CD Authentication Error

[TinBane]

Okay, i've never had a problem with DoW (beta, demo, Full) and all of a sudden, it tells me i have a CD Authentication error when i try to connect to gamespy. I can play the rest of the game, just gamespy i have trouble connecting to.

For the record, i have the original CD, in my drive, and it has no other problems. There are no visual problems with the CD surface.
The only thing i can think of is i just installed gamespy arcade, and now i have this problem.

Is there a reason for this (Is the server down, due to putting the patch up or something?) because the message is highly odd.

Anyway, help would be most greatly appreciated.
Cheers, Adrian

[ani]

Try uninstalling the game and reinstalling it, check the CD Key as you enter it carefully, you may have misplaced a digit or something.

[TinBane]

No, i've played about 140 times before this happened out of the blue. Its not my key, unless the stored key was corrupted somehow. ill try reinstalling.

[TimmyFred]

Why not just use regedit and check the key?

[ani]

If TinBane knows how to use Regedit then fair enough thats a good idea, otherwise i wouldn't advise people who are unsure to go sniffing about their registry files.

[Moe]

Registry key is located here:
HKLM\Software\THQ\Dawn of War\

Instructions on how to change it here (http://forums.relicnews.com/showpost.php?p=566808&postcount=6). Attempt at your own risk, while the described method is perfectly safe, you can really screw up your system if you accidentally modify the wrong key.

[TinBane]

I know enough about the registry to know that i don't know enough to mess with it. I'm not that comfortable messing with the registry. However, i reinstalled DOW after uninstalling and it now works fine. My bet would be corruption of the registry (thats not cool). Does anyone know of cheap (ie free) or not tools to help with checking my registry integrity (ie, is my registry file corrupted)?

[ÜberJumper]

My bet is you entered the key wrong in the first place and that your registry is not corrupt.

[Anakaris]

Well he did say "all of a sudden".

I would guess corruption or a very slim chance it was changed by something like a virus(I'm not saying this to scare your though). With viruses that harvest cd keys, it just a simple matter to also alter that same key. Most likely corruption though if it just started doing out of the blue.

[Smoke]

Look, i advise following the instructions for the registry check and edit - basically its a process of 'monkey see, monkey do'. If you do as you are told, and don't change any other values or touch anything else, you will-be-fine.