Licence Key Renewal Problem

[ian_th]

I have a PAW Classic using version 20180129 and the licence expires on 25/01/2020.
The intention was to apply the new licence keys and once verified everything was working as expected to then upgrade to the latest version.

I renewed the licence on 10/01/2020 and received an email with the new key with an expiry date of 24/01/2021.

On Friday, 17/01/2020 I entered the new licence key into the PAW system, saved it and rebooted the system. On reboot the Config page was showing "License Expired".

Checked that new key entered was as per the email and that the MAC address on the email was that of the PAW system. Both were correct.

Reentered the current licence key, saved and rebooted. On reboot the Index and Config pages showed "License Expires (25012020)"
Entered the new key, saved and powered down the system. After power up the Config page was showing "License Expired".

As the plane was booked for Saturday I reentered the current licence key and verified that the system was fully functional.

At home I rechecked and verified that the correct MAC address had been used when requesting the licence key renewal.
 
Could you please check as to whether I have made a mistake resulting in an incorrect licence key being issued  and advise my next steps.

I noticed that the new expiry date is 24012021 instead of 25012021. I presume that this is due to the extra day this year and would not affect the creation of the licence keys.

I was made aware this afternoon of a problem with both a national bank and the DVLA.
A friend tried to change a direct debit to begin on 01/02/2020 but was rejected with the message "Must not be more than 50 years in the future".

I have included a link to the DVLA as it is also date related
Y2K quick-fix crick? 1920s come roaring back after mystery blip at UK's vehicle licensing agency • The Register

Could these issues be related to my licence date problem?

 Thanks
Ian

[exfirepro]

Hi Ian,

This shouldn’t be an issue. I just updated my Rosetta last week with a new expiry date of 20210131 and all was fine.

If after entering and ‘Saving’ your new licence key, the new expiry date doesn’t automatically appear, DON’T shut down and reboot the unit. Instead ‘recycle’ the ‘Configure’ screen or change from the ‘Comfigure’ screen to the ‘Home Screen’ and back. If that still hasn’t worked, re-enter, then re-save the new Key. That usually brings up the new expiry date. Don’t ask me why!

Give it a try and let us know how you get on.

Regards

Peter

[ian_th]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your reply.
Initially I did the refresh/recycle several times without success before reboot.

As I was hoping to do some flying, which didn't happen, I took the opportunity to try again.
Entering the new key and saving did not update the system. Tried different combinations  of refreshing the config page, reentered the new key with multiple saves, displaying 1, 2 or 3 other pages before returning to the config page. Probably 20 combinations without the key being updated.

The key only updated on a reboot resulting in the Licence expired message. Entering and saving the current key automatically updated the system.

I don't know if you can answer this.. Is the License Expired message specific to the current date being later than the stored expiry date?
I know that some software error messages can refer to several errors.

I was planning to try the software upgrade on Monday but the only spare SD card that I have is 32gb and SD Formatter does not allow the "CHS format option" for cards over 8gb.

I will try entering the new key again and check the log to see if any messages are logged.

In the meantime, would the engineering team, with Lee's agreement, be able to do
1) reverse engineer the new licence key to confirm that it corresponds to 20210124. Rules out any corruptioupdate you.
2) issue an interim key valid until 10/02/2020 ie 3 weeks to ascertain if the same problem occurs.


Will update you.

Regards
Ian

[exfirepro]

Hi again Ian,

Thanks for the reply.

AFAIK, the ‘Licence Expired’ message appears if the current date is later than the expiry date (though I have seen units running a few days after that date so there may be a short ‘grace’ period) or if there is either no licence key entered, or the licence key has been entered incorrectly (the figures used for licence keys are A-F and 0-9 only BTW, so no ‘O’s or ‘I’s and watch out for ‘B’ vs ‘8’), - or if the licence key hasn’t been saved correctly after entry. I normally save the licence key immediately after entering and checking it, then recycle the configure screen to make sure it has been accepted before making or changing any other config settings.

The easiest way to get this sorted would be to contact Ash via support@pilotaware.com referring to this thread and ask him to issue a fresh licence key.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards

Peter

p.s. I wouldn’t normally use such a big card as 32Gb, but you could still use it providing it is formatted as FAT32. If it is new it may well be. You can check this (or reformat to FAT32) on a windows PC or laptop by checking the card properties and if necessary running a ‘Quick Format’ set to FAT32. If the card has been used, you can run ‘Full Overwrite’ on SD formatter, then run ‘Quick Format’ to FAT32 on Windows (it just takes longer).

[ian_th]

Hi Peter

Thanks again.


No problems with using binary, octal, hex which were used as part of my work.

Completed the tests again and have included a screenshot of the logging with the new licence key entered.

Interesting that it shows "today =20200120 sysdata.licence.date=20210124" but fails.

I have emailed support@pilotaware.com referencing this thread.

Will update.

regards
Ian

[A_Vinning33]

Hello Ian, Peter,

Thank you for your support email,
I've just responded with a new licence key.

Please let us know how you get on.

Kind Regards,

Ashley Vinning

[Ian Melville]

Ashley, have you been contacted by Lee Ingram regarding his licence? He had a similar issue and I spotted that the MAC address in the renewal email was different to his device. He was going to contact you.

Cheers
Ian

[Admin]

Hi Ian
The problem here was the software version 2018, there is a hardcoded end date of 2020/dec/31
Thx
Lee

[Ian Melville]

Thanks Lee.

[exfirepro]

Hi Ian
The problem here was the software version 2018, there is a hardcoded end date of 2020/dec/31
Thx
Lee

Hi Lee,

So just to clarify, are you saying that anyone still running 2018 software must update to the latest (20190621) software before a new licence to any date after 20201231 will run?

Regards

Peter

[ian_th]

Hi Lee,

Thanks for the update and pleased that the problem has been identified and can easily be resolved by doing the upgrade.

Yesterday Ashley provided me with new keys initially for 2021 which failed and then for 2020 which were accepted. Given the date issue  with the bank/DVLA I assumed that it was an OS problem.

I completed the upgrade my PAW system yesterday evening, before your post, to the 20190621 version which resolved the key date problem.

Thanks to Ashley, Peter and the PAW team for their support and assistance.

Regards
Ian