I see other messages from members who report receiving 'Not A Genuine Copy' alerts and I have this problem too.
My son's system was doing fine for 1-2 years, received updates, etc.
Recently he hasn't been able to stay on the internet for long nor could he/we download help software to check for the problem. I figured some bug. In trying to 'fix' the temporary internet problem, we are now unable to boot up and get the 'Not Genuine' alert and 'black screen'.
I took the console into a local repair place and $50.00 later I am told my problem is my copy isn't genuine and that Windows recently came out with an update to catch copies like this!!? Is this true?
I tried looking up the latest update for Vista and nothing like this popped out. What am I missing?
I am now looking for the CD that came with the system to try and boot it up that way...until I find it, I'm quite frustrated.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Is there Malware out there and can 'remove' keys or authentication codes? I'm a noob so please excuse if I am using the wrong lingo. Thanks for reading.