Forum Discussion

New Novice

5 months ago

ME3 Could Not Activate/Keeps Making New License Folder

Around 8/10/25 I updated my bios and installed a new cpu and got the "could not activate/product key" pop up. Moving the License folder from the EA Services folder worked at first but as of 8/15/25 i...

New Novice

5 months ago

Sorry for disappearing. I got EA App and ME3 on the same SSD and its still asking for a key to activate and making new License folders. However I went digging and saw two things.

Its generating logs now in the C: > ProgramData > EA Logs. "Mismatched machine hash in license. License Failure 3."
The License folders its making now don't have two dlf files, just one. 71183.dlf

I recall there being two differently numbered files before. Cant remember the numbers to the other one though.

Hope this helps.

LordBthulu
New Novice
5 months ago
EA_Shepard
Bumping the thread just in case. Sorry for not replying for a few days.
- EA_Shepard
  Community Manager
  5 months ago
  LordBthulu This folder contains the diagnostic logs for EA games and the EA app store. These logs capture license validation, online checks, and error handling. Your machine's DRM system failed a license validation check for some reason.
  
  Common Causes:
  
  Hardware upgrades (new motherboard, CPU, or SSD).
  
  VMs or emulators are changing system identifiers.
  
  EA app corruption (cache or license files out of sync).
  
  File tampering (license file edited, moved, or corrupted). This could be any file.
  
  Clock/time desync (system time differs from EA’s servers).
  
  Most common ways to resolve this error:
  
  Clear EA app Cache
  
  Close the EA app.
  
  Delete contents of:
  
  C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Local\Electronic Arts\EA Desktop\Cache
  
  C:\ProgramData\Electronic Arts\EA Services
  
  Run the EA app as Administrator
  
  Right-click EA app → “Run as administrator.” This ensures it can rewrite license files.
  
  Force License Refresh
  
  Sign out of the EA app → Sign back in.
  
  Repair the game (right-click game → Repair).
  
  This will request a fresh license from EA’s servers.
  
  Check System Date/Time
  
  Ensure Windows date/time and timezone are correct.
  
  DRM often fails if there’s a mismatch.
  
  If Hardware Changed
  
  The EA app may require you to re-authenticate the game.
  
  Sometimes you’ll need to reinstall the game for the license to bind correctly.
  - LordBthulu
    New Novice
    5 months ago
    EA_Shepard
    Cleared everything.
    Ran as admin.
    I have the game on Steam but I tried to verify the files on Steam. Didn't work. Uninstalled on Steam. Installed on EA. Did steps 1 and 2 then did 3. Didn't work.
    Date and time is correct.
    Uninstalled and reinstalled on both platforms while going through the other steps just incase. Made sure not to have both platforms versions installed at the same time. Didn't work.
    Am I missing something/being an idiot or is this situation just weird?