I recently tried to use the Vista repair tools to format the laptop
back to factory conditions. I'd done the process before, so I was
familiar. I backed up files (music and pictures and such) and
continued with the restoration, but it hung up mid-process and gave me
the nice error message that said something about some boot files
missing. Well anyways, I called them and they said it was HD trouble,
and that I needed to ship it back to them (HP) and for a nice small
400 dollars they'd fix it. I wasn't too sure I had HD trouble so I
ordered the Recovery disks from them (HP) and verified that I COULD
indeed use them to put my purchased Vista 64x on any HP hard drive
(even a blank one) I asked them like 4 times and they told me yes.
And then I found a family friend that works for HP and THEY told me it
was doable. So here I am, trying to figure out how to do it. I
bought another HD (so now I have 2 with the HP logo on them) and have
XP on the new one, and tried putting Vista on the old one. Well it
wrote over my XP and just put a bunch of files on there that I didn't
know what to do with. So I reinstalled XP (on D and I have Vista
files on C:. But it's not bootable. I really need some help. I'm
not computer dumb, I'm just vista dumb.. so if anyone is willing to
help, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

More info:

I read somewhere that you should install XP, then Vista. Which is the
order I've taken. I have XP, now I'm trying to install vista. In my
reading I read that you should go into the XP recovery stuff and do
some commands to fix the MBR or something like that. Well I did that
on the C: (Vista) hard drive. I'm thinkin that may be why my Vista
won't start, (But I'm not sure) because it's saying Vista is missing
some hal.dll file. I had this trouble with my XP hard drive, and fixed
it by installing a 2nd copy of XP and drag dropping the hal.dll file
into my original installation.



I thought about using the Vista Recovery disc to reinstall the Vista
files and see if that works, but I'm afraid of wiping XP again.

Originally Posted by AceX

I recently tried to use the Vista repair tools to format the laptop
back to factory conditions. I'd done the process before, so I was
familiar. I backed up files (music and pictures and such) and
continued with the restoration, but it hung up mid-process and gave me
the nice error message that said something about some boot files
missing. Well anyways, I called them and they said it was HD trouble,
and that I needed to ship it back to them (HP) and for a nice small
400 dollars they'd fix it. I wasn't too sure I had HD trouble so I
ordered the Recovery disks from them (HP) and verified that I COULD
indeed use them to put my purchased Vista 64x on any HP hard drive
(even a blank one) I asked them like 4 times and they told me yes.
And then I found a family friend that works for HP and THEY told me it
was doable. So here I am, trying to figure out how to do it. I
bought another HD (so now I have 2 with the HP logo on them) and have
XP on the new one, and tried putting Vista on the old one. Well it
wrote over my XP and just put a bunch of files on there that I didn't
know what to do with. So I reinstalled XP (on D and I have Vista
files on C:. But it's not bootable. I really need some help. I'm
not computer dumb, I'm just vista dumb.. so if anyone is willing to
help, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

More info:

I read somewhere that you should install XP, then Vista. Which is the
order I've taken. I have XP, now I'm trying to install vista. In my
reading I read that you should go into the XP recovery stuff and do
some commands to fix the MBR or something like that. Well I did that
on the C: (Vista) hard drive. I'm thinkin that may be why my Vista
won't start, (But I'm not sure) because it's saying Vista is missing
some hal.dll file. I had this trouble with my XP hard drive, and fixed
it by installing a 2nd copy of XP and drag dropping the hal.dll file
into my original installation.

I thought about using the Vista Recovery disc to reinstall the Vista
files and see if that works, but I'm afraid of wiping XP again.

Hi,

You may need to do a startup repair , I have also included links to step by step screenshot tutorials

Startup Repair

How to dual-boot Vista with XP (with XP installed first) - step-by-step guide with screenshots

If you need to partition your disk, it may be more straightforward to use the Diskpart command
rather than gparted for your purposes i.e. steps 1,3,4and 5.


Hope this helps

SIW2

On Oct 3, 10:16*pm, SIW2 <gu...@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote:

> AceX;852251 Wrote:
>
>
>

> > I recently tried to use the Vista repair tools to format the laptop
> > back to factory conditions. *I'd done the process before, so I was
> > familiar. *I backed up files (music and pictures and such) and
> > continued with the restoration, but it hung up mid-process and gave me
> > the nice error message that said something about some boot files
> > missing. *Well anyways, I called them and they said it was HD trouble,
> > and that I needed to ship it back to them (HP) and for a nice small
> > 400 dollars they'd fix it. *I wasn't too sure I had HD trouble so I
> > ordered the Recovery disks from them (HP) and verified that I COULD
> > indeed use them to put my purchased Vista 64x on any HP hard drive
> > (even a blank one) *I asked them like 4 times and they told me yes.
> > And then I found a family friend that works for HP and THEY told me it
> > was doable. *So here I am, trying to figure out how to do it. *I
> > bought another HD (so now I have 2 with the HP logo on them) *and have
> > XP on the new one, and tried putting Vista on the old one. *Well it
> > wrote over my XP and just put a bunch of files on there that I didn't
> > know what to do with. *So I reinstalled XP (on D and I have Vista
> > files on C:. *But it's not bootable. *I really need some help. *I'm
> > not computer dumb, I'm just vista dumb.. so if anyone is willing to
> > help, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

>

> > More info:

>

> > I read somewhere that you should install XP, then Vista. *Which is the
> > order I've taken. I have XP, now I'm trying to install vista. *In my
> > reading I read that you should go into the XP recovery stuff and do
> > some commands to fix the MBR or something like that. *Well I did that
> > on the C: (Vista) hard drive. I'm thinkin that may be why my Vista
> > won't start, (But I'm not sure) because it's saying Vista is missing
> > some hal.dll file. I had this trouble with my XP hard drive, and fixed
> > it by installing a 2nd copy of XP and drag dropping the hal.dll file
> > into my original installation.

>

> > I thought about using the Vista Recovery disc to reinstall the Vista
> > files and see if that works, but I'm afraid of wiping XP again.

>
> Hi,
>
> You may need to do a startup repair , I have also included links to
> step by step screenshot tutorials
>
> Startup Repair
>
> 'How to dual-boot Vista with XP (with XP installed first) -
> step-by-step guide with screenshots'
> (http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vi...step_guide_wit...)
>
> If you need to partition your disk, it may be more straightforward to
> use the Diskpart command
> rather than gparted for your purposes i.e. steps 1,3,4and 5.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> SIW2
>
> --
> SIW2

I'm slightly confused. I read on the first link that the Recovery Disk
CANNOT be used to re-install Vista. Since that is what I'm trying to
do, does that mean I'm out of luck? Why then would multiple HP
personnel tell me that I COULD reinstall Vista with the disk?. I
purchased the Recovery Disk from HP, is there maybe another disk I
need?

Originally Posted by AceX

On Oct 3, 10:16*pm, SIW2 <gu...@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote:

> AceX;852251 Wrote:
>
>
>

> > I recently tried to use the Vista repair tools to format the laptop
> > back to factory conditions. *I'd done the process before, so I was
> > familiar. *I backed up files (music and pictures and such) and
> > continued with the restoration, but it hung up mid-process and gave me
> > the nice error message that said something about some boot files
> > missing. *Well anyways, I called them and they said it was HD trouble,
> > and that I needed to ship it back to them (HP) and for a nice small
> > 400 dollars they'd fix it. *I wasn't too sure I had HD trouble so I
> > ordered the Recovery disks from them (HP) and verified that I COULD
> > indeed use them to put my purchased Vista 64x on any HP hard drive
> > (even a blank one) *I asked them like 4 times and they told me yes.
> > And then I found a family friend that works for HP and THEY told me it
> > was doable. *So here I am, trying to figure out how to do it. *I
> > bought another HD (so now I have 2 with the HP logo on them) *and have
> > XP on the new one, and tried putting Vista on the old one. *Well it
> > wrote over my XP and just put a bunch of files on there that I didn't
> > know what to do with. *So I reinstalled XP (on D and I have Vista
> > files on C:. *But it's not bootable. *I really need some help. *I'm
> > not computer dumb, I'm just vista dumb.. so if anyone is willing to
> > help, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

>
>
>

> > I thought about using the Vista Recovery disc to reinstall the Vista
> > files and see if that works, but I'm afraid of wiping XP again.

>
> Hi,
>
> You may need to do a startup repair , I have also included links to
> step by step screenshot tutorials
>
> Startup Repair
>
> 'How to dual-boot Vista with XP (with XP installed first) -
> step-by-step guide with screenshots'
> (http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vi...step_guide_wit...)
>
> If you need to partition your disk, it may be more straightforward to
> use the Diskpart command
> rather than gparted for your purposes i.e. steps 1,3,4and 5.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> SIW2
>
> --
> SIW2

I'm slightly confused. I read on the first link that the Recovery Disk
CANNOT be used to re-install Vista. Since that is what I'm trying to
do, does that mean I'm out of luck? Why then would multiple HP
personnel tell me that I COULD reinstall Vista with the disk?. I
purchased the Recovery Disk from HP, is there maybe another disk I
need?

Hi Alex,

What happened is you reinstalled XP after Vista. XP replaces Vista's bootloader with it's own - so you can't get into Vista.

Usually, the cure is to replace Vista's bootloader using the startup repair option on the MS install dvd. ( If you don't have a MS install dvd you can make a recovery disc, which contains only the repair options , by following this tutorial Create a Recovery Disc )

From what HP are saying, they have sent you an HP reinstall disc - you can use this to reinstall Vista plus all the HP software to "recover" your machine back to it's factory settings. This is probably all it lets you do. It is different from what we call a recovery disc.

You could either create a recovery disc as per tutorial above and use it to try to get back into your existing Vista install - using the Startup repair tutorial.

Or use Hp reinstall disc they sent to reinstall - if they say you can use a 2nd hd I have no reason to doubt them. You cannot also have Vista running on your 1st hd - license only allows one instance of Vista running.

Hope that helps

SIW2