When You Buy A New Laptop

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

.....does it come with an operating system backup disc/CD? I ask because I don't ever remember seeing one anywhere when I brought my laptop home; and now that I need to put eyes & hands on said item, I'm up a creek.

That said, where can one find a Windows 7 OS backup CD?

 

[jrt_ms1995]

Extremely, extremely unlikely to come with one. Most, however, when new have utilities for making (as does Windows itself), and prompts encouraging you to make, your own (and I'm sure most people don't).

What exactly is the problem? May be fixable by other means.

 

[DoWhat]

.....does it come with an operating system backup disc/CD? I ask because I don't ever remember seeing one anywhere when I brought my laptop home; and now that I need to put eyes & hands on said item, I'm up a creek.

That said, where can one find a Windows 7 OS backup CD?

DK, let me know if you cant fix your problem, I can help you out.
I have a windows CD.

DW

 

[GURPS]

.....does it come with an operating system backup disc/CD?

most do not ...

now a days there is a 'recovery' partition you can boot to, to restore the boot drive.

[unless you specifically paid for a recovery DVD] or bought a business class laptop - even then it is a 20 option at dell


Which Version of Windows 7 do you have ..... I have the install files for 7 Pro SP 1 on a thumb drive - use your pro CD Key

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Well, here's the problem I guess I created myself.....

In the recent past in "My Computer" it shows the amount of free/used disk space. Well, my C drive was almost full; to the point where the drive space indicator was red.
So, leaping without looking, I started deleting everything.....bookmarks, picture files, video files, you name it; I deleted it.Then I tried a hard shutdown, counted to 15; maybe it was 16; anyway, I hit the O-F-F switch to re-start and.....nothing. Apparently some of the deletions were drivers or something.

That said, I did create at least one back-up CD set that I can put hands on. So, I tried using the CD back-up set to restore the laptop. Nuthin'.
Then I tried a recover to last good restore point. Again, nuthin'. So, what I want to try is, re-installing Windows7. The laptop came with Windows7. OR I wanted to wipe the hard drive and then re-installing Windows7.

Someone who is far more knowledgeable in matters of the computer one told me, 'you can't screw it up so badly that it can't be fixed.' He has his own stuff to deal with right now, so I didn't bug him with this. I'm betting the first four words out of his mouth would be 'What did you do??'

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

DK, let me know if you cant fix your problem, I can help you out.
I have a windows CD.

DW

Check your PM's.
D

 

[RPMDAD]

DEEKAY, what kind of laptop is it, as Gurps said you may be able to get it back to the original shipped config of windows.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

DEEKAY, what kind of laptop is it, as Gurps said you may be able to get it back to the original shipped config of windows.

It's an HP Pavilion dv7 6c66nr that did not come with a restore disc; and the CD backup set I made myself won't work; so, in my deleting frenzy, hoping to free up disc space, I deleted something important. I've asked DoWhat about doing an OS re-install and he was kind enough to shed some light.

Thanks again DW.

 

[RPMDAD]

DEEKAY, you can try this procedure in the link. There is a video in it, the part that should help you starts at the 1:38 mark Steps to follow for Recovery from the startup screen (during system boot) OR when unable to boot to login in screen.
If this process works it will take your computers Operating Software back to the point it was shipped from HP, you will have to run a ton of Windows Updates, also verify you have some form of anti-virus installed. I have used this procedure before on a HP desktop and it does work. Good Luck.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01867418&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en

 

[DoWhat]

It's an HP Pavilion dv7 6c66nr that did not come with a restore disc; and the CD backup set I made myself won't work; so, in my deleting frenzy, hoping to free up disc space, I deleted something important. I've asked DoWhat about doing an OS re-install and he was kind enough to shed some light.

Thanks again DW.

Need to find out if you want 64 or 32 bit.
How much RAM do you have on the laptop?

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

DEEKAY, you can try this procedure in the link. There is a video in it, the part that should help you starts at the 1:38 mark Steps to follow for Recovery from the startup screen (during system boot) OR when unable to boot to login in screen.
If this process works it will take your computers Operating Software back to the point it was shipped from HP, you will have to run a ton of Windows Updates, also verify you have some form of anti-virus installed. I have used this procedure before on a HP desktop and it does work. Good Luck.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01867418&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en

Well, I'm stuck then. Thanks to my trigger finger and the delete button, this is what I see when I start it up now:

"Windows Error Boot Manager"

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer. (Don't have one)
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3> Click "Repair you computer."

if you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.


Status: Oxc000000f

Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

So, like I told DW, I was hoping that running a WIN 7 install would fix it.

 

[DoWhat]

Well, I'm stuck then. Thanks to my trigger finger and the delete button, this is what I see when I start it up now:

"Windows Error Boot Manager"

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer. (Don't have one)
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3> Click "Repair you computer."

if you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.


Status: Oxc000000f

Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

So, like I told DW, I was hoping that running a WIN 7 install would fix it.

Is this your laptop?
http://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pav...ws-7-home-premium-64-bit-6-gb-ram-640-gb-hdd/

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Is this your laptop?
http://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pav...ws-7-home-premium-64-bit-6-gb-ram-640-gb-hdd/

Sure is.....

 

[RPMDAD]

DEEKAY, just wanted to verify. When you powered your computer up and kept hitting the F11 key, you did not get a screen like this/

If Windows 7 does not open correctly, perform the following steps to recover the computer:


Turn off the computer.
Disconnect all connected devices and cables such as Personal Media Drives, USB drives, printers, and faxes. Remove media from internal drives, and remove any recently added internal hardware. Do not disconnect the monitor, keyboard, mouse, or power cord.
Turn on the computer and repeatedly press the F11 key, about once every second, until Recovery Manager opens.
Figure 7: Recovery Manager




Recovery Manager

 

[DoWhat]

Any luck yet?

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Any luck yet?

Not since you posted this. I've been dealing with Murphy's Law for the past couple days. I might try screwing with it today.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

System Restore Successful

Here's hoping it is anyway.....
Today I pestered another IT Wiz I know. He was able to restore my laptop to near if not full 'out-of-the-box' condition. Later tonight I'll see if I can get things up and running again myself. (?)

 

[DoWhat]

Here's hoping it is anyway.....
Today I pestered another IT Wiz I know. He was able to restore my laptop to near if not full 'out-of-the-box' condition. Later tonight I'll see if I can get things up and running again myself. (?)

So you did not need the CD's I gave you?

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

So you did not need the CD's I gave you?

I did need them. I tried a simple 'insert CD' ---> re-start; but that didn't work. Another IT whiz I know looked into things and the problem was bigger'n a simple fix. No offense.
I just messed things up more than I explained to you, I guess. So, "Bob" dug down to the root cause of the problem; whatever it was.

Short version, "Bob" had a WINDOWS7 Home Premium disc, or something like that; installed it; created a clean profile and told me I could take my files off the old profile and save them to an external drive, or transfer them to the new profile; then he would tell/show me how to get rid of the old profile.
He said, trying to remember everything and sound like he knows what he's talking about. /:-\

Thanks again for taking the time to try to impart new knowledge into this thick skull.