Anyone have a handy tool for recovering a formated CF card with level5 lic. on it?
contact support
LOL, this is getting really funny!
I reloaded the OS and sent the software ID to support and I got the new key two or three days later.
So, I go to install the key and when I boot up the PC I see DEMO!
So now I have to reinstall the OS and that will ghange the software ID so the key isn’t going to work.
Should I have installed the free version insted of the 24hr demo?
Try to reinstall it. Dont reformat. Just reinstall. U can start all over again. The registration key is based on your hard disk ID. Hard disk ID is generated evertime u format your harddisk.
This is just my opinion, but if you are buying CF cards with the OS DON’T buy them from a reseller, only buy from Mikrotik. I buy almost every thing from wisp router, but I wont be getting my CF cards with the OS preinstalled there anymore. They will not give you a new key. Even at a lower price.
Mikrotik did however send me a new key but they said to do a netinstall. So I did, and then two or three days later the new key hits my email. I try to install it but the DEMO thing stops me. I then do the netinstall again and it reformats the CF again.
I did try to reinstall but it gave no option but install, and yes, it formated again.
SO FORK IT ALL! 
if netinstall formats it, the key is still kept. if you format it - the key is lost. so in your case, it should be no problem at all. check the softid - it should be the same as before.
i suggest you use a good brand of CF card, like sandisk extreme III or lexar pro.
normis, Thanks for the reply.
I did use netinstall as I did the first time. I had the CF card in the USB CF slot and ran the netinstall. As I said the only option I had was to click the install button and the first thing I see is it formating. I then put the CF card back in the PC’s IDE to CF slot and booted it up and it showed a new software ID.
I guess what makes me so mad is that I have never had this problem before. I have always had more then great luck with all the things from Mikrotik. And then this happens to me and then I feel like a dumb ass retard.
What am I doing wrong?
Nobody except MikroTik can “give” you a new key unless they want to pay for one out of their own pocket and not charge you for it. When you buy a licensed flash from a retailer, they don’t generate a key for it themselves, they go buy a key from MikroTik and install it for you.
A retailer who ate the cost of replacement keys every time a customer accidently lost one would quickly end up very popular, and very broke.