-free. The activation process is hell.

I have to keep it cheap (recently reduced to $5) because they are kids that feel entitled to free stuff (it's Minecraft modding so... meh) and even then it was pirated like hell... I've learned a ton about coding and I remade my program completely and it is sooooo much better with way more features this time around, but I DON'T want activation to continue to be the big problem. Because currently, my actual program has 0 known bugs. The activation is killing me right now, but I still try to limit the forum posts I make... I currently have another ongoing issue with product key generation. For whatever reason, the strings can't be parsed, so I have even more people calling me a scammer and charging back on PayPal.

I'm soooo close to trying other activation software for my 3rd program but if v4.0 comes out before I'm finished then I will keep trying LimeLM.

Hope this clears things up.

But honestly, piracy is my biggest issue. I could add the craziest features and release it for $5 and it is still pirated the next week. More pirated downloads than sales.... by far.

4.0 is coming out soon.

Regarding your issue with your PayPal purchases not going through, I've responded to that post with instructions on what to do. I'm just waiting for your response with a string that's causing the error. See: https://wyday.com/forum/t/3235/keys-arent-being-generated/

Yep I saw Wyatt. Fortunately, the issue hasn't happened again yet. (Of course right when I got the log working haha)