CD key invalid right outta box...no mods/patches

[padibona]

Well you can add me to the list of people with cd-key invalid problems. I just paid 50 bucks for a game that I cannot play on the internet. Installed originally with patches...thought maybe corrupted uninstalled, reinstalled. Same problem cant get onto any bf2 server. Saw a post somewhere about regediting my cd-key....went in there and wow it turned into garbeldegook....figured it would work if i fixed it...nope! Did a COMPLETE uninstall via some other thread i saw takin all registry entries out including dice ones etc, did that reinstalled bf2 with NO patches or anything making sure cd-key was in properly into the registry...nothing still invalid, made sure was on servers with same version etc. Just made sure all m y registry entries had permissions on full contol...nothing...this is getting ridiculous. I bet someone either a. hacked into EA computers somewhere and stole cd-keys(gotta be online somewhere...cuz it verifies if its invalid or not)
b. Someone is really good with repackaging a game after opening it(doubtful my seals were all intact)

In either case I paid EA my 50 bucks( or whatever target bought em for) and deserve to get a working cd-key no?

If EA doesnt seem to reply to people that is basically a slap in tha face sayin we really dont care, thanks for the money sucker...I will most likely slap them back in tha face by not buying any more EA games ever.

Either way EA should be able to give me a working cd-key if I show proof of purchase of my game, that would be the logcial and morally correct thing to do, because it is most definitely NOT my fault...I followed all the instruction for installin including turnin off processes that are not mandatory in my task manager etc. Therefore it is either a random (but not really cuz its repeatable with precision) botched install due to my "instable" computer...cough BS or a problem or series of problems in their verification system for cd-keys, or a serious security breach of their company computers...neither of which are qualities that are sought for in a software company...It's amazing how EA goes from quite possibly the best computer game designer(late 80's early 90's) to one that cant even make one that works properly. I guess I should send this vent to EA in hopes they will send me a new cd-key or something but well their websites not exactly user friendly(unless you wanna buy another game click here!) I guess im too lazy to decipher all the hyperlinks to the real ones I need lol

Anyone got a link to the Techical support e-mail or forum for EA? be nice to get an Email of some tech support guru there preferably one that seems to care

[Holle]

Re: CD key invalid right outta box...no mods/patches

Well you can add me to the list of people with cd-key invalid problems. I just paid 50 bucks for a game that I cannot play on the internet. Installed originally with patches...thought maybe corrupted uninstalled, reinstalled. Same problem cant get onto any bf2 server. Saw a post somewhere about regediting my cd-key....went in there and wow it turned into garbeldegook....figured it would work if i fixed it...nope! Did a COMPLETE uninstall via some other thread i saw takin all registry entries out including dice ones etc, did that reinstalled bf2 with NO patches or anything making sure cd-key was in properly into the registry...nothing still invalid, made sure was on servers with same version etc. Just made sure all m y registry entries had permissions on full contol...nothing...this is getting ridiculous. I bet someone either a. hacked into EA computers somewhere and stole cd-keys(gotta be online somewhere...cuz it verifies if its invalid or not)
b. Someone is really good with repackaging a game after opening it(doubtful my seals were all intact)

In either case I paid EA my 50 bucks( or whatever target bought em for) and deserve to get a working cd-key no?

If EA doesnt seem to reply to people that is basically a slap in tha face sayin we really dont care, thanks for the money sucker...I will most likely slap them back in tha face by not buying any more EA games ever.

Either way EA should be able to give me a working cd-key if I show proof of purchase of my game, that would be the logcial and morally correct thing to do, because it is most definitely NOT my fault...I followed all the instruction for installin including turnin off processes that are not mandatory in my task manager etc. Therefore it is either a random (but not really cuz its repeatable with precision) botched install due to my "instable" computer...cough BS or a problem or series of problems in their verification system for cd-keys, or a serious security breach of their company computers...neither of which are qualities that are sought for in a software company...It's amazing how EA goes from quite possibly the best computer game designer(late 80's early 90's) to one that cant even make one that works properly. I guess I should send this vent to EA in hopes they will send me a new cd-key or something but well their websites not exactly user friendly(unless you wanna buy another game click here!) I guess im too lazy to decipher all the hyperlinks to the real ones I need lol

Anyone got a link to the Techical support e-mail or forum for EA? be nice to get an Email of some tech support guru there preferably one that seems to care

It's on page 20 & 21 of your bf2 manual.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: CD key invalid right outta box...no mods/patches

Overreacting a bit aren't we? If that's the worst thing you ever have ot deal with consider yourself lucky.

[Talus]

Re: CD key invalid right outta box...no mods/patches

http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7805&p_created=1094762905

[padibona]

Re: CD key invalid right outta box...no mods/patches

Lol no not overreacting, but have since done the formal EA support process ask a question thing. First reply was funny cuz the guy apparently didnt read anything past my question cuz I explained what I had done already to try and fix it and he gave me some cut and pasted reply with steps on how to do what I had already done...So I sent message back asking for someone to actually read the full post and got a new support guy who seemed more helpful. Told me to try to make sure i was on computer administrator account on my computer which I am but I'm making another user with admin priveledges to test his theory of possible bad dlls from old admin. Basically uninstall via old admin and reinstall using new admin...makes sense I guess. Somethin tells me thats not the issue but I guess we see. Reinstalling via new admin now.


Hmm this is interesting, I reinstalled using my new admin user and it still didnt work...but I noticed after putting in correct cd-key on my manual and trying to play online that in regedit the value had changed to some x9392#$%^&*(JHGI&*(*&(JOI garbledegook again...is this normal? If not, why does it do this? If it is normal..then why does EA support guy tell you to switch it via regedit? im confused. Does this have anything to do with the bf2 online nickname account thingy? Do I need to setup a different one with this new admin user?

[Gunny Highway]

Re: CD key invalid right outta box...no mods/patches

Lol no not overreacting, but have since done the formal EA support process ask a question thing. First reply was funny cuz the guy apparently didnt read anything past my question cuz I explained what I had done already to try and fix it and he gave me some cut and pasted reply with steps on how to do what I had already done...So I sent message back asking for someone to actually read the full post and got a new support guy who seemed more helpful. Told me to try to make sure i was on computer administrator account on my computer which I am but I'm making another user with admin priveledges to test his theory of possible bad dlls from old admin. Basically uninstall via old admin and reinstall using new admin...makes sense I guess. Somethin tells me thats not the issue but I guess we see. Reinstalling via new admin now.


Hmm this is interesting, I reinstalled using my new admin user and it still didnt work...but I noticed after putting in correct cd-key on my manual and trying to play online that in regedit the value had changed to some x9392#$%^&*(JHGI&*(*&(JOI garbledegook again...is this normal? If not, why does it do this? If it is normal..then why does EA support guy tell you to switch it via regedit? im confused. Does this have anything to do with the bf2 online nickname account thingy? Do I need to setup a different one with this new admin user?

The x9392 followed by long string of characters is quite normal. It is the encrypted CD-key. It is encrypted after you apply any patches above 1.03. It is done to prevent CD-key steealing Internet worms or other malware from harvasting your CD-key.

The admin account you install and patch from, must be the same as you use to play from. This is because the CD-key encryption is based on information from the account you patch from.

Does your Windows account have any special characters in it? If so try using one with just plain letters.

Have you tried doing this (from the sticky thread above here in BF2 Support forum) ??:
http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/showp...99&postcount=2 (Maybe you have tried it already just wanted to make sure.)

Basically type x9392CDKEYHERE in regedit, where indicated. Make sure to use capital letters. More info in thread.

[padibona]

Re: CD key invalid right outta box...no mods/patches

Um ya I have done that thats how i checked to seee that the cd key changed...in fact it somehow was encrypted without runnin any patches on my installation. I installed using a new administrator account with no unusual characters and no extra crap running in background(no extra processes). After I installed bf2 without any patches I tried to play online by logting onto a server running base bf2 with no patches..didnt work. So then I checked the cd-key to see if it got encrypted, low and behold it was...so apparently its not the patches that encrypts it bcause I never installed any...maybe the regular installation has some code that encrypts it when you try to play online? Would make sense to me so some hacker cant sniff yer ports to get cd-keys. Not sure how it works, but pretty sure I should be able to play online when installing outta the box...I'm probly gonna just take it back for another one and quit wasting my time tryin to deal with EA support...you guys have been alot more helpful than they ever have so far and I appreciate it.