Vista Home Basic Upgrade edition Activation help

I am running the full retail Home Basic upgrade edition of Windows Vista. I
have already activated Vista, but now suddenly Vista is reporting that I have
three days left to activate or I'm going to be locked out of windows. When I
click the activate now button it reports that the key is already in use,
which is correct because I have already activated it on this computer. I
don't understand why this is happening, so any advice would be helpful.

thankyou

"John" <John RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7C9CF934-0305-4B30-A345-EE1401956F11@microsoft.com...
>I am running the full retail Home Basic upgrade edition of Windows Vista. I
> have already activated Vista, but now suddenly Vista is reporting that I
> have
> three days left to activate or I'm going to be locked out of windows.
> When I
> click the activate now button it reports that the key is already in use,
> which is correct because I have already activated it on this computer. I
> don't understand why this is happening, so any advice would be helpful.
>
> thankyou

Upgrades are the major reason for requiring reactivation, but there are
reports of OS updates also causing this and sometimes the system wants
reactivation for no apparent reason. Of course, your key is in use because
you activated with that key. There is a chance that someone else activated
their system with you key.

This problem can be fixed in about 6 minutes. Go through the process to
activate, then call the phone number provided. You can't bypass the
automated activation process, but in the end it will allow you to talk with
a real person who is usually sympathetic enough to get your system activated
again.

-Paul Randall