General activation problem under Vista (32 bit): failed HttpSendRequest

can't activate any Stardock products

from Stardock Forums

I think I have an issue with my Vista, it's not only with Stardock but maybe this problem occured before and someone knows a solution.

 

I can't register any Stardock product. I always get the following error:

 

Silent mode

Mode 2

Submitting activation request...

Download: failed HttpSendRequest

Result parsing error (1)

Error activating the product

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting support@stardock.com.

 

This happens under Vista 32bit. It's NOT caused by a firewall (I tried to deactivate it, the stardock activation tool has full access to the internet anyway). It's also not a problem with the router (I tried installing it on an old, outdated machine and it worked from that).

Another thing I noted about my Vista is that there are also other programs that can't connect to web services via SSL (these programs used to work, when I first installed the stardock stuff the activation worked as well). SSL in my browsers (https) DOES work though. When searching for causes of this problem I found a few reports that might indicate that I'm not the only one with this problem, but I haven't found a soluction yet.

So maybe anyone here might know what might cause this?

Edit: update

After some more tinkering I've found a way to fix my ssl troubles. Once I visited the sites that required ssl to work with Internet Explorer 7 (I normally use Firefox) I was suddenly able to connect to those sites with the other programs as well. And after visiting https://store.stardock.com I was able to reactivate one of the stardocks products I had trouble with. The rest still fails with the above error message.

Doesn't make much sense to me. :(

5,817 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If it were only Stardock related I'd say email support . . but since it's not we'll have to hope the community helps.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

What product is it and how are you trying to install it?  Are you using Impulse?

If you are using Impulse, can Impulse connect and update correctly?  Is the Impulse store working?

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

it's GalCiv II (base game and both addons), as well as Sins of a solar empire. All were installed via Impulse and they show up as installed in Impulse. Verifying with Impulse works as well, so does updating. The "only" problem is the activation. As I said in the first post. In the meantime I was able to register one of the addons (Twilight), but the other products still fail (same error message as in the first post).

I know that it's a very strange issue, and I guess I won't be able to avoid reinstalling the machine, I just thought I'd try my luck first maybe someone else encountered this before.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

I had the same problem with GalCiv II on one of my windows XP machines. It worked fine on my laptop but wouldn't activate on my desktop. All seemed to work fine in impulse and it updated and accepted the serial key but then just wouldn't let me start the game as activation kept failing. I also use firefox instead of IE and I did manage to fix the problem by going to https://store.stardock.com in IE and somehow it magically managed to activate after that. I don't have any other stardock games though so can't comment on the others but you're not the only one to have had this problem irigy.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Weird question:  Is your clock set correctly?  One of the more common issues with SSL problems is people having their system clock set incorrectly, and seeing certificates as expired when they are actually not.

Also, make sure to check for Windows Updates.  I'm not sure if they have had a root certificate update for Vista like XP, but we have also seen trouble with that in the past.