Re: Battlefield 3, BOUGHT via Steam or EA app, Keeps Asking For A Product Key

I tried all the advices before I tried this and after replacing Origin\Battlefield 3\Core\awc.dll file, I was able to join the server.

There is something wrong with the awc.dll file, why I cannot active the game, when activation.exe tries to connect. I really don't want to use some modified DLL file, so I hope this will be fixed.

This is quote from steam community page, that kolofotias86 linked:

">>NOTES FOR ELECTRONIC ARTS-- ENGINEERS, READ THIS!<<
'Machine Hashes' are not matching between the launchers creating auth files, and the client reading them.
In my case, after digging a bit and verifying how these worked a bit, bad, unloadable SMBIOS board information ('Win32_BaseBoard') caused machine-id generation to fall-back onto a different path with different ID sources (CPUID-based etc). This is likely where the old ea-core license code is mismatching versus the modern generation stuff.
On a separate machine where all these IDs were present and loaded properly, activation worked instantly with unmodified files, as expected.

I hope I used enough specific jargon/keywords, such that even an unfamiliar engineer could locate the relevant code and fix it quickly.

Everyone else, have fun playing (again)!"