I spoke to a tech at VR Global and he said they didn't have all the activation codes (or something like that, that's why I started down the path of fixing it).
they can't... they got in a huge pile of meadow muffin over not getting permission to use a whole whack of games and got sued over it.
CUE THE FLASHING LIGHTS!!! second verse same as teh first... one more time!! onntz onntz oontz!!!
on a fully functioning ultracade machine... you power it up and it begins to boot... the BIOS posts... The harddisk begins loading information to the RAM... once the boot process begins there is some software that runs. It takes information from various places... motherboard serial numbers... the soundcard ID numbers... the harddrive serial number.... the video ID etc. etc. etc..... and creates a HASH (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function) think of it as taking a bunch of random serial numbers, and adding all the numbers together to end up with a single number....once it has the HASH number known as the "Machine ID" it compares it with the "Installation ID" stored on the harddrive... the 2 ID's mixed together equal "X" and it does... the program runs and you play games.
let's back space a little......
when you INSTALL the ultracade it has at least 2 disks... the "system installation disk" installs the base software... no games....does the same thing... hashes all the hardware and generates a machine ID. you have to CALL global and give them the ID that the software generates and they give you an INSTALLATION ID that you must use to install the games disk with. when you install the game pack, it asks for an installation code... it REHASHES the machine ID and the installation ID and if the codes wheren't meant to be used together the installation fails. if the machine ID changes the installation code also chages. the installation ID code is tied to the machine ID. once you have your games installed, the software runs and you play games.... see above.
now... let's change something like the motherboard....same harddive but could be anything... could be something as simple and installing a I/O card or modem into the system...
you power it up and it begins to boot... the BIOS posts... The harddisk begins loading information to the RAM... once the boot process begins there is some software that runs. It takes information from various places... motherboard numbers... the soundcard ID numbers... the harddrive serial number.... the video ID etc. etc. etc..... and creates a HASH........it compares it with the "Installation ID" stored on the harddrive... uh oh... it doesn't match anymore. ...even though the harddrive and the installation and even the motherboard are perfectly legit, because the generated machine ID is now different, it won't work. I have confirmed this by disabling certain motherboard features (not pertaining to the operation of the game) and also installing cards. resulting in different machine ID's
if your harddisk controller is fried, the information the software uses to compose the hardware ID is on the controller board only data is stored on the disk portion... because the board you replaced it with has a different serial number programmed into it... it will not work. your only hope was to have reclaimed the data from the failing drive and swapping the controller to the new drive... to the computer,, the drive would appear identical.
HASH EXAMPLE:
take 3 serial numbers
12345
67890
24680
for this hash we will add the serials together and generate another number...104915 okay let's make it smaller.. we will add 10+49+15+ to get 74.
now let's change one of the serial numbers...
22345
67890
24680
notice only one digit has changed... add the serials together and generate another number...114915 and add 11+49+15 and we get 75. it doesn't match 74 anymore. now i'm sure there are hundreds of serial numbers we can plug into there and have it generate a 74 but the ultracde HASH is likely way more complicated, but essentially it's doing the same thing. so your chances of hashing up an identical machine ID are astronomical.
bottom line. you MUST get a working system, and start a new installation. you MUST call global with the machine ID and have them generate an installation ID, and you must use that to install your packs.
Posted on: Today at 10:18:58 PM Posted by: b3dr0ck
Insert Quote
So ... hypothetically
I could barrow yours, install it, and call them to activate it.
if you have no disks, you might as well have no computer, because global will become suspicious of the same disks being used to install over and over again... and believe me, i'm sure they know cause i'm also sure that "he" didn't want to miss out on a dime because someone pirated the ultracde software...