Installed fresh Windows7 7100 RC that I downloaded from MS web site and all went fine, used OS for good 3 weeks just to find today black screen of death and pop up message at log on screen saying "I might be a victim of piracy". Can't restore to previous good known version, can't restore to previous point because even in Safe Mode shows Blk SD.

jadran - Do you happen to recall anything that happened just prior to this Black screen of death? Assuming you got this during a boot. Did anything odd happen during the previous shutdown cycle? You can try an "In Place Upgrade" - meaning you insert the 7100 boot disk into your system and boot from it. You can then do an upgrade and have it install on top of the existing Windows 7 installation. This will restore a "factory" image of Windows 7 - you will have to supply your product key and may need to reactivate after the fact and download any updates you got from Windows update. On the plus side, you should not have to reinstall any of your apps and your data will remain intact.

Eh, how to do 'In Place Upgrade" if Win7 won't start properly. Upgrade is only from Windows GPU. Anyway I am right now reinstalling Win7 over old installation. :(

Jadran - An "in place upgrade" is done by inserting the Windows 7 DVD (build 7100, of course) into your DVD drive, booting the computer from the DVD drive and going through the setup - taking the UPGRADE route as opposed to a clean install. Windows 7 (and for that matter, Vista) allow you to do an "in place upgrade" meaing you install on top of the existing copy of Windows with the same version.

Jadran - An "in place upgrade" is done by inserting the Windows 7 DVD (build 7100, of course) into your DVD drive, booting the computer from the DVD drive and going through the setup - taking the UPGRADE route as opposed to a clean install. Windows 7 (and for that matter, Vista) allow you to do an "in place upgrade" meaing you install on top of the existing copy of Windows with the same version. @wolfieMy faith is unshaken in you, but I think you may have forgotten that unless a person used winpe or some-such, doing exactly what you wrote would get the message"The computer started using the windows installation disc. Remove the installation disc and restart your computer so that windows starts normally. Then, insert the installation disc and restart the upgrade...."I would have tried "Repair your computer" except I did that before and it didn't work. The whole aggressive validation thing was a big Pita in xp a few years back, I just deleted the link a few months ago "Validation issues Speak to us!"Their answer most times was to run the validation utility and call the number. Members would post that it was so easy, etc etc.I hate calling anyone to ask can I please use my software, but it was galling to do when it wasn't anything I did. But I can guess that this is one of those features that will not go away soon.

Wow,I just got today (Nov.15.2009) notice of last replay to my post,in my hotmail address ( so it is as well Microsoft owned) After more than 5 months. I am speachless.

The inplace upgrade thing wasn't happening. Next time you can runa system filescan "SFC /SCANNOW". Sometimes it works by restoring missing or corrupt files. Sometimes. You can also try reinstalling your product key which may have bean knocked out of the registry somehow.Get to know slmgr.vbs - command line licence tool. just type "slmgr.vbs" to display all commands which are usefull for installing licence keys, updateing system certificates and more. If the situation happens again a temporary remedy is to extendthe grace period "slmgr.vbs /rearm" giving you more time on the desktop."Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury"