I've been using a Vista system for the past couple years and had ID CS5.5 installed. A few days ago, my HDD crashed and will not boot. It's gone. So I've installed a new drive, installed Windows 7, and am in the process of reloading my programs. I've had no problem until attempting to load ID CS5.5, which is a full retail version I purchased directly from Adobe by phone about a year ago. It accepts the serial number, but when I select "Next", I get another prompt saying although the serial number is valid, it needs a serial number from a previous version....which I don't have since I didn't have a pervious version....and my copy of CS5.5 is NOT an upgrade version.
I contacted Adobe customer service and got someone in India who obviously didn't understand the issue, and continually pushed to purchase the most recent version....which I DO NOT want to do. All I want to do is use the same CS5.5 I've been using. I ended up having to terminate the conversation.
I then contacted the person who builds my systems, and he said he'd had the same problem several times with Adobe activation involving customer computer crashes. He went on to tell me that I first have to de-activate from the old system, then re-activate on the replacement system. But in my case, the HDD is fried and I'm not able to de-activate my ID CS5.5.
So I'm in a catch-22. I have a perfectly good CS5.5 that I've paid for and now can't use. I feel like I'm being punished because my computer crashed...which wasn't my fault, and it's not like I'm trying to load CS5.5 on a second system. It's simply a replacement system due to the crash.
What can I do?
Thanks
Denny